One of the chief architects of the modern fashion and luxury industries, and as chairman and chief executive officer of one of France’s most successful and valuable companies — LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton — Bernard Arnault is known widely in Paris circles by his initials alone, B.A.

What is perhaps less known about him is his distaste for the word luxury — he prefers the term “high-quality products” — and his rather unorthodox view on profits, seeing them as the natural consequence of an intense focus on innovation, product excellence, craftsmanship and brand desirability.

He practices what he preaches, famously spending his Saturdays doing a round of store visits, typically stopping at the Dior flagship on Avenue Montaigne, the multilevel Louis Vuitton store within Galeries Lafayette, and perhaps a swing by Le Bon Marché, the Left Bank department store that is also part of the LVMH group, home to more than 75 brands across fashion and leather goods, perfumes and cosmetics, watches and jewelry, wines…