Chapter 1
A question of luxury
‘Luxury is a necessity that begins where necessity ends.’
Gabrielle Coco Chanel (1883–1971)When you flip through the pages of a fashion magazine, what do you see? An
array of luxury fashion advertisements, featuring colourful and alluring
pictures of models displaying products that tease your eyes and sensitivity.
When you switch on the television, you’re constantly bombarded with
celebrity news and reality shows that touch your natural human craving to
feel beautiful, important and recognized. The gorgeous people in the maga-
zines and on television unconsciously speak to you, telling you that their
lifestyle and material possessions like their clothes and accessories can also
make you beautiful and help you become a part of their world. All you need
to do is to obtain the right fashion goods by the right designers. You then
begin to crave the Gucci watch, the Louis Vuitton bag and the Chanel glasses,
not to mention the Jimmy Choo shoes or the Bvlgari jewellery that beckon
you every time you see a picture of a celebrity icon. Welcome to the luxury
fashion land. You’re not alone but a minute part of a world that constitutes of
millions of people that have been hooked by the luxury fashion fever called
brand loyalty. Don’t worry, this is not a sickness and you’re not a victim but
it is a part of the definition of your personality and lifestyle. In this world, it
is not easy to make an exit because it is quite challenging to be logical-
thinking in the midst of luxury fashion goods.
When the fashion design icon Coco Chanel stated that ‘luxury is a neces-
sity that begins where necessity ends’, she knew exactly what she was talk-
ing about. Also as far back as 1899, notable writer T.B. Veblen acknowledged
in his celebrated text The Theory of the Leisure Class, that the consumption
of luxury goods was a ‘conspicuous waste’. The truth is that we don’t need
luxury goods to survive as human beings, but we need luxury goods to fuel
the sensations that contribute to our overall appreciation of ourselves and our
lives. It may sound uncanny but the appealing brand features that luxury fash-
ion represents contribute to our general well-being.
Still in doubt? Then think about this. On a daily basis, we make most of
life’s decisions based on brands, beginning with the toothpaste we use in the
morning to the cereal we have for breakfast, the car we drive, the phone we
use, the restaurants we eat in and also the toilet paper we use. We make daily
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