Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster
Author: Dana Thomas
Rating: ā 4/5
Date Read: 2016/12/21
Pages: 384
So I had a 250 word anecdote about my own bespoke figure skating competition dresses all drafted for this review, before I remembered that Deluxe is not about the romance of luxury items. Instead, it examines how the world of haute couture has largely died, shifting from a niche market for elites to a homogenized market catering to a cadre of middle-class suburbanites who canāt tell the difference between coated canvas and crocodile. Author Dana Thomas thinks this is a bad thing.
I donāt know that Iām completely in agreement, but, as someone who finds fashion interesting both from a sociological and aesthetic perspective, I agree that the upper portion of industry faces some serious issues. Of major concern is the fact that luxury brands increasingly rely on selling perfume and handbags to aspirational middle class customers (itās worth noting that Iām an aspirational middle class customer; most of my designer stuff has been gifted, thrifted, or bought on consignment). Anyway, this means the couture houses are taking huge economic risks, as dips in the economy usually see the middle class cutting back on luxury goods. This business model doesnāt exactly seem sustainable.
Beyond that, globalization has had a huge impact on luxury manufacturing. Although there are still luxury ateliers in Western Europe, they cater to an increasingly niche market. Like everyone else, luxury brands have largely outsourced their production to Asia. Donald Trump has promised to bring manufacturing jobs back to the US; realistically, that will not work in the garment industry. The prices we pay for clothing now have been artificially deflated by the extraordinarily low salaries (and poor working conditions) for overseas workers. Like it or not, clothing Made in the USA would be out of reach for most Americans. Plus, we donāt have the technology, nor do we have the infrastructure. As always, these issues are far more complicated than theyāre made out to be.
Interestingly, this book was published in 2007, and read somewhat like an elegy for a bygone way of life. Conspicuous consumption may have been de rigueur in the early 2000s, but these days minimalism is chic and logos are gauche. Things sure have changed since the day I bought my Louis Vuitton Speedy 25.