1. Introduction

In the world, France occupies most of the luxury brands, such as Chanel, Cartier, Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Hermes, YSL and so on. French designers have long created some of the world's most famous and coveted fashion brands. Paris Fashion Week, which originated in 1910, is a grand feast for the major French luxury brands.

Why is France the home of so many luxury brands?

After observation and interviews, the secular views are:

• Because Napoleon's wars made French culture flourish.

• Because there are more nobles in France.

• Because the French have a deep sense of class.

• France has a great location and great people.

These arguments are vague and weak attributions. The British Empire, for example, had a wider geographical range and a wider temporal dimension than France in its worldwide campaigns, and the number of dignitaries was no less than France's, and the concept of class under imperial rule was also very stubborn. But why are British luxury brands not as big and influential as their French counterparts?

In order to explore the real reason, this essay elaborates from Plato's phenomenal world and rational world, combined with the example of fashion emperor Karl Lagerfeld.

2. Analysis of "phenomenal realm"

The most typical area of French luxury is the garment industry, which has a reputation for excellence dating back to the 17th century and continues to strengthen this reputation to this day. The reasons are as follows:

· The impact of Le Roi Louis XIV

Despite various disagreements, most French people attribute their luxury heritage to Louis XIV, the great "Sun King" who ruled France from 1643. Louis XIV had a particularly luxurious taste, which was evident both in the expansion of the Palace of Versailles he commissioned and in the way he dressed. The seemingly extravagant adornment of the body is the most powerful weapon to maintain the position of the king. The golden iris embroidery on his robe can be seen in the image below. Iris is a representative of the French royal family and is still a permanent element of clothing. Such as Patek Philippe with iris and cross star two elements to design the logo.

Recognizing the importance of luxury to the national economy, Louis brought many arts industries, including the textile trade, under the dictatorial control of the royal court, which became the arbiter of fashion worldwide. In the centuries that followed, the highest quality fabrics and materials could be found in France.

So when the craft of haute couture was booming at the end of the 19th century, tailors had no choice but to set up their own factories in France. The Englishman Charles Frederick Worth was the first to open on Rue de la Paix, and several other boutiques followed, and Paris gradually became a thriving fashion center. Of these fashion houses, arguably the most famous is Coco Chanel. Chanel changed the fashion world by completely deconstructing womenswear, as it eradicated the excruciating corset and created the loose and free dress for women that was all the rage in the 1920s.

The French fashion industry suffered a severe decline during World War II. Under the Nazi occupation, most fashion brands were forced to close. America took advantage of the opportunity to establish its own clothing stores, turning the media's attention to American designers like Claire McCardell.

After years of harsh rationing and textile shortages, another French visionary has brought the garment industry back to life. Christian Dior dominated post-war fashion with the "New Look", creating an elegant silhouette for women. At first, this was controversial, not least because Dior's luxury clothes required a lot of fabric, and resources continued to be scarce after the war. In response to the criticism, the French designer defiantly declared that "Europe has had enough of bombs, now it wants to see fireworks". Having promoted postwar optimism, Dior's house was subsequently inundated with orders and Paris regained its place as the world's most fashionable city.

The 20th century saw the emergence of a large number of designers in France. In Paris, people like Hubert de Givenchy appeared. They both maintained the reputation of the French luxury industry, despite growing competition from the United States and Italy. Little Prince Yves Saint Laurent and Grand Prince Karl Lagerfeld had the most significant impact on the industry in the late 1960s and the following decade. Yves, for example, transformed many men's designs into women's wardrobes - most notably the "le smoking" or "dinner jacket." By doing so, he made ready-to-wear fashionable and increasingly popular with the masses.

Such designers, who worship France as a paradise for fashion and luxury goods, are flocking to Paris to set up businesses, hoping to leave their name in the fashion capital.

· Napoleon Bonaparte's influence

France has so many designers because of Napoleon. During his campaign, the basic construction of the French educational system was preserved, and the system continues to this day. From kindergarten to university, he reorganized the allocation of education resources by region. Each province has between two and four universities, which are evenly distributed by region rather than biased by wealth. This is a remarkable achievement, and it has created a lot of fashion talent from all over France. Led by the Institut Francais de la Mode (IFM), the French fashion Institute trains and educates its students in a number of areas, including: Clothing, leather goods, shoes, jewelry, watch manufacturing, eyewear, perfume, cosmetics and interior design, cultivate a full range of professionals in fashion and luxury management.

Napoleon ordered the drafting of the Civil Code, also known as the Napoleonic Code, which stipulated the inviolability of citizens' private property rights. Article 544 states that "ownership is the right to use, profit, and dispose of things without limitation." This guarantees absolute individual private ownership, stimulates individual enthusiasm, and provides legal guarantee for the free development of industry and commerce. With legal protection, designers are free to carry out creative work without fear of intellectual property rights being infringed. From the system to ensure the prosperity of the French luxury and fashion circle.

3. Analysis of "rational boundary"

"Aesthetics and Ephemerality: OBSERVING AND PRESERVING THE LUXURY BRAND" (Pierre Berthon et al., 2009) argues that the three dimensions of the definition of luxury are: Functional, experiential and symbolic. Among the three elements, symbolism is the most metaphysical.

A symbol of what? Why a symbol? This needs to be linked to the civilization of France.

The ancestors of the French nation came to France in the 4th century BC and became the main inhabitants of the region. The Romans called them Gauls. In 51 AD, Gaul was conquered by the Roman Empire. It was conquered by the Germans in the 5th century. It was not until the French Revolution at the end of the 18th century that the French nation finally formed a national unity.

· Middle Ages: Scholasticism as a beginning.

During the rule of the Roman Empire, the Agape of Jesus Christ and Plato's Eros were widely spread to the land of France with the arrival of the Romans.

Universal love means that God gives human beings selfless love regardless of gain or loss, and the love between human beings should also be selfless love, as Jesus said, if someone hits you on the right side of the face, then you turn the left side of the face to hit him, which is to advocate people do not an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.

Eros is the idea that the human soul, before it was born into this world, saw the form, but almost forgot it when we were born. The reason why we are moved when we see and hear beautiful things is because our soul recalls the appearance of the physical form we have witnessed.

These ideas were again demonstrated by Scholasticism represented by Aquinas during the Renaissance, and contributed to the sociopolitical views of liberty, equality, and fraternity of pre-18th century Enlightenment thinkers. It is also the real ideological source of the so-called symbolic dimension of French luxury later on - that is, it represents the move beyond Plato's metaphor of the cave to the rational world full of fraternity, the Republic.

· Modern: Enlightenment thinkers of the 15th to 18th centuries laid the foundation.

French philosopher Descartes, as the father of modern philosophy, put forward "I think, therefore I am" on behalf of continental rationalism. He seeks to falsify the idea that "the world might have been a dream," and in doing so, to cast doubt on the landscape, on the content of books, on mathematics, and even on his own body. But one thing is beyond doubt: the consciousness of doubt itself exists. "I think, therefore I am" has laid a solid world view for the continuous development and innovation of French luxury goods in the two dimensions of functionality and experience in the future. It is Karl Lagerfeld who, in his decades-old career, constantly breaks through himself in the creation of Chanel, each time seeking spiritual support that is different from the past.

With the development of the Enlightenment, five ideas of Enlightenment thinkers such as Rousseau, Voltaire, Diderot and Montesquieu became the creeds of the founders and maintainers of luxury brands. The following is a combination of the young director Rudolf Marconi's "Fashion Emperor" to explain how the five tenets of Enlightenment thought in the mind of the fashion emperor Karl.

1. Deism: God is in all things. (Luxury brands symbolize the pursuit of a rational world)

2. Focus on human nature and believe that human nature is inherently good. (Luxury brand symbol: truth, goodness and beauty)

3. Critical spirit: non-conformism, not blindly following the truth passed down from generation to generation. (Karl Lagerfeld and other French design masters challenge dogma and constantly innovate)

4. Have a curiosity about history and believe that history moves forward. (Karl is not proud of past achievements, but always looks to the future.)

5. Attack unearned and unjustified privilege. (Luxury goods pursue the ultimate quality, so practitioners are required to work hard)

The philosopher PASCAL said, "Human beings are reeds that think." This inherits the idea of the ancient Greek Socrates of "ignorant knowledge", that in the vast universe, human beings are but small reeds, to know how ignorant they are. (Karl doesn't take his own success seriously. He knows his own insignificance.)

· Modern: From the middle of the 19th century to the present day, the philosophical trend has sublimated the spirit of the French fashion industry.

The German philosopher Heidegger put forward the concept of "being to death" (which is what we call being born to death today). Man is mortal, and only man knows that his death will come. Although death can be more frightening than ever before, we often fail to face its uneasiness because we get caught up in the daily grind. When one can honestly face one's own death, one becomes aware of the nature of existence, conscious of the limited time one has left, convinced of one's mission and determined to move forward. (Karl does not think about life, nor is he tied to death, but uses the limited time to advance his mission.)

· In short

Through Karl's example, it can be seen that under the influence of hundreds of years of philosophical trends in Europe, the founders and maintainers of French luxury brands have the collective subconscious of "freedom, equality and fraternity". In addition, they are humble and self-aware, think about human nature, do not follow blindly, and pursue excellence and innovation with diligence. In living to death, I am convinced of my mission and determined to pursue a better ideal world for it.