Fly on the wall

How do I get to attend the FT Business of Luxury Summit????

The 2009 summit was held in Monaco (the epitome of luxury!) and had speakers of the Bernard Arnault (LVMH)and Diego Della Valle (Tod's Group) calibre.

The topics covered were all the ones I've scratched my head about in genuine interest and I've trawled the net to try and find the notes on the summit! No such luck!!!

So if the mountain won't come to Mohammed, Mohammed will have to go to the mountain.

I ask again, How do I get to attend the FT Business of Luxury Summit...even as a fly on the wall.

Bedtime stories

My Favourite Fairytale! I've read it more times than I care to reveal and I enjoy it every single time as much as when I first read it in my childhood. It brings up the question..."what price are you willing to pay for fashion or luxury?"...furthermore, would you buy a fake/replica/counterfeit and strut around like the emperor?

..."and so the emperor just kept walking stiffly, staring straight ahead. He never even saw the two cunning rascals sneak away, laughing and clutching their bags of gold."

The demand for luxury goods is so huge that the industry will continue to thrive for as long as people are in the dark about the cruel reality that belies the manufacturing of these fakes, and off go the organised crime syndicates "laughing and clutching their bags of gold!"

There is an entire district in Dubai that is dedicated to the counterfeit industry. Having heard so much about "Karama", I've decided to take a field trip to see what its really all about...

"There's a little Imelda in all of us"

The documentary on Imelda Marcos is fascinating in its exploration of the life and extrangances of the Filipino dictator and his wife. She often describes luxury as "beauty" which she expresses as an entitlement. In her attempt to define luxury, she uses an equation which divorces luxury from wealth and abundance, but coming from a woman who had thousands of pairs of shoes, mostly bespoke or from designers like Ferragamo, how could she not consider the financial aspect??? Beauty comes at a price, and luxury at an even greater one.

How much are you willing to pay for a product? who determines that price and how do we personally justify our fashion or luxury purchases?


Back to the 2700 shoes she is said to have owned...is this obscene or luxurious?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/1173911.stm

Bespoke

GENESIS

In the beginning, man was created. He wandered around happily without the trappings of modern life that we find essential today. Take yourself back to the dawn of mankind...what kind of person would you have been? Were you the Eve that was happy to prance around in a cowskin from last night's supper,or are you the Eve that insisted on wearing a bespoke loin cloth made from the finest and most rare animal skin. The realm of luxury is not for the ambivalent consumer. Knowing exactly what your tastes are, will influence where, when and how you purchase your luxury goods. In the 2 years that I have lived in Dubai, I've experienced luxury in all forms, from the obscenely extravagant (more often than not)to the demure sophistication of a truly luxurious experience. I have journeyed from wanting every product or service that touted "luxury" in its advertising to seeking the definition of luxury as it pertains to the individual.

So first things first...as I grow this blog, I will be defining my personal brand and get a deeper understanding of the luxury world.