National Tide 1980

It was also a French company in the fashion category, and they were also negotiating for capital investment. They also encountered cold looks and contempt from the other party when they met for the first time.

However, the feelings and results brought to Ning Weimin by these two negotiations were completely different, and they were essentially different.

For no other reason than because the decision-makers of the two companies have completely different temperaments.

Henry Lacamier, the head of LV, is a headstrong, blindly arrogant, very emotional person who relies entirely on his personal preferences.

Even the most basic courtesy is not shown to the people who come to help him.

Although as the head of LV, he does have an extraordinary artistic style and a high social status.

But such a person who acts extremely egotistically and doesn't care about other people's feelings is unreasonable.

There is simply no way to rationally analyze problems with him and make unanimous decisions together.

Moreover, this person is still very suspicious, and even the person he seeks help from, Master Pierkaton, does not fully believe it.

It was as if after suffering a loss, he had a psychological shadow on people, and it was difficult to trust anyone again.

If you conspire to do something big with a teammate like this, how likely is it to succeed? How much pain will it feel?

To put it bluntly, from Ning Weimin's perspective, such a person cannot cooperate at all.

The so-called alliance is actually just a form he acquiesced to comfort the master.

In fact, it has no binding force on him, and he will not have high hopes for it.

If his plan goes smoothly, God will do his best, and everyone's interests can be taken into account in the end, then everyone will be happy.

But if not, then he will definitely abandon the LV CEO without hesitation and only consider the interests of himself and the master.

But the two decision-makers at Yves Saint Laurent are different.

No matter which one of them they are, Ning Weimin truly appreciates them and considers them to be partners with whom they can cooperate sincerely.

First of all, although Yves Saint Laurent himself is a contemporary fashion master and design genius comparable to Pierre Cardin and Chanel Lafayette.

Even in addition to this, he also takes into account his identity as a descendant of a baron and the second generation of rich people.

But he himself has no arrogance.

On the contrary, he is a humble, polite, personable, and friendly person who looks very soft, shy, and introverted.

In particular, Ning Weimin learned that the Saint Laurent founder was also deeply troubled by drugs and mental illness.

Judging from his performance, he still has a bit of interpersonal phobia.

For such a person, he not only felt extremely sorry and sympathized with him.

And I suddenly understood why Pierre Bergé was so suspicious and wary of him.

To be honest, he didn't expect that the design master would be able to attend today's negotiations in person in such a state.

Although Katherine's role cannot be ignored, it is actually a kind of respect in itself, which makes him feel gratified and satisfied.

In addition, although Pierre Bergé was picky about Ning Weimin in every possible way, apart from the reasons, he could indeed be seen to be serious and responsible, shrewd and capable, and full of business ethics.

For Saint Laurent to have such a business manager, it is exactly what Ning Weimin needs and is grateful for.

He and Keiko Matsumoto were busy enough with their own affairs. He didn't even bother to get involved in Pierre Cardon's main clothing business. How could he be willing to spend his time and energy in distant France and unfamiliar Europe?

How cool is it to be a jobber when you can just lie down and make money?

It is undoubtedly the most beautiful thing to do nothing and just wait for listing and dividends.

If Saint Laurent's business managers lack such qualities and he still needs to worry about specific operations, it will only give him a headache.

Therefore, it is precisely based on this feeling and basis of cooperation that both of them can say that they have the same goal and achieve the same goal through different paths.

Although at the beginning, there were some misunderstandings in the words because they didn't understand each other.

But once we had a frank and full exchange of opinions, things started to become gratifying and smooth.

In the end, both parties were in a mutually happy mood and quickly reached the following agreement on the same day.

1. Ning Weimin and Matsumoto Keiko should complete three overseas remittances of 100 million francs, 200 million francs, and 200 million francs to the French Yves Saint Laurent Company within the first week of each month in the next three months. The acquisition of 25% of the shares, otherwise the acquisition agreement will be invalid.

Second, after the acquisition is completed, all transaction equity is recorded in Matsumoto Keiko’s personal name.

Matsumoto Keiko does not ask for a seat on the board of directors, does not actively interfere in the company's operations, and agrees to maintain the company's current management structure.

Keiko Misatsumoto has temporarily entrusted Catherine Deneuve with full agency for her personal shareholder rights.

In other words, Matsumoto Keiko's shares will be bound to Kathleen's personal shares, and voting decisions will be made in major resolutions of the board of directors in the form of joint voting.

Fourth, the agreement on the withdrawal mechanism midway.

In order to ensure the orderly progress of the listing, Matsumoto Keiko's equity is prohibited from being transferred or withdrawn within three years.

If the company fails to go public, the target of Matsumoto Keiko's equity transfer three years later will need to be approved by the board of directors.

5. Whether before or after the listing, Keiko Matsumoto continued to increase her shareholdings.

Its shareholding cannot exceed 33% of Saint Laurent Company at most.

This is to comply with the relevant laws of the French government and is also a necessary restriction to prevent a veto.

All in all, this agreement is one to sign.

Matsumoto Keiko is about to become the third largest individual shareholder of Saint Laurent in France.

Of course, she is also the only foreign shareholder.

Her shareholding ratio will be second only to Yves Saint Laurent himself, who owns 33% of the shares, and General Manager Pierre Bergé, who owns 27% of the shares, and far higher than Catherine Deneuve's 6% personal shareholding.

There is no doubt that once this transaction is completed, it will not only help Matsumoto Keiko improve her personal status in the international film industry,

but also allow Saint Laurent to get capital injection without any worries and let go to develop the ready-to-wear business, which can be said to be a happy ending for everyone.

And this is not all, because the social status of Ning Weimin and Matsumoto Keiko, the young couple, is somewhat special.

One of them is a major shareholder of Easy-Laurel and the inventor of the trolley suitcase.

The other is not only a Japanese movie star, but also the owner of Fog Studio.

So there are many directions for them to cooperate with Saint Laurent in other fields.

For example, in order to help Yves Saint Laurent improve its operating income as soon as possible, Ning Weimin took the initiative to propose cooperation with Yves Saint Laurent on the business of trolley suitcases.

Considering Yves Saint Laurent's current financial constraints, Ning Weimin even proposed the licensing conditions of calculating patent fees based on actual product sales.

In principle, Yves Saint Laurent can immediately develop this product as long as it pays a deposit of 5 million francs.

Ning Weimin is even willing to provide mature production drawings for free, or domestic OEM services for them to produce accessories.

The fees that Yves Saint Laurent needs to pay are only calculated annually according to the sales of related products.

The more you sell, the more you pay, and the less you sell, the less you pay, and you will make a profit.

In other words, if a trolley suitcase is priced at around 8,000 or 9,000 francs based on Yves Saint Laurent's fame, Yves Saint Laurent only needs to pay 500 francs to E-Lader for each product sold.

If the domestic OEM accessories, plus the total cost of shipping and tariffs, Ning Weimin estimates that the cost will only increase by about 700 francs.

This means that Yves Saint Laurent's profit for each bag sold is at least 80%.

This proposal naturally surprised Pierre Berger.

He didn't expect that such a big pie would fall from his head.

You know, Pierre Catton's trolley cases are all made in Hong Kong and are manufactured by Zeng Xianzhi of Goldlion.

At present, it is not enough to supply the Southeast Asian market nearby, and Pierre Catton's trolley cases can't be sold to Europe at all.

Facing the European market, Pierre Catton is currently mainly signing patent authorizations for E-Lad and collecting licensing fees.

At present, this kind of thing that can be seen in France, in addition to some avant-garde people who like to travel bought from Japan or Singapore, is some celebrities who have a relationship with Pierre Catton received gifts from the master.

Catherine Deneuve and Alain Delon are the same. Because they are the spokespersons of Pierre Catton Huaxia Company, they also received several trolley cases from the master.

But even so, this new thing has already caused a sensation in the French upper class, making many people marvel, which is enough to prove that this is still a blank market with great prospects.

In fact, after Pierre Bergé saw this thing at Catherine Deneuve's house not long ago, he felt that it was convenient, beautiful and had great market prospects.

It's just that because it's a product of Pierre Catton, he can't make any more plans.

And he was a little jealous, thinking that Pierre Catton would definitely have a place in the travel luggage field in the future with such a product.

Who knew that today Catherine would actually bring the funds and the founder of this trolley case to the door.

And they took the initiative to relax the patent authorization conditions for the cooperation between the two parties and provide considerable convenience.

Where can you find such a good thing?

So it was both for the benefit and out of respect.

Not only did he agree to this matter, but he also had a fundamental change in his attitude towards Ning Weimin, and no longer had any contempt or doubt.

After all, being able to invent such an instrument that can obviously change life, such a brain hole is more worthy of respect than wealth.

Pierre and Yves Saint Laurent, the master designer, have lived together for half a lifetime. Of course, he knows how to appreciate true genius and never hesitates to praise it.

In addition, for the second masterpiece of Fog Studios, Crazy Rich Asians, which is about to start filming.

Ning Weimin suddenly had an idea.

That is, he hoped that Yves Saint Laurent would follow the model of supporting Catherine Dephner when filming Belle de Jour, and also provide costumes for several important roles in their film.

In fact, Ning Weimin's original idea was to let Pierre Cardin take over this business.

He even wanted the master to personally design a few sets of costumes.

After all, it is not right to keep the fat water in the field.

But then he considered that this movie is facing the whole of Asia, and it may have to be screened in Europe.

The mainland, which has praised Pierre Cardin to the sky, is not the main box office market.

So relying on Pierre Cardin, a brand positioned as mass clothing, may make the wealthy family in this movie a joke.

Later, he did not dare to mention it.

But now it's good. Today, I met Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre, and we had a good chat and successfully established a cooperative relationship.

Ning Weimin immediately thought that with the high style of the Saint Laurent brand, it would be very high-end and sufficient to dress wealthy families.

This can not only help Saint Laurent expand its business and increase its overseas popularity, but also reduce the cost of filming the film, and even get extra advertising sponsorship for Keiko. Why not do it?

Needless to say, such a related transaction that can benefit both parties is naturally welcome.

So not only Pierre and Saint Laurent showed great interest, but also quickly nodded in agreement.

Even Catherine Deneuve, in order to repay Ning Weimin's favor, took the initiative to propose that if necessary, she would be willing to play a cameo role in the film for free.

Ning Weimin and Keiko Matsumoto were naturally overjoyed and agreed.

But of course they couldn't do things that were free, and they still had to pay.

Anyway, no matter what, both Alain Delon and Catherine Deneuve will appear in this movie.

This undoubtedly makes the influence of this movie climb to a higher level again. It is destined to become a movie with a star-studded cast. The gimmick alone is enough to attract countless people to buy tickets to the cinema.

It must be said that this is another unexpected gain that no one expected.

But is this all that their friendship has produced?

No, of course not.

The biggest surprise was that Ning Weimin and Yves Saint Laurent hit it off when they first met, and they actually found their common hobbies and interests during their casual conversation.

It turns out that in addition to being a great designer, Yves Saint Laurent's noble birth and the BUFF bonus of being a rich second-generation also made him a collector known as the "King of Paris".

Although he was burdened by huge design pressure throughout his life and had not been to many places, China and Japan were exactly the only two places he had been to.

As early as the 1960s, Saint Laurent visited Kyoto, Japan, and was deeply fascinated by the Japanese Zen temples.

Although he had not visited China that time, seeing Ye Zhiqiu, Saint Laurent was particularly interested in Chinese culture.

Saint Laurent, who often visited China in his imagination, began to collect Chinese porcelain and other antiques to decorate his residence on Babylon Avenue in Paris.

Good at finding inspiration from artworks, he launched a series of clothing inspired by China in 1977 before even arriving in China, incorporating his understanding of Chinese style into the design.

From silk fabrics to Chinese elements such as front lapels, stand-up collars, buttons, embroidery, to highly saturated colors such as red, gold, purple, and emerald green, to the use of patterns on traditional Chinese clothing and porcelain.

All of these show his obsession with Chinese culture, and also show the oriental aesthetic awareness and cultural appreciation that Saint Laurent gradually developed in the process of collecting Chinese artifacts.

In 1985, Diana Vreeland, then head of the fashion department of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (who also worked for Harper's BAZAAR for a long time), held a personal exhibition for Saint Laurent, which was also the first time that the Metropolitan Museum of Art held an exhibition for a living designer.

Later, the exhibition toured to the Huaxia Art Museum in Beijing, which also facilitated Yves Saint Laurent's first trip to China.

In fact, not long after Ning Weimin arrived in Japan, Yves Saint Laurent also visited Beijing and came to Tiananmen Square to appreciate the Chinese quintessence - Peking Opera, and had cordial exchanges with Chinese students studying fashion design.

And through this trip to China, Yves Saint Laurent not only gave back to his dream China in his own way, but also continued to influence and inspire the new generation of fashion designers in the Republic like Pierre Cardin, and he completely became a fan of traditional Chinese aesthetics.

When Ning Weimin was shopping in Japan, Yves Saint Laurent also copied Ning Weimin's Laos. He bought a large number of antiques and handicrafts in China, even including the material vessels and silk dolls bought in the Temple of Heaven Park. After returning to France, his collection interest has never shifted from oriental antiques. To date, he has a lot of personal collections that he is very proud of.

So the unexpected situation appeared again. Yves Saint Laurent, who was "socially phobic" and kept strangers away, became closer and closer to Ning Weimin on the topic of China, and took the initiative to invite Ning Weimin and Matsumoto Keiko to visit his mansion.

Who can become friends with strangers on the first day of meeting?

Obviously, Saint Laurent expressed his friendship with practical actions.

And the bond that connects friendship is the shared cultural interests.