ARTICLE
This article is in no way a scientific or objective study. It should rather be seen as a social experiment concerned with the question of whether luxury, in terms of fashion, is an entirely subjective concept or whether there are certain aspects and elements of its definition that everyone can agree upon.
THE MANY FACES OF
LUX URY
What brands come to mind when thinking about luxury in relation to fashion? Luxury is often immediately associated with high-end designers and fashion shows organized by well-known brands. But which brands in particular spring to mind? The answer is unsurprising: Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Victoria’s Secret, Prada and Chanel all made the list. All of those brands were also mentioned by individuals coming from different backgrounds and age groups. The outcome of the survey, in regard to this particular question, provides some food for thought: is the secret of those brands appealing to people from all walks of life? How do brands like Chanel or Louis Vuitton (which were founded over 100 years ago) still remain relevant nowadays?
BY CHIARA WOLTER
Close your eyes. Picture yourself straying through a lively street in Paris, lined by a myriad of tiny, cosy cafes. The smell of fresh and warm croissants hangs in the air and you can see the brightly lit shop windows from afar as you slowly make your way towards the Champs-Elysées. Now, instead, imagine yourself strolling through the busy streets of Ginza, an upscale shopping district in Tokyo. Look to your right, then to your left and glance into the shops and boutiques. Which clothing items do you see displayed in the shop windows? Which colours, which patterns? Do they differ from the ones dominating the showcases of the Parisian luxury boutiques? What if you had peeked into those shops fifty years ago? Would the items displayed in the showcases in all of those previously described scenarios have been the same?
What items are you thinking of?
I was intrigued by these questions, so I decided to conduct a survey and asked numerous people from different backgrounds and age groups the same three questions.
As you can infer from the charts included below, the answers to the second question are a lot more diverse. In fact, they cover quite a wide range of different clothing items and 44
