After a decade of ugly, provocative, normative, and other cores, fashion has been turning to what we now call “quiet luxury.” The trend seems to have stayed in the industry for quite some time.

But what do we imply when talking about luxury?

The notion of luxe has changed a lot throughout the years.

How would we define the “luxe” of today?

Before one could think mostly of something tangible: be it racing cars, yachts, jets, haute couture dresses, or high-valued property. It’s all these material attributes of belonging to the happy few. The new generation, the one born “connected,” those who didn’t know the world without the internet, smartphones, and social media, seems to put a different meaning to the word “luxe.” For them, luxury refers first to experiences, and emotions that those experiences can create.  Immaterial possessions like travelling, meeting outstanding people and even eating extraordinary food. The momentum you enjoy stays in your memory rather than in your wardrobe or garage. This concept perfectly reflects the new ideology of conscious consumption, recycling, a “less is more” attitude, and sustainability.

In fashion, for instance, we can see the move towards such projects as Vestiaire Collective or Vinted, where new consumers choose deliberately to purchase and repurchase their garments independently of their incomes: it’s not about how much money they have; it’s about how they want to spend it. Time changes and the notion of luxury evolves.

What stay timeless in this very notion are two fundamentals :

• Rarity
• Uncompromising quality

Let’s  develop each of these fundamentals:

By definition, and in contrast with mass consumption, the world of luxury can be accessed by the ‘happy few’, those who are privileged to be rich, famous, powerful, or all of those at once.

Not everyone can afford to be part of this circle. Is it ALWAYS a matter of money? Often, but not always. One of the most important and sometimes priceless in this equation is human relations. The ultimate privilege is to get along and be in touch with exceptional personalities, be it a genius business self-made, an outstanding creative, or a worldwide famous mind-setter. That’s a luxury for which people are ready to pay any sum. The creation of brand identity has to be strong which is recognised through the code of their individuality.

The rarity plays a crucial role. Creating the impression that something rare and exclusive is the basement of a luxe.

Let’s take a textbook case of the luxury business, the leather goods brand with a long and legendary history, Hermes.

We all know the Hermes bags which through the years have become a tangible sign of social status, the owner wants to show her belonging.

The most famous models of the bag are the Birkin bag (1984) and Kelly bag (1938) were created and launched in the last century and have never been rebranded. Since the beginning, the company, which by the way, stayed independent till now, has been adhering to the unique policy that seems to work despite the ever-changing business environment. This policy is based on the extreme rarity of the product, which doesn’t need to be advertised. It advertises itself by being worn by the cream de la cream of high society, be it the Princess of Monaco or Jane Birkin. The extremely high prices go naturally with the package. But even if you have hundreds of thousands of euros to spend on your desired bag, you cannot just enter the shop and get one immediately. You can “order” the chosen model and wait as long as it takes (sometimes a few months) to have your little piece of pure luxury manufactured. The time of waiting is part of a game: the more you wait, the more desirable it becomes. Finally, when you get it, you acquire not just a leather bag, you reach for the dream: now you belong to those who are standing far on top of the social ladder: commissioning a Birkin bag you buy a dream, a sort of illusion of being part of semi-gods.

However in case you are too impatient to possess your Birkin, there is always a solution. You can buy a certain amount of items from the brand to get this bag, make friends with the retail people or simply be a special celebrity. It’s all a game to be exclusive.

Luxury is all about creating the illusion, and if you learn how to be the best fairy-taller, half of a deal you can consider to be in your pocket. At the same time, luxury can exist only in the world of perfection. The quality of the product/ service you want to launch/ sell has not to be “just perfect”, it has to be exceptional, one-of-a-kind. No compromise on quality is tolerated.  Be ready to propose this quality, choosing only the best: influencers, artisans, venues, and materials.

Going back to the Hermes case: their leathers have a reputation to be not just extremely good, they use the best possible leather that can exist on the market, and make sure that no other brands can have this leather or at least they make it seem like they do through marketing. And the price is respective. Be prepared to pay a high price for the people and materials who will help to produce this luxury. But let’s come back to the quiet luxury whose aesthetic is omnipresent on the runways, influencers, and garment stores. Is it a real luxury or a trend? Neither of them.

Since the trend is something that is adopted by a wide audience and luxury by definition is by contrast the realm of the happy few, these two cannot coexist. It’s another illusion, trompe-l’œil of many which the fashion industry abundantly feeds us for the only objective – to sell.