Fashion Helps History

Last week, Notre-Dame de Paris caught fire, and a part of the cathedral including the main spire was burned down and collapsed eventually. For 200 years of building and 850 years of living through the world’s major events, this French Gothic architecture is a recognized symbol of France, and a soul of Parisians. On the afternoon of April 15th, locals and tourists witnessed a tragedy of the cathedral on Île de la Cité. The devastating fire engulfed the building and destroyed the spire and roof.

After the blaze was extinguished, François-Henri Pinault, the chairman of luxury group Kering which owns famous brands like Gucci, Balenciaga, and Saint Laurent will contribute a sum of 100 million euros to help rebuild this cathedral. While the Arnault family and the LVMH group — another luxury conglomerate managing Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, and Givenchy will also donate another 200 million euros for the reconstruction and the LVMH Group is willing to offer their skilled teams of creative, architectural and financial experts to help the work of rebuilding and fundraising. Now, people and companies have already pledged more than 700 million euros and counting. The project to rebuild is expected to be finished in 5 years as President Emmanuel Macron stated, or it might take at least a decade, as experts claimed. 

That is not the first time that a fashion company contributes their fund for the restoration of a historic building. Built for the Exposition Universelle of 1900, Grand Palais known for Chanel’s frequent show venue is where the brand has created spectacular sets to happen under the iconic glass dome of this Paris’s famous architecture since 2005, and the aid of Chanel will help restore the Grand Palais. With the amount of 25 million euros, the French fashion house announced to be a sponsor of restoration of the building which is scheduled to be overhauled by the end of 2020. 

Likewise, Fendi funded the restoration of Rome’s Trevi Fountain. The Italian luxury brand contributed 2.2 million dollars towards the restoration of the 300-year-old crumbling monument. Following the complete restoration, Fendi celebrated the brand’s 90th anniversary by hosting a couture show at Trevi fountain marking the first ever fashion show at this Rome’s landmark. With the theme of ‘Legends and Fairytales,’ Models walked down the plexiglass runway across the Roman heritage.