«IT'S CALLED GOSSIP AND OF COURSE IT'S AN OBSESSION OF MINE»

PARIS — Celebrity Hollywood designer Christian Audigier is all over Paris this week, talk-of-the-town in the media, splashed on buses and looking out from giant billboards placed at strategic fashion hot-spots.The self-made multi-millionaire with the Midas touch is out to tackle his last frontier -- conquering his native France."France is the world's toughest market to crack, they're experts, connoisseurs," he told AFP. "I had to make it in America before I could return home."Audigier could well be dubbed the "Cinderella" of fashion.A poor boy from southern France who dropped out of school and became a shop assistant, the 51-year-old friend to Michael Jackson and a host of other VIPs, currently estimates his worth at a cool 250 million dollars."I am proud of my history," admits a smiling Audigier as a driver dusts down his luxury Maybach limousine. In Paris this week, he opened a four-storey showroom, bought a flat on one of the city's posher streets, rolled out his lines at a key fashion event -- and confirmed his purchase of Michael Jackson's last LA home for more than 30 million dollars.

Bloomberg
Sept 6 2009