Today, the luxury industry is like Monopoly. The focus is no longer on the art of luxury; it’s on the bottom line.

Dana Thomas is a fashion journalist that many consider to be the best entry point into the fashion industry to understand the inner workings of everything from fabric composition to the yearly fashion cycle. Two years ago, I read half of her book God and Kings about the come up of John Galliano and Lee McQueen. I failed to finish it due to the lengthy detail that she focused on and the repetitiveness of each fashion collection she obsessed over. While I really wanted to like Deluxe due to the topic that she covered, the ideological problems with conspicuous consumption and lackluster narrative disappointed me once again.

The whole point of fashion consumption as argued by Thomas is that people can buy into the dream of being rich by owning luxury goods. Originally, luxury goods were exclusively for the rich through the great practice of haute couture. As brands increased their appetite, they shifted their focus to the middle class wanting to be like the rich, by lowering the quality of the goods and focusing on advertising and perception for profit.

As it turns out, once brands reach an inflection point, they rely on cheap labor from China to produce goods and rely on celebrities to sell their bottom line. For instance, bags are assembled in third world countries except for the handle. The almost finished bag is brought to Italy for the final stitch such that brands can slap on the “made in Italy” tag, as producing in a poorer country puts the brand in a negative light. Another chapter showed how stores tried to create an “artistic” unique showroom for their goods and ended up hiring the same architect once it was shown how profitable it was to design a certain way. For instance, have you noticed how all designer stores have a minimalist museum feel?

The book is also full of seemingly unimportant histories of each brand from Chanel to Louis Vuitton. While some context for certain chapters is needed - such as the hostile takeovers from Bernard Arnault throughout LVMH, most of the stories were pointless. Over and over again, names are mentioned to the point where it becomes impossible to remember who held which position and for what. The only thing I could remember by the end was that no original creator in the book would have been happy with how their creation turned out in the hand of others.

This book reminded me why I dislike the fashion industry. Even the word “fashion” carries a certain connotation that I cannot wrap my head around. I love clothes, the individual details and the ideas behind the clothes. However, seeing how snobby the industry can be, how it preys on materialism and wasteful behavior showed me why I should reconsider how I purchase clothes. It hurts to see the art that I enjoy so much portrayed as just a dollar sign.

Thomas doesn’t exactly wrap things up well either. While she makes it clear that luxury has definitely lost its original identity by changing demographics for the sake of money, she offers zero solutions to offset this problem or even provide a reason to care. While I didn’t finish this book, I still feel better equipped to support smaller designers that stay true to their design ethos.

DNF

P.S. I by no means dislike fashion journalism as a whole. Check out my review on Ametora :)