THOUGHTS ON THE WORLD OF LUXURY AT LARGE
Why do so many people love tattoos? Especially rich people, many of whom have tattoos? Tattoos are a core element of modern luxury now, embraced by everyone from street-style stars to runway models and many people in-between. How did the once-humble tattoo become so mainstream? And are tattoos still cool and subversive if everyone has one?
Traditionally, luxury was considered to be the height of seriousness. The lofty price points seemed to necessitate a sober mien and a clear head. There’s nothing funny about spending serious amounts of cash on something that strictly speaking you could easily live without. So for many years, I didn’t think that humor had any place in the luxury milieu. But then I had a little epiphany.
It’s probably apocryphal, but it is said that Ernest Hemingway told F. Scott Fitzgerald: “the rich are not like you and me.” Implying that the woes and satisfactions of the wealthy are beyond the comprehension of the rest of us. Which raises the question: are really rich people happier than everyone else? Or do they have problems and worries, but different ones than the hoi polloi?
Talk to them long enough, and you’ll hear an interesting undercurrent running through the conversations of many highly wealthy people: despite the bravado that many project externally, internally they feel quite vulnerable. They are deeply concerned with security, and with minimizing their dependence on outsiders or on the government for anything related to the health and safety of themselves and their families. With all due respect to John Donne, some people want to be an island unto themselves, and they have the means to make it happen.
As New York Fashion Week wound down, the Dandelion Chandelier team made the rounds to take the temperature of luxury retailers and consumers in the wake of the festivities. What’d we find? Consumers running at an average temperature, neither hot nor cold on the New York shows, breaking out the leather and suede and anxiously awaiting Milan, London and Paris. But the New York luxury retailers? Low grade fever, accompanied by irritability and envy.
