My heuristic of whether a good is luxury or not:
If they call it “luxury”, it isn’t luxury.
For example:
What’s a luxury car?
Based on Google search:
BMW, Audi, Lexus, Mercedes aren’t “true” luxury brands, because by having to signal it in their titles, they’re “trying too hard”.
However Rolls Royce and Lamborghini (true luxury brands), don’t mention “luxury”:
Or a company that doesn’t even care for the title (Tesla), they don’t mention it:
Insecurity?
If a brand was a true luxury good, why would they need to call itself a “luxury brand”?
What is “luxury”?
I believe luxury is art. Luxury means to care so deeply about perfection, to maximize the utility, beauty, aesthetics, and use for the user. Luxury as an aesthetic and ethical thing.
Why is luxury seen as a vice?
For millennia, luxury has been seen as a vice. But I think luxury is a virtue.
Luxury tests the human spirits. It elevates us.
For example, I see Apple as a luxury brand, in the best possible way. An Android or Samsung phone does more or less the same as an iPhone, except the user experience and joy is 1000x enhanced in an iPhone. Same goes with the vast superiority of an iPad over an Android tablet, or a MacBook vs Pc windows laptop.
Luxury is sexy
I love Tesla cars. Why? They’re sexy and functional. They’re certainly “luxury”in the best sense of things. Tesla is self-confident, and doesn’t have any insecurity issues about how cool they look or perform. That’s luxury.
Leica is a luxury brand. You can do the same thing with a Fujifilm camera (the Fujifilm camera even might have better image quality or high ISO capabilities). But the difference? The attention to detail in the Leica, the build quality, and the luxury of simplicity. I’ve found that with luxury goods, it is a will to simplicity. Kind of like how I really like my $100 Outlier.NYC merino wool black shirts, which just look like a normal black t shirt. True luxury goods are actually quite low-key (like a Hermès Burkin bag, which has no obvious branding on it). Any brand that has to flaunt the logo (Louis Vuitton) isn’t a real luxury brand.
Should we strive towards luxury?
I prefer the notion:
Own a few luxury things that will last a very very long time and not get “out of fashion” than owning lots of “affordable” stuff (which has less durability and quality).
I think it’s better from a minimalism perspective, better ecologically, and better for zen.
Less, but the best.
Own less, but better!
ERIC