Marie-France Pochna

"Bibliography Four major works Michel BATTIAU, One of the consequences of the restructuring of the textile industry: the birth of the Agache-Willot group, Lille, CERES Nord-Pas-de-Calais. Gérard BÉLORGEY, About Boussac, Memoirs and lessons, 2 vols. Conference given at the Cambacérès Circle, published by Calaméo. Archives available at the National Foundation of Political Sciences. Benoît BOUSSEMART and Jean-Claude Rabier, The Agache-Willot File. A capitalism against the current, Paris, Presses de la Fondation nationale des Sciences politiques, 1983. Patrick LAMM, Investigation on the Boussac affair, Paris, Robert Laffont, 1985. Other information sources Bernard Arnault, The Creative Passion. Interviews with Messarovitch, Paris, Plon, 2000. Michel BATTIAU, The Textile Industries of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region, Paris, Librairie Honoré Champion, 1976. Alain BOUBLIL, The Uprising of the Seraglio, Paris, Albin Michel, 1990. Dominique COCHART-COSTE and Jean-Paul GRUMETZ, Saint Frères. Paternalism and its memories, Amiens, CEFRESS-Université de Picardie-Jules-Verne, 2007. Jean-Dominique Delaveau, I am Marcel Boussac and I hunt in Mivoisin, Dammary-sur-Loing, Interstices and Editions de l’Écluse, 2009. François Faraut, The History of La Belle Jardinière, Paris, Belin, 1987. Nadège Forestier and Nazanine Pavai, Bernard Arnault, or the Taste for Power, Paris, Olivier Orban, 1990. Christine Kerdellant, The New Condottieri, Paris, Calmann-Lévy, 1992. Marie-France Pochna, Good Morning Mr. Boussac, Paris, Robert Laffont, 1980. Pierre Pouchain, The Masters of the North. From the 19th e century to the present day, Paris, Perrin, 1998. Jean-Michel Quatrepoint, Secret History of the Black Files of the Left, Paris, Alain Moreau, 1987. Nazarine Ravai, The Republic of Vanities, Paris, Grasset, 1997. Airy Routier, The Exterminating Angel, Paris, Albin Michel, 2003."

"Everything must depend on him and him alone, for he is the only one to decide. Proud of having organized his empire based on the power of his brain, he intends to have knowledge of all the  necessary elements and to be the only one to possess them all at once, for he should not—nay, does not want to render accounts to anyone."

"“Beauty,” he said, “suffers no error. Beauty exists only if it is impeccable.” For the fashion mogul, creation is an assembly of details that, down to the most minute of them, have been the subject of meticulous care. Beauty is the perfection of the work. Boussac, deep down, regardless of his fascinations, the question marks that haunt him, does not believe in genius!"

"Eight words sum up one of ⁠"

"the precepts on which his success will depend: “do what others do not.”"

"“I never trust papers. Statistics, curves, reports reveal whatever you want, except reality. Trust them, and you’ll be wrong two times out of three. Go there. If you can’t go, send someone whose eyes are yours.”"

"Marcel is quite the opposite. If not aversion, at least no marked interest in knowledge. He won the gymnastics prize several years in a row, but that seems to be the extent of his scholastic laurels. He failed his baccalaureate and will almost make it a point of pride throughout his life. Hundreds of times he will recount this story, drawn here from a speech given in front of English turf enthusiasts [6](private://read/01jjdy9maqdsy9c2bv37rfja01/#bookmark6):"

"He invents the soft collar and cuff shirt, then the attached collar shirt. Gradually, the stiff collars and cuffs, which had been the only changes made during the week, will go to the accessories store. In a bold move, he invents the pajama, the use of which will spread with astonishing ease."

"The definition of each production setup becomes a stern negotiation with his technicians, whom he pushes to their limits: — If you leave out one weft there, I can save 5 percent on the entire production without changing the quality at all. — But, sir, it won’t be as durable. — If you twist the thread less, the texture will be fluffier, and you’ll get something just as durable."

"Is it because of this elusive part of himself that his “profile” remains far from the usual caricature of the businessman: a beast relentlessly at work, a fearless promoter of ever-new enterprises, an insatiable devourer of others’ resources? Why is it that this rather short man, bald with an intense but cold gaze, often with a dry tone, has nothing of the self-made adventurer? If he takes on the contours of a flamboyant character, could it be that he embraces the beauty of his passions?"

"I do not want to be told about averages. I do not know what an average is. I want you to explain to me with one of your trades what your unexpected issues are. If your wefts break in some places and not in others, there is a reason and you need to find it. This cannot happen three times per piece. Call the director for me."

"— Whether you work for him or for me, you know very well that it is the same thing. So do whatever you want."

"This is the second asset he will wonderfully exploit, remembering the good address his father had given him."

"“Remember this well: when you want something, you always get it. But you must want it for a long time, with tenacity, without giving up,” he would say to one of his collaborators. Youth is about believing that everything is possible. Strength is to continue thinking so against all odds. It’s also called stubbornness. Not everyone is equally endowed with it."

"Marcel’s leitmotif is: — I want more choice in my collections."

"A flash of restrained anger in his eyes, he has the gift of intimidating his people. All tremble at the thought of being asked an unexpected question—which never fails to happen—dreading being “grilled” about an explanation deemed insufficient. Unerring in his observations, the boss, always terse in his assessments, does not hesitate to be cutting:"

"Boussac has always made great use of lawyers. His career has been marked by a good number of lawsuits. He is a Frenchman from the deep province, a landowner who reveres his judges and venerates the law. No quibble repels him. He is litigious by nature and consults extensively, “to the point of nitpicking,” say those exasperated by his prodigious ability to endlessly revisit the same comma of the same article of the Code. The businessman thus happily draws on this nursery of lawyers who populate the corridors of power."

"Glory, one must be wary of it: ephemeral, fragile!… The true master is the one who has no accounts to render to anyone, not even to his fame."

"The very image of power: at sixty, still in the prime of life, a massive body that exudes balance and authority, the forehead and chin accentuated by determined wrinkles, the neck and jaw taut as if for a fight, a gaze that chills the interlocutor, hands, fine but firmly drawn, he seems carved from a block of marble."

"The boss, a “superman,” who remains such despite his age, is still a workhorse. His eyes are still equipped with lenses capable of magnifying and revealing detail; their flash paralyzes, their anger threatens, but while the gestures are authoritarian, it is known that the leader commands himself as much as those under his orders. Is this the secret of his influence over those around him?"