As the United States turns 250, Americans still can't get enough of French luxury

NEW YORK (AP) — At the pinnacle of the American cultural pyramid, one particular inspiration has echoed across the centuries through friendship and tension alike: France.

The American love affair with French luxury goods and their cultural cachet and craftsmanship has spanned the younger country's history, and a new exhibit explores the story of how these treasures shaped a cultural exchange that marks 250 years of Franco-American relations.

Among the standouts in the exhibit’s cabinet of curiosities: the Givenchy coat worn by former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy; a Cartier lunar module replica from Apollo 11; and a medal commissioned by Benjamin Franklin at the “Hidden Treasures” exhibit at The Shed in Manhattan.

The organizers behind the exhibit, Comité Colbert, represent the top French luxury “maisons,” or houses — including fashion, perfume, jewelry, hospitality and spirits. They asked 65 luxury maisons and cultural institutions to excavate archives and unearth pieces that embodied the Franco-American bond.

The exhibit, which runs through the end of May, comes at a time when American consumers account for a major share in the demand for French luxury goods. Those luxury houses are taking notice — and expanding in the United States.

“American people love French elegance — the ‘je ne sais quoi’ of French luxury,” said Bénédicte Épinay, president and CEO of Comité Colbert. “It’s a deep link starting at the 18th century and still alive.”

Just as Comité Colbert is honoring France’s bond with the U.S., the U.S. is celebrating its own 250 milestone — its semiquincentennial.

“The U.S. is a relatively young country,” said James Burroughs, professor of commerce at the University of Virginia’s McIntire School of Commerce. “For much of our existence, we were a relatively modest economy. We were overshadowed by dominant cultures like France.”

The link between the two countries can be seen in perhaps the most renowned American symbol, the Statue of Liberty, a gift from France dedicated in 1886. But even before that — and even before French historian Alexis de Tocqueville famously wrote his epic work about U.S. democracy in the 1830s — Americans turned to France as arbiters of taste.

To commemorate France’s support during the Revolutionary War, one of America’s Founding Fathers, Benjamin Franklin, turned to French artists and the Paris mint to commission the Libertas Americana medal in 1782. Exhibit attendees can get an up-close look at the medal's design. Each item on display was presented in shipping containers to symbolize the trans-Atlantic voyage between both countries.

In an effort to market French luxury goods to U.S. audiences, one French Champagne company’s unique approach is on display at the exhibition. An ad from Champagne giant Veuve Clicquot from 1964 shows how the company paired its Champagne with hamburgers to appeal to American audiences and to break away from the image of saving a glass of Champagne for special occasions.

“Luxury," Burroughs said, “is always about status and signaling.”

Much like its role in the French luxury sector, fashion brought the star power to the exhibit.

Givenchy offered Kennedy Onassis’s pink, brushed-cashmere wool coat from her 1961 visit to France for the exhibit. Madonna’s revealing pinstriped Jean Paul Gaultier dress from his 1992 runway show to benefit AIDS research is also on display.

French luxury houses are catering to their American audiences by bringing their designs to the United States as well. The French fashion maisons from Dior, Louis Vuitton and Chanel have all staged their runway shows in the U.S. in recent months.

“European luxury goods companies are in the process of getting deeper into the USA,” Luca Solca, luxury goods senior analyst at Bernstein, said in an email. “In the past, only the two coasts and Las Vegas had luxury stores. American consumers are step by step warming up to European luxury. In a similar vein to what Chinese consumers did many years ago.”

These brands are not only holding extravagant runway shows in the U.S. but are expanding their businesses across the U.S. Hermès opened a new location in Nashville last year.

“What the French have done really well ... in the last 15 years, is that they have opened up their range of products to create offers that are very relevant to the mass American consumer,” said Thomaï Serdari, New York University marketing professor and director of the luxury and retail MBA.

French jewelry brand Boucheron featured a dramatic diamond Belle Époque style necklace at the exhibit replicated after the necklace the brand sold to Irish-American couple Marie-Louise Mackay and her husband, John William Mackay in 1899. The couple, who amassed their fortune through silver mines, commissioned 50 pieces from the house.

Looking to capture a new generation of collectors, the brand now has three U.S. stores under its umbrella since opening on Madison Avenue in 2024. Hélène Poulit-Duquesne, Boucheron's CEO and incoming president of the Comité Colbert, told The Associated Press that the brand has plans to open a fourth store in the United States before the end of the year.

After increased growth from spending during the pandemic, the luxury sector is now grappling with tariffs from the Trump administration and economic uncertainty. The European Commission agreed to a deal with President Donald Trump on a 15% tariff on goods last year before the Supreme Court ruled against Trump’s call in February.

For the luxury houses, Épinay said, tariffs are in the past.

“Politics and economics, it’s up and down," she said. "We’re here to celebrate this strong cultural link between us.”

A Chanel coat and midi skirt inspired by the poster for the 1931 film "Tonight or Never" is pictured on display as part of the Comite Colbert "Hidden Treasures" exhibit at The Shed on Tuesday, May 26, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Beatrice Dupuy)

A violet evening gown designed by Cristobal Balenciaga as worn by American socialite Mona von Bismarck is pictured on display as part of the Comite Colbert "Hidden Treasures" exhibit at The Shed on Tuesday, May 26, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Beatrice Dupuy)

A Boucheron necklace, a replica of one worn by wealthy Irish American silver mine owners, is pictured on display at the Comite Colbert "Hidden Treasures" exhibit at The Shed on Tuesday, May 26, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Beatrice Dupuy)

A pink wool Givenchy coat worn by former US first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis is pictured on display as part of the Comite Colbert "Hidden Treasures" exhibit at The Shed on Tuesday, May 26, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Beatrice Dupuy)

An advertisement from 1935 and a midnight-blue perfume bottle for Jacques Guerlain's Shalimar fragrance pictured on are display as part of the Comite Colbert "Hidden Treasures" exhibit at The Shed on Tuesday, May 26, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Beatrice Dupuy)

Republican lawmakers in Louisiana are poised to eliminate a majority-Black congressional district that elected a Democrat in response to a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that its map constituted an illegal racial gerrymander.

A redistricting plan under consideration Thursday in the state House would give Republicans a chance at picking up an additional seat in this year's midterm elections. It also would protect U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson from facing a more difficult reelection.

“We drew this map in an effort to safely maximize Republican strength,” said state Rep. Beau Beaullieu, a Republican who chairs the chamber's redistricting committee.

If passed by the House, the plan would need only a final Senate vote to go to Republican Gov. Jeff Landry.

Since the Supreme Court's decision in late April, several other Southern states already have seized upon a weakened federal Voting Rights Act to try to redraw their own congressional districts. It's the latest flare-up in what's been a heated national redistricting battle heading into the November elections, spurred along by President Donald Trump.

So far, Republicans are winning the redistricting contest. But that doesn't necessarily mean they will win the U.S. House in November. Democrats need a net gain of only a few seats to flip control of the chamber. Trump faces negative approval ratings. And in midterm elections, the president's party typically loses congressional seats.

In 2022, Republicans in the Louisiana Legislature overrode the veto of Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards to enact new congressional districts based on the 2020 census. Five Republicans and one Democrat won election under those lines in 2022. But the federal courts said the map violated the Voting Rights Act by not including a second district with a majority-Black population.

The Legislature responded in 2024 by creating a second majority-Black district, stretching more than 200 miles (321 kilometers) northwest from Baton Rouge to Shreveport. That map resulted in the election of Democratic U.S. Rep. Cleo Fields. But that map also was challenged, and the Supreme Court struck it down as an illegal racial gerrymander.

Landry then postponed the state's May 16 U.S. House primary until later this summer to allow time for state lawmakers to again redraw districts before Monday's scheduled end of their session.

The latest plan scraps the snaking district represented by Fields and instead clusters it around predominantly white communities in the Baton Rouge area and southern Louisiana. It adds part of Baton Rouge to a heavily Democratic, majority-Black district based in New Orleans currently represented by Democratic U.S. Rep. Troy Carter.

Beaullieu said Republicans opted against a new map aimed at winning all six of the state's U.S. House seats because it would have required adding more Democratic voters to Republican-held districts. He said that could have backfired by allowing Democrats to win two or three seats, potentially jeopardizing the reelection of Johnson or Majority Leader Steve Scalise.

Some people remained unsatisfied. The plaintiffs behind the lawsuit that prompted the Supreme Court to strike down Louisiana’s 2024 map threatened further litigation because the state’s proposed redistricting still leaves a majority-Black district in place, according to court filings this week.

Louisiana state Rep. Kyle Green, who chairs the House Democratic Caucus, also said Thursday that the proposed map could still constitute a racial gerrymander because it packs Black voters into a single congressional district.

State Sen. Jay Morris, the Republican sponsoring the redistricting bill, said he expects further litigation but is unconcerned.

“I believe this map is easily defendable under the Constitution because we did not racially gerrymander it,” Morris told The Associated Press.

Republican lawmakers said their latest redistricting considered political party affiliation but not race. Democratic lawmakers countered that race and party cannot be separated in Louisiana

In the month since the Supreme Court's ruling, several Southern states already have acted on redistricting.

Florida's Republican-led legislature passed new congressional districts just hours after the ruling, completing a redrawing that already was in the works in anticipation of the decision. A state judge this week declined to block use of those districts, which could yield Republicans as many as four additional seats in the midterm elections.

Tennessee adopted new U.S. House districts a week after the ruling, carving up a majority-Black district based in Memphis in a Republican attempt to win an additional seat.

Alabama also attempted to change its congressional districts, though a federal judicial panel this week blocked a Republican-drawn map that it determined intentionally discriminates against Black people. The state's Republican attorney general has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to let the map be used this year. Republican Gov. Kay Ivey also pushed back a deadline to certify candidates for an Aug. 11 special congressional primary from Friday to next Wednesday, in hopes the Supreme Court will issue a decision by then.

Despite pressure from Trump, South Carolina's Senate this week opted against congressional redistricting. Some senators said it was too late to make changes since in-person early voting had begun. Other Republican lawmakers had reservations that the plan could backfire by allowing Democrats to win more seats.

Associated Press writer Kim Chandler contributed to this report.

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This story has been corrected to show that Scalise is House Majority Leader, not Senate Majority Leader.

Louisiana state Rep. Wilford Carter, Sr., D-Dist. 34, talks with Rep. Joy Walters, D-Dist. 4, during a House and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing over redistricting in Baton Rouge, La., Thursday, May 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Louisiana state Rep. Gerald Beaullieu, R-Dist. 48, chairman of House and Governmental Affairs Committee, listens during a hearing over redistricting in Baton Rouge, La., Thursday, May 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

People watch and listen from an overflow room during a Louisiana House and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing over redistricting in Baton Rouge, La., Thursday, May 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Louisiana Sen. John "Jay" Morris, R-Dist. 35, testifies during a House and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing over redistricting in Baton Rouge, La., Thursday, May 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Louisiana state Rep. Wilford Carter, Sr., D- Dist. 34, speaks during a House and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing over redistricting in Baton Rouge, La., Thursday, May 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

The Louisiana House and Governmental Affairs Committee holds a hearing over redistricting in Baton Rouge, La., Thursday, May 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)