AbonnéArt & Design

Arles, the Summer Capital of Luxury

By Aymeric Mantoux21 juillet 2026

The Rencontres de la Photographie draws the world’s elite of the photography world to Arles. In recent years, major luxury houses—from Louis Vuitton to Guerlain—have realized that the city is the only place in France where culture, money, and desire intersect without (almost) ever clashing.

The Rencontres de la Photographie d'Arles will make the French city a global hub for photography through October 2026 (DR)

Arles has that rare quality that few cities still possess: it compels you to be present

Marc-Antoine barrois, perfumer

On the evening of July 7, in an inner courtyard somewhere between the Arènes and the Alyscamps, Marc-Antoine Barrois hosted a dinner. Not a high-profile event, but the kind of gathering you host when you have something to celebrate and don’t want to do it alone. The Parisian fashion designer and perfumer was celebrating the tenth anniversary of B683, his first fragrance, and the launch of a photography book born out of this milestone: 72 international photographers, 164 images taken in interiors around the world, a bottle of perfume somewhere in the frame. A collective, sincere, and understated project—exactly in keeping with the house’s spirit. Seated around the table were photographers, gallery owners, figures from the world of fragrance, and a few personalities from the luxury and fashion industries. The conversation was lighthearted yet profound at the same time—as is often the case in Arles when the light fades and the rosé from Provence takes center stage.

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It is this dinner that perhaps best sums up what Arles has become for premium brands: not a platform for marketing, but a place to live. A place where people come because they love it, not because a marketing strategy demands it. “Arles has that rare quality that few cities still possess: it compels you to be present,” says Marc-Antoine Barrois, whose exhibition B683 — Dix Ans de Parfumerie runs through August 30 at the Maison Close on Passage Robert Doisneau. “People come to see, to smell, to meet others. There’s no filter.”

An Open-Air Gallery

Charlotte Gainsbourg makes her debut at the Rencontres d'Arles festival by showcasing her photographs (Charlotte Gainsbourg)

The 57th edition of the Rencontres d’Arles runs from July 6 to October 4, 2026, but it’s the opening week that draws together every photography lover, collector, artistic director, and person pretending not to be there for the others from around the globe. Forty exhibitions, more than 160 artists, and nearly 50 curators spread across 12,000 m². The city becomes an open-air gallery, and the Roman-era alleyways are transformed into corridors of contemporary art.

Director Christoph Wiesner and Deputy Director Aurélie de Lanlay have titled this edition Worlds in View, an invitation to rethink how we view images and the world. This ambition resonates particularly strongly in 2026, a year marked by the resurgence of conflicts and the ubiquity of the virtual world. Among the highlights, Korean director Park Chan-wook and Charlotte Gainsbourg are making their debut in the program with their own photographs.

It is against this backdrop of intense cultural effervescence that the major fashion houses have decided, one after another, to set up shop in Arles.

The Bustamante Fonds: Arles Takes Its Place in Eternity

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Des analyses approfondies sur l'industrie du luxe que vous ne trouverez nulle part ailleurs.
Des études et rapports sur les principaux défis à venir ainsi que leur décryptage.
Des articles académiques élaborés par des professeurs et des doctorants membres du Swiss Center for Luxury Research, ainsi qu’un certain nombre d’universités à l’étranger.
Des événements réservés aux membres pour enrichir vos connaissances et votre réseau.

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