A discreet chime has echoed through the hushed corridors of Givenchy. As of this Friday, the house hands over its keys to Amandine Ohayon, a seasoned figure in fashion and beauty, stepping into the role as one might enter an impeccably ordered drawing room, mindful not to leave ambitions lying about.

Her arrival sets off a gentle game of musical chairs at cousin house Dior. Alessandro Valenti, until now the captain of the Givenchy ship, folds his charts and crosses the inner courtyard to Christian Dior Couture, where he will serve as second-in-command overseeing the hard currency of commerce. A strategic post, to be sure, though one that carries the faint air of a gilded sideline.

Ohayon will report to Pietro Beccari, recently anointed grand orchestrator of LVMH’s fashion division, already stacking titles the way others collect medals. Around him revolves an empire of names that gleam like ancestral coats of arms: Fendi, Celine, Loewe, Kenzo, Marc Jacobs, Pucci, Patou. The table is long, and the seats are dearly priced.

Meanwhile, the men and women of the man from Toledo watch the scene from the courtyard. Once welcomed through the doors of the Arnault palace, they now sense the wind shifting. The salons close, the drapes grow heavier, and it becomes clear that modern nobility has its own rules: not everyone is invited to dinner, especially when the seating plan is being redrawn.

A power play, then, as elegant as a runway show, but one in which certain supporting players are beginning to linger… in the dressing room.

FM