A question of luxury

Abstract

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 magazines 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 logicalthinking in the midst of luxury fashion goods.

‘Luxury is a necessity that begins where necessity ends.’

Gabrielle Coco Chanel (1883–1971)