The Road To Luxury. Blanckaert Christian

and aspiration than conventional ones.”

      Luxury is also about brands. Bernard Arnault's famous definition notes that “Star brands should be timeless, modern, fast-growing, and highly profitable… There are fewer than 10 star brands in the luxury world, because it is very hard to balance all four characteristics at once – after all, fast growth is often at odds with high profitability – but that is what makes them stars. If you have a star brand, then basically you can be sure you have mastered a paradox.”

      Buyers in this segment are not only interested in the product but also with its associated values in terms of class-consciousness, emotional and artistic appeal, a unique design, and a cultured and refined taste. Yves Carcelle, former chief executive of Louis Vuitton, said “It's about reliability, quality, style, innovation, and authenticity.”

      Luxury products offer self-reflexive connections to a person's sense of self-esteem, competence, and personal value. It is said to be characterized by: “Inherent scarcity, sincerity, consistency, transitivity, emotional connectivity, mastery of excellence, service – elegance.”

       Definition of Luxury is dialectic. Luxury is a break, a deviation from what is ordinary and what is necessary. And it is the variations between the ordinary and the necessary during different times, societies, and cultures that will lend themselves to major developments in luxury. Sacred in origin, secular when it becomes an instrument of worldly power (Louis XIV), reduced to a minimum for the emerging bourgeoisie (a comfort-based and necessity-based luxury), subject to market laws since the French revolution, a superfluous necessity of today. The dialectic is based on a double movement – on one hand, a human need to create a special moment, objects, practices, and behaviours discordant with the ordinary and necessary and on the other, a movement of integration for these gaps in the regular course of society. It is vital for human beings as they search for more, for better, for beautiful… It is nothing other than humanity forever separated from a world governed by the order of our needs, into an ideal world, where one shall desire what is good for him or her. Nothing more, nothing less. Hence the moral dimension is always attached to luxury.

– Emmanuelle Sidem, Connex Consulting

      Evolution

      In the context of the historical perspective of luxury, as a snapshot, it is important to trace the evolution that might point out some empirical truths about luxury and whether such an industry can stand the test of time and whether new brands can survive in such an environment.

      Has the luxury industry itself changed over time? Contextually, in every era luxury is about selling a dream; it is aspirational. The term luxus or excess was coined in Rome. To understand how luxury and luxury items are able to sell such a dream factor one has to look at what dream is being sold. It is a dream of being special, of feeling like you belong to a special set of people. That hasn't changed since time immemorial. The Roman baths were exclusive and only the elite were allowed. Only the elite could wear certain materials and participate in certain activities. The Sumptuariae Leges of Ancient Rome10 were various laws passed to prevent inordinate expense in banquets and dresses, such as the use of expensive Tyrian purple dye.11 Individual garments were also regulated: ordinary male citizens were allowed to wear the toga virilis only upon reaching the age of political majority. In the early years of the Empire, men were forbidden to wear silk,12 and details of clothing including the number of stripes on the tunic were regulated according to social rank.

      While in modern times there are no such laws, it nevertheless amounts to the same thing when some things are more expensive than others, thus making them affordable only for a selected few. The more unaffordable they are, the more desirable they become. If we look at when the Romans traded with the Britons, there was internal trade between the Celtic tribes of Britain, especially in metals and pottery. The Romans and Celts shipped pottery, glass, bronze and iron objects, and wine to Scotland. In return they received slaves, cattle, hides and furs, animals, and possibly wool. The Romans increased production of minerals, particularly lead, but also silver, gold, and tin. Also, British woolen products were considered the best in the Empire and were much sought after as fashionable goods. In every country, precious metals and gemstones and good cloth were considered luxury. Consider the Egyptians, who also admired luxury and even buried their kings with enough, if not too much, luxury goods so the journey after life could be more comfortable. In the Renaissance or Restoration periods, luxury was still being able to afford jewelry, fine clothes, and better transport, better living conditions, and better food. And it is from supplying this need that companies such as Cartier, Louis Vuitton, and Hermès were able to be as successful as they were. Luxury is as relevant in today's society as it always has been.

      Traditionally, Europe has always looked toward the East for gems, silk, and spices. Traders used the Silk Route to travel east. The route grew during the rise of the Roman Empire because the Chinese initially gave silk to the Roman-Asian governments as gifts.13

      Originally, the Chinese traded silk internally, within the empire. Caravans from the empire's interior would carry silk to the western edges of the region. Often small Central Asian tribes would attack these caravans, hoping to capture the traders' valuable commodities. As a result, the Han Dynasty extended its military defenses further into Central Asia from 135 to 90 b.c. in order to protect these caravans. Chan Ch'ien, the first known Chinese traveler to make contact with the Central Asian tribes, later came up with the idea to expand the silk trade to include these lesser tribes and therefore forge alliances with these Central Asian nomads. Because of this idea, the Silk Road was born.

      Northwestern Indians who lived near the Ganges River played prominent roles as middlemen in the China-Mediterranean silk trade because as early as the third century a.d., they understood that silk was a lucrative product of the Chinese Empire. The trading relationship between the Chinese and the Indians grew stronger with increased Han expansion into Central Asia. The Chinese would trade their silk14 with the Indians for precious stones and metals such as jade, gold, and silver, and the Indians would trade the silk with the Roman Empire. Silk proved to be an expensive import for the Roman Empire since its trade across Indian and Central Asia was heavily controlled by the Parthian Empire.

      While the Chinese silk trade played a minor role in the Chinese economy, it did increase the number of foreign merchants present in China under the Han Dynasty, exposing both the Chinese and the foreign visitors to different cultures and religions.

      And this is one of the first evidences of globalization in luxury. It was an intricate and long-drawn-out pattern, but the goods exchanged and the cultural exchanges had enough value to endure the lengthy and uncomfortable process. What makes it luxury is that the items being traded were not actually part of daily living. What was being traded were things that people did not actually need to survive but desired anyway. This is the true essence of luxury: Demand for something for which there is no need.

      But it did decline eventually and become specific to certain areas, such as the silk–fur trade with the Russians, north of the original Silk Route – as means of transport were not the most convenient. It revived under the Song Dynasty in the eleventh and twelfth centuries when China became largely dependent on its silk trade. In addition, trade to Central and Western Asia as well as Europe recovered for a period of time from 1276–1368 under the Yuan Dynasty when the Mongols controlled China. As overland trade became increasingly dangerous, and overseas trade became more popular, trade along the Silk Road declined. By the end of the fourteenth century, trade and travel along the road had decreased.

This is somewhat reminiscent of what is happening today, though only in terms of the importance of China and what China has to offer. China is an important factor in today's luxury economy. As a part of the growth of globalization and the emergence of new markets, it's one of the most important countries. Again, this is not new. Historically there were explorers such as Marco Polo forging Sino–Italian/European ties. This is also one of the first examples of globalization and looking eastward. In the mid-thirteenth century, Marco Polo spent 17 years in China fulfilling a wide variety of tasks in Kublai Khan's administration. He was

10

Rebeiro, Dress and Morality, 22.

11

Jacoby, “Silk in Western Byzantium before the Fourth Crusade.”

12

“Silk: History,” Columbia Encyclopedia.

13

“The Romans in Britain: Trade and Travel.” http://h2g2.com/dna/h2g2/A3473967.

14

Garthwaite, The Persians, 78.