The Many Faces Of Luxury

From digital dilemmas to digital dominance, from traditional silk to organic hemp fabric, trends in the luxury sector, both at a macro and micro level, have been dynamic and stereotype-defying. Here’s looking back and telling the future as it approaches in the luxury markets.

Luxury goes digital
From clothes to cars to chocolates, legacy brands are taking to the e-commerce highway increasingly, with brick-and-mortar stores co-existing with their online counterparts in a world where spending on luxury is not just an in-store experience but also an on-screen one. Rather than get into an e-service model as compared to a full blown e-commerce one, more luxe brands will be seen emulating what Burberry has done with its online store, which showcases and sells all of Burberry’s latest offerings and also looks interesting, with models posing in outfits as in a magazine, along with relevant details of upcoming fashion shows and events.

Luxury moves from ‘diffusion’
What was a raging trend in the 1990s and early 2000s — the diffusion brand — is almost on its last leg. Diffusion brands relate to a tertiary line by a well-known designer/house aiming at reaching out to an aspirational buyer with lower price points. With brands going digital, their bandwidths have also shrunk in a way that more attention is paid to the flagship brand, so the secondary sister brands are getting subsumed, like Marc by Marc Jacobs got absorbed into the main Marc Jacobs line in 2015 and D&G by Dolce & Gabbana also fizzled out in 2011.

Luxury goes green
With the rise of the conscious consumer, the green-loving luxury buyer is a sizeable section of the market and the numbers are going to grow further, as more women HNIs join the ranks. Catering to this section is the need of the hour, as luxury brands incorporate eco-conscious as part of their product or promotion. So, international designers like Stella McCartney with her no-animals policy, or Donna Karan with her Urban Zen initiative combining a philanthropic foundation along with a retail arm distributing a line of natural and organic fashions, are not fringe anymore, but trend-setters in their own right. Indian all-organic brands like Bhu: Sattva and No Nasties have been at the forefront of a trend being emulated by a lot of indie designers, who are using natural fabrics over synthetic ones.

Luxury steps out
With upscale designer stores moving out of the four-metros-only comfort zone, other Indian cities are fast becoming home to a host of designer stores. One case in point is Hyderabad, with stores of high-end designers like Sabyasachi, Tarun Tahiliani et al. In fact, with 35 per cent of luxury sales in India reportedly being generated from non-metro cities like Aurangabad, Ludhiana, Kochi and Bellary, luxury brands will be expanding to these geographies too.

Luxury at your doorstep
Indian luxury portals like Darveys, Elitify, Exclusively, Pernia’s Popup Shop, have already floored the Indian luxury consumer with their respective USPs. With a vast collection of apparel and accessories, from established and indie brands, they make it all better with customised consumer experience and delivery at your doorstep. Niche concepts like that of Darveys’, which offers wedding trousseau services from purchasing and packaging, are going to be defining trends in this sector.

Luxury changes hands
While the time-starved shopper debates spending time in stores assessing value propositions of yet another in-season handbag, or the brand-conscious young professional debates splurging on another high-end product, there come in online portals curating and selling pre-owned (or pre-loved) couture collections from international brands at lower price points and with accompanying services, to make real sweet deals. Confidential Couture and Zapyle in India are just two of the many outfits in this domain, which are going to see a spurt owing to the expansion of HNI households and cash-rich consumers.

Luxury reinvents with collaborations
With successful collaborations like Apple and Herme`s for the leather-strapped smartwatch, Sabyasachi and Christian Louboutin for a range of hand-embroidered formal shoes, global is going to marry locally and create product innovations which bring together strengths of respective luxury brands and allow them to tap into each other’s markets too. Such creative collaborations are going to increase in instances, as consumers want to stay rooted to their contexts, even as they ask for global standards.

Luxury goes all persona
So, there is Canali’s made-to-measure men’s range and Burberry’s monogramme-able Cashmere scarves as examples to show that luxury is becoming all about customisations and personalisations for the discerning customer, who is looking at exclusivity and unfaltering attention to details. As more luxe brands try new ways of attending to their patrons, the distinguishing point is going to be in the kind and range of customisations available, and of these there will be many.

Luxury lies in wearable art & tech
While quirky prints continue to be in trend, the point of departure has been the popularity of art on costume, as young designers like Salita Nanda, Dev R. Nil, Anupama Dayal, also incorporate art-inspired patterns into their creations, which then become ready-to-wear art. Similarly, smart jewellery finding itself on top of gift-worthy luxury lists as fitness bracelets, notification rings and neckpieces from brands like Mira and Vinaya, are defining the next-gen wearable tech. Certainly, a new chapter in fashionable luxury matching up with cutting-edge technology.