Deluxe I

It is hardly difficult to spot a woman wearing anonymous clothes and shoes but with a luxury brand handbag.

Dana Thomas's Deluxe: how luxury lost its luster (Penguin, 2007) became my recent hot pick to fight autumn boredom. Brilliantly written with lots of wit and insight to offer.

The legendary designer Christian Dior said: "I am no philosopher but it seems to me that women - an men too - instinctively yearn to exhibit themselves. In this machine age, which esteems convention and uniformity, fashion is the ultimate refuge of the human, the personal and the inimitable. Even the most outrageous innovations should be welcomed, if only because they shield us against the shabby and the humdrum. Of course fashion is a transient, egotistical indulgence, yet in an era as somber as ours, luxury must be defended centimeter by centimeter." (p. 7-8)

"Luxury is the possibility to stay close to," the French shoe designer Christian Louboutin said, "your customers, and do things that you know they will love. It's about subtlety and details. It's about service." "Luxury is not consumerism. It is educating the eyes to see that special quality." (p. 327)

The way we dress reflects not only our personality but also our economic, political, and social standing and our self-worth. Luxury adornment has always been at the top of the pyramid, setting apart the haves from the have-nots. (p. 6)

Luxury wasn't simply a product. It denoted a history of tradition, superior quality, and often a pampered buying experience. Luxury was a natural and expected element of upper-class life, like belonging to the right clubs or having the right surname. (p. 7)

The luxury industry has changed the way people dress. It has realigned our economic class system. It has changed the way we interact. It has become part of our social fabric. To achieve this, it has sacrificed its integrity, undermined its products, tarnished its history, and hoodwinked its consumers. In order to make luxury "accessible," tycoons have stripped away all that has made it special. Luxury, regrettably, has lost its luster. (p. 13)

The idea was to "democratize", to make luxury "accessible," to target on the middle market, that broad socioeconomic demographic that includes everyone from teachers and sales executives to high-tech entrepreneurs." The message was clear: buy our brand and you, too, will live a luxury life. (p. 9). Today, luxury is indeed democratic: it's available to anyone, anywhere, at any price point. In 2004, Japanese consumers accounted for 41 percent of luxury sales, Americans 17 percent, and Europeans 16 percent. By 2011, China is expected to be the world's most important luxury market. (p. 12)