<div><strong><em>Quirky and subtle are what the moneyed elites are going for this season, Jaideep Sippy writes</em></strong></div><div> </div><div>Now that most global luxury brands (across categories) have come to India, and some have even returned home, their emblems are a common sight. Birkin’s, the H belt, pieces from the Panthère collection or the latest Bulgari Serpenti edition, luxury cars from the big three German giants and hypercars from Italian makers are now an everyday urban reality. I must add here that a friend in the business jokingly calls the Mercedes S Class ‘the Innova of the luxury car world — you just have to have one’, knowing that we both acknowledge that the S Class is an all-round fabulous car that owes its must-have status to its enduring image of luxury, safety and reliability. So, after you have bought the semi garish, and hopefully some very garish toys that luxury brands have to offer, what next?</div><div> </div><div>For me, luxury, like life, is an ever evolving concept. It has grown to mean freedom — of choice, expression, and to pursue passions. So naturally, I’m always happy to hear about the newest flavour in town. The two flavours that caught my eye are from very different categories, but share a common thread in their subtlety — while I’m thrilled to see the many fine tea salons that are cropping up in the metros and serving superb global teas, tea is not what I’m referring to here. My first brush with subtlety was about a decade ago when most Louis Vuitton customers only wanted the large handbags and leather goods with prominent logos, leaving only a few to buy small leather goods, because ‘nobody looks at what’s inside your handbag’.</div><div> </div><div>In recent conversations with a few luxury furniture and interior brands, and with Mumbai-based luxury architect Zaki Shaikh of Parthenon Architects, one gathers that there’s a lot happening in their space. As we already know, people aren’t lapping up all the luxury apartments that are in various stages of construction as most expect the market to correct even further over the next year or two. Instead, they are investing their money, passion and know-how in redecorating their primary homes and offices with budgets that were previously unheard of. With Rs 15,000 to Rs 35,000 per sq. ft being spent just on interiors (i.e., upwards of Rs 3 crore for a 2,000 sq. ft apartment), which in some cases go as high as 20-30 per cent of the value of the property, it is a bit eye-popping for refurbishments, especially if you are doing this every five to six years.</div><div> </div><div>“My customers no longer want just the most expensive, or the latest models from big luxury houses; they want things that have a story behind them, and are more than willing to pay for them”, says Shaikh.</div><div> </div><div>To cater to this league of customers, Shaikh has been exploring agent rights to some truly unique articles and his latest is Tredici Interiors that distributes the Italian Verde Profilo’s patented ‘Moss Wall’. This is a new frontier in what is possible with green indoors, requiring zero maintenance and offering limitless creativity. Moss wall is natural lichen that is freeze dried and processed using patented technology to create a product that is very versatile for use in all indoor environments (but requires a minimum of 40-50 per cent relative humidity). It’s available in over 20 colours, although the many shades of green are the most popular, and at approximately Rs 2,750 per sq. ft, they are already adorning many homes in the country and quickly creeping into conference rooms in offices due to their sound absorbent qualities. I remember a time in the not-so-distant past when the advertisements on local television were for products that removed moss from walls; so adorning them in these magical colours is now reverse engineering!</div><div> </div><div>Moving on to a totally different idea, Lamborghini has an experience division called ‘Accademia’, which literally means school. Born out of passion very much like its cars, Lamborghini encourages enthusiasts to attend a strictly paid-for event (approximately €5,000-7,000 airfare, for a day) in an exotic part of the world where professional drivers show you how to push these cars to their limit so you can experience the heart of these ‘strong like-a-bull’ machines. More interestingly, they had organised a racing event a few years ago on a frozen lake in Mongolia.</div><div> </div><div>Ferrari, Porsche and others also offer similar experiences, but the drama of the freezing depths in Mongolia warranted a mention. Only a handful of Indians have attended this so far, but I have a feeling that this is going to catch on as Lamborghini cars gain popularity. Customers have begun to opt for ‘ad personam’ or personalised cars. I look forward to seeing what personalisation people opt for since the cars come pretty crazily configured to begin with.</div><div> </div><div>Frank Sinatra apparently had said, ‘You buy a Ferrari when you want to be someone, you buy a Lamborghini when you are someone’. While this sounds obviously relevant to the Lamborghini example, to me it’s also a sign of changing times when trends emerge amongst the millions of luxury consumers in the country. The trends reflect the maturity (or the boredom) of the early adopters and the waning of the fickleness in perception of the majority consumers. I refer to one last joke in the luxury business: the brute vehicle ‘Hummer’ was a fashionable and perfectly acceptable emblem of luxury consumption in the metros, until it also became very fashionable in Phagwara and other small towns in Punjab, at which point it went out of fashion for most. So as an observer of luxury, I’m happy to see trends emerge that are more subtle and hopefully long-lasting, even if it’s only my point of view.</div><div> </div><div><em>The author is a food & wellness entrepreneur, having previously held senior positions at Louis Vuitton, Gucci & BJets</em></div><div> </div><div>(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 16-11-2015)</div>
