Fashion Design Essentials

NAVIGATION

87. Luxury Washing

The concept of luxury provides three rewards,

however fleeting they may be:

• A sense of power: class-driven products or
  encounters that build boundaries between us
  and them


• A sense of community: items and events that
  allo w us to belong to a particular social group


• A sense of pleasure: goods and experiences
  that stimulate, indulge, and comfort
  The word luxury is in danger of losing all meaning
  if you believe that every company that calls itself
  a luxury brand really is one. At first glance, it
  seems like an abuse of the term, but the defi ni­
  tion of luxury is always subjective, especially as
  it pertains to fashion. Since luxury is ultimately
  in the eye of the beholder, many things influence
  our characterization of it: standard of living, sup­
  ply and demand, or exceptionally distinctive.
  Competing in a market saturated with claims of
  luxuriousness, a designer has a great advantage
  if she has a realistic understanding of where in
  the spectrum of luxury her product or service
  stands. This also applies to her customers. Are
  they aspirational? Or is luxury a baseline stan­
  dard for her client? Fur, for example, is both a
  coveted and controversial commodity. When and
  how is it a necessity? Is it a symbol of a sump­
  tuous lifestyle or of an excessive one? A clear
  definition of what merits the luxe label provides
  a kind of protection for a designer. Her claims
  are less at risk of being challenged if they are
  presented in the appropriate context.
  Luxe warning: The luxury trap comes in the form
  of "the emperor's new clothes": blind accep­
  tance. The nature of the fashion business is to
  intentionally perpetuate a cycle in which things
  come in and out of favor, arbitrarily increasing or
  decreasing the desire for them. Will the con­
  sumer, and in some cases the designer, defer to
  the unspoken contract between the industry, the
  media, and the public to agree on what luxury is
  at any given time? If it is generally accepted to
  be the standard, who will the leaders be, who will
  follow, and who will rebel?

180 Fashion Design Essentials

Luxe costume jewelry