“With Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster, [Dana] Thomas—who has been the cultural and fashion writer for Newsweek in Paris for 12 years—has written a crisp, witty social history that’s as entertaining as it is informative.” —New York Times From the author of Fashionopolis: The Price of Fast Fashion and the Future of Clothes Once luxury was available only to the rarefied and aristocratic world of old money and royalty. It offered a history of tradition, superior quality, and a pampered buying experience. Today, however, luxury is simply a product packaged and sold by multibillion-dollar global corporations focused on growth, visibility, brand awareness, advertising, and, above all, profits. Award-winning journalist Dana Thomas digs deep into the dark side of the luxury industry to uncover all the secrets that Prada, Gucci, and Burberry don't want us to know. Deluxe is an uncompromising look behind the glossy façade that will enthrall anyone interested in fashion, finance, or culture.

The windows of Louis Vuitton's storefronts are magnetic. Onlookers stand with eyes wide in wonder at such spectacles as a colossal roller coaster, a panoply of brightly colored hot-air balloons, or a universe of polka dots. With an oeuvre of over thirty-five displays, creators Faye McLeod and Ansel Thompson bring the windows of one of the world's leading luxury brands to life with unparalleled magic. Featuring an introduction by The New York Times fashion director and critic Vanessa Friedman, these celebrated vitrines are presented as works of art in this hand-bound oversize Ultimate Collection edition, capturing the inspired world that is Louis Vuitton.

Moving far beyond predominant views of Africa as a place to be "saved," and even more recent celebratory formulations of it as "rising," African Luxury: Aesthetics and Politics highlights and critically interrogates the visual and material cultures of lavish and luxurious consumption already present on the continent. Methodologically, conceptually, and analytically, this collection dismantles taken-for-granted ideas that the West is the source and focus of high-end and hyper-desirable material cultures. It explores what the culture of consumption means in Africa in both historical and contemporary contexts, studying diverse luxury phenomena including fashion advertising, reality television, retail, gendered consumption, and gardening to re-center the discussion on existing contemporary luxury cultures across the continent.

Srun shows how the psychology of luxury brands truly plays into high value customer motivations and unlocks the potential to understand their decision processes which are unlike that of any other customer. Selling to very wealthy, demanding customers – whether you’re selling luxury products or high value bespoke professional services – is a very different process to selling anything else to anyone else. Francis Srun has twenty years experience in the luxury industry, based in France, Switzerland, China and Hong Kong, most recently with Maison Boucheron. The first step is learning how to physically embody “Luxury”. You need to look, speak, and move “Luxury”. The true luxury attitude is not submissive nor is it hauteur – it is gentle, generous and simply, truly human. Success comes from not just being professional but from building a genuinely luxury relationship with clients. To do that you need to truly understand your client. High value customers today are younger, international in outlook and residence, and increasingly from Asia. Their buying motivation is always about self-affirmation and pleasure and never about money. The luxury customer’s decision process is unlike that of other customers. While emotion is important when selling anything to anyone – with luxury selling it is paramount. Srun shows how the psychology of Brand, Product, Place, Price and Time all play a role in customer’s motivations. Finally this book guides you step by step with concrete examples and useful techniques through the seven steps of luxury selling: be prepared to sell, welcome appropriately, listen genuinely, propose and present with style, meet objections with persuasion rather than refutation, conclude sharply and finally gain loyalty for a long term relationship.

The word "luxury" has almost lost its meaning. Once used to describe genuinely prestigious products or places, the concept of luxury has been hijacked by a multitude of aspiring or overpriced commodities, from foot spas to chocolates. So what is real luxury? Which are the genuine luxury brands, and how have they reacted to the rise of the "mass luxury" sector? What strategies do they use to lift themselves into the realm of the truly elite? Who are their customers - and what kind of lives do these remarkable people lead? How do luxury brands attract and retain them? And above all, where can the industry turn now excess is out of fashion? With wit, accuracy and insatiable curiosity, Luxury World takes us on a voyage around the luxury universe, slipping behind the facades of the world's most sophisticated businesses to demonstrate how they function. Among other destinations, Luxury World visits Swiss watchmakers, the Champagne houses of France, the diamond district of Antwerp, the luxury enclave of Monte Carlo, the discreet ateliers of the last craftsmen and a host of brands in Paris - the self-proclaimed capital of elegance. Along the way, he uncovers the true face of today's luxury industry.

The designer encourages the reader to seek, aspire, and revel in luxury at home, however simple or adorned: from the embrace of the perfectly tufted reading chair to an heirloom vase cradling freshly cut garden roses to a dazzling chandelier that makes light dance. In seven chapters filled with charming anecdotes and lovely observations, the designer explores the idea of luxury as life's abundance reflected in a home's varied elements: Discovery, Passion, History, Ornament, Grace, Comfort, and Delight. Each project discussed evokes the many qualities of a distinctively American luxury practically expressed and fully enjoyed at home: beauty, family, refinement, and hospitality.

In his epitaph to the age of conspicuous consumption and wealth, Luxury featuresMartin Parrs photographs fromfive years of watching the rich and fabulous at international champagne-fuelled gatherings. In a series thatmanages to be both satirical and warmly affectionate towards air-kissing luxury-victims, Parrs subjects include parties, horse races and notable luxury events including theMillionaires Fair,Moscow, the Dubai Art Fair and the Art BaselMiami. Designed with an appropriately luxurious silver-foiled padded leatherette cover and introduced with an argument for a newmorality by leading British fashion designer Sir Paul Smith, Luxury is the powerful statement about the era before the bubble burst.