Fashion Luxury is a Luxury

Fashion Consort News Bytes

Luxury fashion retailers have long relied on their storied histories to buoy themselves through times of trouble. In a sense, they have become too big, or at least too important to fail. And, we as customers, given their “importance to our social identities” are willing to give these luxury brands much more room to fail and recover. It’s something that the likes of Bernard Arnault or Francois Pinault, the CEOs of LVMH and The Kering Group respectively, understand unequivocally. In fact, it’s what drives their “portfolio” approach to the luxury business. When Gucci is “in” then it doesn’t matter so much if YSL is “out.” And in some cases, there have been brands such as Alexander McQueen that at one point was bleeding money, but was kept in the portfolio for prestige. McQueen’s extraordinary and extravagant runway shows served as a counterweight to more wearable, sellable labels. This portfolio approach has also meant that luxury brands have always had some wiggle room to be more creative, and not so tied to retail sales, or shareholder demands. This is indeed a positive, in a fashion economy that requires year-to-year sales growth. However, from a more negative point of view, it has hidden some of the problems that some luxury labels have contended with—from high turnover of creative directors, to low sales, and even the ramifications of major public communication fiascos. In the context of today’s culture wars, fashion luxury brands, have managed to put “foot in mouth” an astounding amount of times, and still manage to come through largely unscathed. There are many examples: Prada and Gucci’s blackface representations Dolce & Gabbana’s outright racist and anti-LGBTQ statements, Marni’s tone-deaf and culturally appropriated ad campaign, Jacquemus’ performative use of black models notwithstanding a mostly white organization, or Burberry’s noose on the runway… Customers will complain on social media, even like Diet Prada’s scathing posts…but then they continue to share that same content and shop these luxury brands notwithstanding. As Dior’s president Pietro Beccari stated, no matter the culture conversation, or the pandemic, “we have 20 million followers to feed on Instagram".” And why not, the repercussions are not there. And again, largely hidden within the portfolio system. But in an age where the rising consumer is demanding more authenticity and transparency, will luxury brands still get a way with this? Will they eventually meet the wrath of “cancel culture?” Will they be able to claim authenticity while continue to still build their brands on appropriated culture? On the backs of those who cannot even afford their products? After all, luxury fashion is a luxury—that can be satiated elsewhere.

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