The new luxury: the finest creams and perfumes
It was Wednesday, November 28, 2007, around eleven o'clock in the morning, when the mood tipped. In the conference room of the "Ritz Carlton" in Moscow, the boss of the French luxury group LVMH (inter alia Dior) had the illustrious guests the annual luxury business conference of the "Herald Tribune" just propelled the explosion of their sales figures: Over the next five years, the manager, should double the consumption of premium brands worldwide! Tom Ford joined the lectern. Gloomy was the face of the former Gucci designer, his eyes are overcast. For some time he could not sleep soundly anymore, he started his lecture. A question drives him around, they would all know and still repress it. The question is: "Is the time of true luxury perhaps over?" Silence in the auditorium. The chandeliers hung heavily over their heads, the champagne glasses clinked in the lobby outside, and quite a few wondered at the same time whether perhaps Tom Ford too had drunk a glass too much today: an end to luxury? Absurd!
If you want to understand how far-sighted the visionary-priced designer was then, the Ritz Carlton is not the place to be. You should even turn your back on a city like Moscow, where limousines filled with Swarovski stones are offered at millionaire fairs Glamor department stores Prada boutique at Dior store lines and entire shopping streets are closed for normal traffic, so that the affluent customers can park with the Maybach directly in front of the store. No, in emerging economies like Russia, India or China, no one really has to worry about the image of the finest brands. Delightfully reveling in what one has been lacking for so long, using the lipstick of Lancôme or the perfume of Guerlain to celebrate himself and his ascent to the "new rich" class. Luxury brands are status symbols here. If Max Weber were still alive, he would be happy. Luxury, the sociologist once wrote, is "one of the means of social self-assertion".
The new times that dread Tom Ford, you have to look elsewhere. For example, 2000 kilometers to the west, in any German pedestrian zone: Designer shoes by Roberto Cavalli? There's 99 euros at H & M. Fancy champagne? Has Lidl on offer today. A weekend at the luxury hotel? Aldi likes to mediate.Or would you prefer a wellness treatment de luxe? From the mask to the microdermabrasion package, the drugstore offers everything you need to upgrade your own bathroom to the spa temple.
Noble like diamonds
Eg smoothing eye cream "Juvedical - Eye Optimizer Cream" by Juvena, 15 ml approx. 59 Euro; facial "Cellular Cream Platinum Rare" by La Prairie, 50 ml about 880 Euro (from March 2009); Anti age cream "Complete Rejuvenating Care" by Payot Aox, 50 ml approx. 160 Euro; Intensive Care Concentrate "Extrait d'extrême" by Annayaké, 6 x 4 ml approx. 450 Euro
"Trendy McLuxury" is the pleasurable successor to the "stinginess is cool" mentality: Previously rare goods such as designer fashion, beauty treatments or gourmet food will be affordable for those who long for it. And these are more and more: "In Western countries, we are currently watching the great desire of people to do something good and to increase the quality of life," said Stefanie Bierbaum from the Hamburg Trend Office. "And more and more have the means."
Luxury for all - did not we always dream of it? A land of milk and honey, in which we do not have to look at the neighbor's Dior lipstick any longer while doing make-up in the ladies' room, but simply pull the coveted object out of our purse ourselves. A world of wonders in which we are allowed to let our favorite masseuse roam around at any time - without having to forego the financial compensation for the new jeans. Unfortunately, the paradise has hooks: There are already too many in it. And with masses, the luxury, the shy creature, has but little to do. Let alone with democratic wealth distribution. He is elitist - and very sensitive. If you try to make it suitable for mass production and thereby deprive it of its uniqueness and inaccessibility, it dries faster than a small splash of Chanel N ° 5. He can only be held by those who flatter his aristocratic nature.
How this works could be, for example for an appointment at the Parisian Maison Guerlain to study. There you can create your own personal perfume.Several discussions with psychologists and perfumers are necessary, over three months, the creative process goes down, then one presented the composition in a crystal bottle with personal initials in a small ceremony. After that you are indeed a sum in the equivalent of two small cars going on (30000 Euro). But you also know that: As I smell no!
Only the finest
Eg golden nail polish "Facettes D'Or" by Chanel, about 25 euros; moisturizing foundation "Parure aqua" by Guerlain, 30 ml about 45 euros; long-lasting nail polish "La Laque" by Yves Saint Laurent, 10 ml approx. 20 Euro; Cream Perfume "J'adore L'absolu" by Christian Dior, 4 g about 88 euros; elegant scent "Private Collection - Amber Ylang Ylang" by Estée Lauder, 30 ml ca. 290 Euro; sparkling highlighter "The Bow Collection - Touche D'Or" by Yves Saint Laurent, ca. 33 Euro; Eau de perfume "Ambre Fétiche" by Annick Goutal, 50 ml ca. 99 Euro; Serum with gold powder "Progressif or parfait" by Carita, 30 ml approx. 250 Euro
Luxury as a celebration of service and individuality - is that the future? It is one of many mosaic stones. Another one can be found on the leaflets of the "Crème de la Mer". There, the magical story of the space physicist Dr. Max Huber tells, who needed 12 years and 6,000 experiments to heal his skin, which had been burned in an accident, with a cream. The result could still be found today in the jars of the company "La Mer". "Do you believe in miracles?", ask the manufacturers on the slip. No, we do not. But of the stories behind it we are happy to seduce, for 60 milliliters of lotion even spend 222 euros. Because they entice us with the promise to buy not just a cream or a perfume, but a myth. Or a certain attitude.
When Giorgio Armani's fashion supports the fight against AIDS in Africa, or when we co-finance the company's foundation for research into breast cancer with the purchase of Estée Lauder fragrances, it's not just products that go over the counter but opinions, wishes and dreams. And the pleasant feeling of belonging to a "club of the good" that is not accessible to everyone. For that one puts quite a few notes more on the table.
For the sake of pure pride not. "Our understanding of luxury is changing dramatically right now," knows Anja Kirig from Zukunftsinstitut in Kelkheim. "Away from the status symbol, to the pleasure object. This does not always have to be something tangible, for example, you can be pampered with a special experience. "In a world in which more and more people can afford more and more things, the desirable thing becomes that of pure consumption on the track remains: time, rest, experience. For example, those who join the recently established international billionaire club "Yellowstone" enjoy the privilege of setting up their next holiday home in a very special location: far from civilization, in an almost undeveloped mountain valley in Montana. Loneliness and authenticity are almost guaranteed by a club recording contract. The demand of the jet set should be enormous, it is said, Bill Clinton is already a member.
Harmonious design
For example, the fresh floral scent "Gardenia" by Marc Jacobs (limited), 300 ml approx. 69 Euro; the regenerating night serum "Absolue Nuit" by Lancôme, 30 ml about 175 euros; winter perfume with the scent of the blue rose "Zen" by Shiseido, Eau de Parfum (limited), 50 ml approx. 60 Euro
If you do not have that much, look for your inner retreat on your next vacation, perhaps on the Way of St. James, instead of jetting to the next Caribbean island. Or stay right at home and jogging during the big holidays finally alone through the otherwise crowded city park. Or block the bathroom for an extensive beauty care one afternoon. Or cook cookies again after years. Or just do nothing. "The future of luxury is not multiplication but degradation" wrote Hans Magnus Enzensberger in an essay in the "Stuttgarter Zeitung". "Minimalism and invisibility, that's better than this stupid cleaning up."
At least on this point, the consumer-critical thinker would get along great with luxury designer Tom Ford. "We have to radically change our style," he shouted to the audience at the end of his Moscow speech. "Depth instead of mass! Messages instead of hypes! Only then can we as a manufacturer save the premium league." He probably had not expected the magnitude of the impression he left behind: When the industry gathered in New Delhi, India, for the 2008 luxury conference, the motto of the meeting was no longer "Supreme Luxury" as in 2007. No, This year, the most important luxury manufacturers in the world discussed sustainability. Well, it will. , ,
The special perspective
"A product is luxurious, if it stands on a pedestal above us, we want to look at it from below and absolutely want it," says Heinz Buchmann, Managing Director of the luxury group LVMH (Germany). News from his house (without photo): z. B. the Woody-warm Eau de Parfum "Profumo" with removable spray head from Acqua di Parma, 150 ml approx. 302 Euro; evening night cream "Capture R60 / 80 xp Nuit" by Christian Dior, 50 ml about 97 Euro (from January 2009); and Glitter powder with violet fragrance "Powder Spray Silver Butterfly" from the Christmas Collection by Guerlain, 68 Euro
