luxury is a made-up imaginary concept created to deceive you.
An honest conversation by pikachu, the kid.
We live in a society. We really do.
I came across an opinion piece by Imran Amed in the Business of Fashion titled "Queuing Is Not A Luxury Experience," where he expressed his frustrations about the in-store experiences of designer brands, who have not changed their protocols since the COVID-19 pandemic.
He writes,
"The default experience at luxury brands is increasingly arriving at a store — be it Chanel, Dior or Balenciaga — and being told by someone with an iPad that you must wait outside, often behind scores of other people, before you’re allowed in to have a look around."
"This is something I have encountered everywhere from Bond Street to Bicester Village, and what’s bizarre is that sometimes these stores seem to have massive queues outside while the store inside looks completely empty."
"When I’ve quizzed luxury executives about the thinking behind this system, they’ve said it’s to ensure they can assign one sales associate to each customer to deliver the best shopping experience"
To provide the best shopping experience, eh? If there is not that many people in the store, I feel like I am under a microscope. Suddenly, a new form of social anxiety is placed inside my head, as a thousand eyes seem to be bearing down on my every gesture and observing if a particular item piques my interest.
I get it. The retail experience of a high-end luxury or designer brand is supposed to have the same level of attentiveness as a Michelin-starred restaurant, where even in innocuous moments like, in an instance where you drop a fork, a member of the wait staff picks it right back up and brings you a clean one right away.
But the feeling of being under a mircoscope while in one of these luxury stores is not a good one; the microscope feels more like a microagression.
There was one particular time earlier this year where I had to run an errand that involved going to the Louis Vuitton store. My dad asked me to to exchange a gift - a perfume he and I didn't like the smell of - with something of similar value that he would like. After less than an hour of through research on the LV website, I immediately knew what he might be able to make of use and so I got it for him.
I almost never pop into Louis Vuitton, but I am around enough to know that the one store I would have gone to make the exchange would've been busy. The Garden State Plaza during the holiday season is a nightmare, and I for sure would not be the only one trying to return a gift, even if I wasn't at the Louis store.
So I decided to return it at the LV store at a mall I knew wouldn't have as many people, but there was one thing.
At other Louis Vuitton stores in places like Atlantic City and SoHo, NYC, I found my customer experience to be interesting, to say the least. Even in the Paramus one, I observed that certain people were trated better than others, and I felt like I had to take drastic measures in order to ensure a smooth experience.
I put on a blazer just to get better service at Louis Vuitton, and unfortunately, that shit worked. I was in and out in 25-30 minutes and all the staff called me "sir" the entire time.
I wrote in my piece about blazers back in March that wearing blazers in a select few situations are "experiments in perception," and that the "aesthetics of clothes have been perceived in an exclusionary manner."
Luxury in of itself is meant to persuade a customer through logos, ethos and pathos.
If the last time you heard about it was in English or civics class, here is a refresher:
Logos means to appeal to logic, it's persuasion through proof or seeming proof. Ethos means to appeal to credibility, to persuade someone by establishing the character of the speaker, while Pathos means to appeal to emotion, to create a story that will connect to the people you speak to.
There is no logic in buying luxury. Though it seems like brands like Chanel and Louis Vuitton have been around for a long time, they are credible, and are good people who make a certain product, but they sell it to you because it evokes an emotion.
I remember talking to a sales representative from a high-performing Mercedes-Benz dealership at a car show last summer. We were standing next to a G63 AMG SUV that was on offer by his dealership for about $200,000, as "market adjustments" tacked on by the dealer took it well above its MSRP. I knew that such a practice that would be shocking for a Toyota or a Honda dealer, but when I asked him about it, he told me this:
"People who drive Kias, they need a car. Mercedes' customers want a Mercedes, and they will do anything to get one."
For me, these things are not defined by price, logos or trends; for me, it’s about design, materials and most important of all - feeling.
Does the design of a brands signature product exert a true physical, emotional or psychological reaction from my being or an I being sucked into a fad, or feeling the pressures of society or peer pressure?
Are the materials used reflective of its price? Is the product’s construction durable enough to withstand the trials and tribulations of everyday life?
And when I buy this product, is the buying experience a happy one? Can I treat the brand’s outposts like a second, or third home-away-from-home?
The third reason is the most crucial in my scrutinization; it is the reason why I have an emotional attachment to brands like Coach and Billionaire Boys Club.
For them, you do not have to be disgustingly rich, famous or build an extensive rapport with employees to have a good, attentive experience. They are obligated to do it because everyone who walks in the store is an opportunity to expand the brand, even if your are in to look around because you are bored.
But isn’t luxury based on exclusivity?
From an elitist perspective, it is, but you are in no obligation to participate in it.
In today's internet-centric age, shoppers of all ages can give fuck-all about a store experience, they just want to make sure they have a tracking number for what they got.
But if you do prefer the brick and mortar experience, just know that pieces from Louis Vuitton, Chanel and Hermes does not need to be bought new from their stores at the Champs-Elyssés in Paris, or on Fifth Avenue in New York or Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills.
Buy them at outlets, buy them secondhand, buy them from vintage dealers from Japan; where bags from the brands mentioned are always in good supply and in impeccable condition.
"True luxury" is the ability to say that the bag, shoe, watch, etc. is yours and no one else’s, even if it was previously owned by someone else.
Doing that whilst carrying yourself humbly is the best feeling.
The point is that you fulfilled it because no one else can do it for you.
Ingat.