PARIS – Delphine Arnault was among the honorees on the Légion d’Honneur’s annual New Year decree, published Saturday by France’s Journal Officiel.
The civilian distinction, traditionally handed out twice a year on Jan. 1 and July 14, was delayed this year due to the protracted formation of a new government. Honorees are listed according to the ministry that oversees their field.
Included on the list of the French Ministry for the Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty, Arnault was distinguished as chief executive officer of a fashion house, in recognition of her 27-year-career.
Currently chairman and CEO of Dior as well as a member of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton’s board of directors and executive committee, she is also the force behind the LVMH Prize for Young Designers and a key talent scout for the group.
Arnault wasn’t the only LVMH executive on the New Year’s honors roll.
Jean-Paul Claverie, an adviser to business titan Bernard Arnault and director of patronage for the French luxury conglomerate, was elevated to commander on the list of the French Ministry of Culture, as was philanthropist and collector Maryvonne Pinault, the wife of luxury chief Francois Pinault.
Others connected to the luxury spheres were also awarded, including L’Oréal scion Françoise Bettencourt Meyers; Anthony Chevy, industrial director of S.T. Dupont, the French purveyor of luxury pens and lighters, and Edgar Schaffhauser, executive president of the French leather goods federation.
They were joined in the 2025 New Year’s Légion d’Honneur cohort by master baker Éric Kayser, French actresses Camille Cottin and Mélanie Thierry, as well as a cadre of professionals who were involved the restauration of Paris’ Notre-Dame cathedral, reopened in December.
Meanwhile, new inductees of France’s National Order of Merit, an honorific for distinguished civil achievements, were also revealed. They included LVMH’s deputy finance officer Cécile Cabanis at the grade of officer, and feather artist Nelly Saunier, among the knights.
