France's national aesthetic was a process of planning, implementing, and refining. This process was organic in a sense, but also a concerted effort by government to invest in industries they supported so that people will continue to buy into these industries. The transformation of France was an affair of the whole state, with attention on the extravagant and lavish King and his relations to the general populace. Coming out of war, 17th century France was in competition with England and Holland and saw changes in their value of existing economic resources. The region was already at the height of development, and the existing industry and commerce was not expanding enough to encourage entrepreneurship nor new business ventures (Usher, 237). Jean Baptise Colbert, Minister of Finance for France, saw value in exploiting the King's extravagant tastes to benefit the public. Colbert funded foundations and grants for the fine arts, and established standards and qualities that reflected luxury and magnificence that out-fashioned Italy. These state policies encouraged and stimulated private industries and the market. The encouragement and push of new industries coupled with implementing new standards into existing industries. This created a whole infrastructure around guilds, with certifications to quantify and set the standards across industries.
France is selling things that we may not necessarily need, but desire. This ultimately turns into a "want", and when you finally have it, THAT is the pinnacle of luxury and refinement. France's standards for luxury and what and how each item is produced is its aesthetic. There is an appeal not only to the upper-class, but a widespread appeal to the masses as luxury has incorporated into a lifestyle. Storefronts along the streets of Paris become eyecandy as you stare glossy-eyed at the new Hermes silk scarf and Louis Vuitton purse, wishing you could be the owner of both.
With an increase in desire for luxury goods, many industries are also capitalizing on this very desire by making counterfeit goods that look like the real thing, but at a fraction of the price. How will countries like France, whose economy thrives on the production and sale of luxury goods, continue to stay alive in our current state where counterfeits and fake luxury goods are also as captivating as the real thing - but at a much lowered price?
Video: Festival des Métiers: Hermès reveals the craft behind its coveted luxury goods
Source:
Usher, Abbot Payson. "Colbert and Governmental Control of Industry in Seventeenth Century France". Review of Economics and Statistics, 16.11(1934), 237-240. Print.
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