The Future of Luxury Brands

Artification and Sustainability

Annamma Joy, Annamma Joy

• Editore: De Gruyter
• Anno: 2022
• ISBN:
  9783110732818
• Edizione: 1
• Argomento: Business
• Categoria: Marketing

The concepts of artification and sustainability are now both at the heart of luxury brand marketing strategies; artification as an ongoing process of transformation in the world of art and sustainability as an indispensable response to the issues of our times. The Future of Luxury Brands examines three interrelated luxury-marketing segments—the art world, fashion and fine wines including hospitality services—through the dual lenses of sustainability and artification.

From safeguarding human and natural resources to upholding labor rights and protecting the environment, sustainability has taken center stage in consumer consciousness, embodying both moral authority and sound business practices. At the same time, artification—the process by which non-art is reconceived as art—applies the cachet of art to business, affording commercial products the sacred status accorded to works of art. When commercial products enter the realm of aesthetic creation, artification and consumer engagement inevitably increases.

This pioneering book examining artification and sustainability as strategic pillars of marketing strategies in the luxury industry will be essential reading for practitioners working in luxury product companies, as also students of luxury brand marketing.

Chapter 1 Artification and Sustainability: Foundational Pillars of the Luxury Worlds of Art, Fashion, and Wine

Annamma Joy

Luxury brand goods have long embodied aesthetics, style (whether timeless or of the moment), and artisanal quality (Kapferer and Bastien 2009; Venkatesh and Meamber 2006). In recent years, two concepts have taken hold as foundational in the world of luxury goods and services: artification – the process through which objects that were historically not considered art become recognized as art (Shapiro 2019) – and sustainability (Winston 2016; Bendall and Kleanthous 2007), related to both the environment and ethical labor. The centrality of artification and sustainability in how luxury is perceived and experienced reflects a craving, from both customers and often from the brands themselves, for the gravitas and authenticity of art; and, in an era suffused with anxiety related to a changing world, a growing turn to sustainability – not only as a moral ideal, but increasingly as a necessity (Kovesi 2015). In this compendium, we examine the contemporary meanings of these two key concepts in today’s luxury brands, through a wide-ranging variety of perspectives. From narratives relating to the environmental and social ethics of Canadian diamond mining, to how fine wines are marketed and experienced as an evanescent form of artistic endeavor, to the impact of a global pandemic on consumption patterns of luxury goods and services, this curated collection offers fresh insights into the future of these rarefied worlds.

Luxury in the Past

To discern the future, we first look to the past. Regardless of how deep into human prehistory we search, it is reasonable to assume that luxury in some form has always been with us, for the simple reason that class hierarchal structure has always been with us as a bedrock feature of social communities (Ellis 2017; Trench 2017). Class and luxury are inextricably intertwined; an individual, a family, a dynasty, all had to possess a fortune – in tandem with their venerable lineage – to enjoy the finer things in life (Bourdieu 1984). Not only were those things pleasurable, they also confirmed and signaled status, cementing an individual’s position at the pinnacle of the social order (Morhart, Felicity, and Czellar 2020). Featherstone (2016) identifies the ubiquity of luxury goods in society, as well as the general condemnation of such goods when a large proportion of society does not have access to them. The relationship of art to luxury is already seen in the context of the church, where artists were enlisted to paint murals of religious art on chapel walls and ceilings. Later, when aristocrats such as the Medicis replaced the church and its priests as patrons of the arts, this change was reflected in the type of paintings and furthered the idea of creating art for art’s sake (Kapferer 2014). Consequently, art was divested from function, which in turn helped to raise its value. Central to this snapshot view of art is the connection between art and luxury via patronage of the church and nobility, and its subsequent rupture from it, which encouraged the creation of new institutions that sustained art’s growth (Becker 2008).

The blurring of boundaries between art and commodity has become a central issue in our post-modern world (Firat and Venkatesh 1995). The ubiquity of images of luxury goods and of art has also begun to erase the difference between veneer and aura – where the signs of luxury float over all consumer goods (Baudrillard 1983). Consumer culture thus generates a process of aestheticization of everyday life that can lead to aesthetic banality (Sassatelli 2002; Firat and Venkatesh 1995). Sassatelli (2002) sees a distinction between the aesthetic of the sensible and the sensational, with luxuries in fact being able to engage people on a deeper level.

Walter Benjamin’s (1999) description of the concept of aura was restricted neither to art nor luxury, but rather was applied to any commodity that has the ability to gaze back and speak to us. However, as Featherstone (2016) reminds us, luxury, unlike other commodities, allows the viewer/consumer to engage on a deeper sensory level. The involvement is more intense and immersive, involving a fuller sensory appreciation and not just the roving or scanning eye that can lead to longing (Featherstone 2014: p. 11). In this deeper appreciation, the promise of luxury goods merges with works of art. In this context it is important to make the distinction between artisanality and art. Luxury goods depended on the highly skilled work of craftsmen and artisans in their metiers. Louis Vuitton, for instance, had a métier in Paris where the bulk of the work was done. To this day, luxury brands support craftsmen and women who do the work that makes a commodity a luxury – a work that has aura in Benjamin’s (2010) terms (https://www.theartstory.org/movement/arts-and-crafts/history-and-concepts/). What is also important to note is that the movement not only opposed the industrial production of goods, but also believed that the fine line between art and craft should be elided such that craftsmen could gain the title of artist.

The first luxury brands can arguably be traced back to the early- to mid-1800s. Hermès opened its doors in Paris in 1837, the same year Tiffany debuted in New York City; a jeweler named Louis-François Cartier set up shop in Paris 1847, as did a trunk maker, one Louis Vuitton, in 1854 (Elen, Chamaret, and Rigaud 2013). Initially, luxury goods consisted primarily of luggage; only the wealthy could afford the time and cost of travel (Kovesi 2016). By the late 1800s, however, couture had taken hold, as the growing phenomenon of international fashion houses catered to affluent women eager to wear the latest fashions, popularized through media of the day. Luxury served multiple purposes from the beginning, combining the artisanality of well-made items (Louis Vuitton trunks from the 1880s still occasionally appear in international auctions), with the pleasure of aesthetic design; the whole implicitly confirming social status. With the advent of electric light in the later 1880s, shopping became ever more of an aesthetic event (De Jean 2014); consumers could finally clearly see the merchandise, regardless of weather and the time of day – and the glass-roofed Victorian arcade, which let in whatever natural light was available, was now an artifact of the past (Williams 1982).

Post-World War I, the massive International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts, held in Paris over six months in 1925, introduced the world through its 15,000 exhibitors to the streamlined curves of Art Deco, and heralded a sea change from the Gothic and Rococo designs popular in the Victorian Era (Palermo 2014). Art Deco ushered in a modernism both austere and elegant, an aesthetic embodied by countless luxury brand products, from the new slender silhouettes of flapper fashions through perfume bottles, jewelery, leather goods, and home furnishings. Importantly, the Exhibition implicitly conferred the status of art on such products: they were on display as objects of art, imbued with beauty, and served as harbingers of the modern age to come (Benjamin 1999).

By the second half of the 20th century, awareness of luxury brands and goods had spread throughout the industrialized world – images of luxury were everywhere: in magazines and advertising images, on television shows, and in the movies – and possessing the ability to afford such goods became a near-universal aspiration (Belk and Pollay 1985). As air travel across oceans became increasingly within reach of upper middle class consumers, the democratization of luxury similarly took flight. While few could afford couture fashions, many could nonetheless content themselves with branded accessories such as key fobs, wallets, perfume, and perhaps a handbag (Wierzba 2015). Possessing such goods highlighted an individual’s refined and artistic taste, thereby conferring inclusion in the club of the elite.

Concurrently, the lines between art and luxury continued to blur, as artists such as Elsa Peretti and Paloma Picasso became in-house brands for Tiffany (Brara 2020); Warhol designs appeared on commercial greeting cards and in print advertisements; and cutting-edge designers, once celebrated for their artistry only by the cognoscenti, became household names – think Halston, Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, or Mary Quant (the woman who introduced the world to the mini skirt in 1963, heralding an era of Pop Art, youthful rebellion, and free spirits) (Steele 1997).

It is important to note that luxury embodied meaning for those outside the standard luxury demographics of the upper middle class and the outright affluent (Hudders et al., 2013). A need for status signaling extended far beyond the well to do, with far higher stakes. There is a reason the American author, professor, and sociologist Tressie McMillan Cotton, addressing the issue of Black women living in poverty purchasing designer clothing and accessories, stated: “… there was a price we had to pay to signal to gatekeepers that we were worthy of engaging.” A carefully selected luxury item or two – a handbag, or perhaps a well-cut suit or silk blouse – could mak...