Jenny Diski writes:

Thomas writes with horror as a fashion journalist turned investigator about the globalisation of the luxury fashion houses and the financiers who are now in charge of them. It’s actually a more general story of moneymen and their shareholders taking charge of commodities (fashion, books, art) that were once valued for something in addition to profit. She offers a brilliantly ambiguous quote from Bernard Arnault, the chairman and CEO of LVMH (Moët, Hennessy, Louis Vuitton, Givenchy, Dior and more): ‘What I like is the idea of transforming creativity into profitability.’

(LRB 1 November 2007)

Allen Lane | hardback 375 pp. |ISBN: 9780713998238