Sunday, July 31, 2005

Obsessed with The Economist's new magazine Intelligent Life. It encompasses so much and its the first magazine that I'm actually reading from cover to cover. Check this out. There is an article called The four facets of chic and it talks about high couture and luxury brands losing their elite status and exclusivity as they become more accessible. It says, "In the real world, traditional luxury brands, one just for the really rich, are increasingly making their way into the hands of ordinary folk - a kind of democratisation of luxury." As it explained itself, it made even more sense. Benz and Beamers used to be such a dream car but how many can you count that are driven on the streets today? almost every corner has a benz owner. Students now buy tiffany jewelry for each toerh and Armani can be found in a local mall. Karl Lagerfeld, the prestigious designer of chanel now designs of H&M as well. Burberry lost 10% of its clients because it got too popular and LV spent $16M battling fake bags. Is the price of luxury slowly deteriorating? The article also mentioned that the luxury is not about owning the latest Hermes bag but now about freedom from time and space and complete silence. I'm not sure about what I think about this topic yet. Yes, it seems to be a good thing because those said-to-be luxurious items are more affordable and accessible but then could it also be a sign that people are getting to materialistic as well? As if its people's aim to gain all these? It said that the sales of women's accessories grew 20-25% to $4 billion in America alone! and coach's regular consumers buy almost 4 bags per year. ( lol ) Okay, maybe I may be hypocritical as I myself am subject to materialism. I am victim to these objects of haute couture. But this article kinda gave me a perspective of what kind of society we're actually living in today, including myself. Honestly, I don't have a really good opinion on this and frankly I am biased. But is luxury in material things, based on the name and its status, a good thing?? Does everyone secretly want to live a luxurious life???

9:47 PM