Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster | 
 enlarge | Author: Dana Thomas
Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The
Category: Book
List Price: $27.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  31 reviews
Sales Rank: 4542
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 384
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.7
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.3
ISBN: 1594201293
Dewey Decimal Number: 338.47
EAN: 9781594201295
ASIN: 1594201293
Publication Date: August 16, 2007
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Product Description
A hard-hitting behind-the-scenes look at the luxury fashion industry today
There was a time when luxury was available only to the rarefied and aristocratic world of old money and royalty. Luxury wasn't simply a product, it was a lifestyle, one that denoted a history of tradition, superior quality and offered a pampered buying experience. Today's luxury marketplace would be virtually unrecognizable to its founders. Gone are the family-owned businesses dedicated to integrity and quality; the industry is now run by multi-billion dollar global corporations focused on growth, visibility, brand-awareness, advertising and above all, profits. Handcrafted goods are practically extinct, and almost all manufacturing has been outsourced to large factories in such places as China, where your expensive brand-name handbag is being assembled right next to one from a mass-market label that will cost substantially less.
Dana Thomas, a journalist who has covered style and the luxury business for The Washington Post, Newsweek and The New York Times Magazine from Paris for the past fifteen years, digs deep into the dark side of the luxury industry to uncover all the secrets that Prada, Gucci and Burberry don't want us to know. Traveling from the laboratories in Grasse, where the ingredients for Christian Dior and Prada perfumes are produced, to the crowded factories in China, where workers glue together "Made in Italy" bags by the thousands, Thomas explores the whole of today's high-end shopping experience to answer some pressing questions: What is the new definition of luxury when advertising for this lifestyle is targeted mainly toward the mass market? What are we paying for when quality has given way to quantity? Can integrity survive in a corporate culture driven to meet regular growth and profit projections? Is luxury still the best that money can buy?
Thomas has traveled all over the world to interview corporate heads and factory workers, old-money, old-luxury clients and new luxury-obsessed middle-market consumers, and she paints a surprising picture of today's New Luxury. With Deluxe, she delivers a fast-paced, uncompromising look at the real world behind the glossy magazines and red carpet couture and asks: How did luxury lose its luster?
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| Customer Reviews: Read 26 more reviews...
 Well researched and fun to read July 17, 2008
I bought this book to read during my vacation. In fact, I finished it when I arrived at my destination!
It gives insight of todays true luxury brands and products as well as the piratry problematic all over the world. Deluxe is very well researched and openly criticises extrentric family run luxury brands such as Prada. Especially the insider information was very much appreciated. Refreshingly entertaining and informative.
 Best single volume on the luxury industry, but not exactly a page-turner July 13, 2008
Deluxe by Dana Thomas summarizes everything the casual reader needs to know about the history, business, and philosophy behind the luxury goods industry and how it grew from a bunch of family-owned businesses in Europe to the juggernaut of globalization it is today. Thomas takes us to emerging markets like China, isolated corners of the world like Mauritius where the objects of desire are made, the European shops where craftsmen still tool leather by hand, and all other places, from Vegas to Hong Kong to Sao Paulo, where luxury reigns supreme.
In assembling all this information, parts of the book seem disjointed, and even though Thomas weaves a loose thesis it's an easy book to put down. For instance, Thomas squeezes as much excitement as she can from the founding of the great European luxury houses like Hermes and Gucci but the endless parade of founding fathers and grandfathers can get a bit dull.
Overall, it's a largely enjoyable read for the casual reader interested in fashion or business in general.
Gimme gimme gimme July 4, 2008
This is one of the best books Ive read this year. I am not a buyer of luxury items. I didnt even know what that term meant really. But its all clear to me now. This books also explains and illustrates globalization. The writer is professional and the book is a good read. I guess I'll have to go to Las Vegas and take a gander at a Hermes handbag. I do have a Hermes scarf. My daughter gave me a white one.
Luxury goods expose May 17, 2008
A real eye-opener re the luxury market. After you read this you'll have just a glimpse into the netherworld of the hype machine named Luxury. It's a page turner that doesn't disappoint.
Eye opening!!! April 18, 2008
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is an excellent tutorial on the global black market and illegal trade. Part of my job is to fight the piracy of intellectual property in the tech industry. But the theft of IP doesn't stop with illegal downloading and copying of software. Piracy is rampant and supports a global economy (see another book called "Illicit") that - if we all knew more about it - we wouldn't even DREAM of buying that cheap knock off handbag we see on the streets. In addition to the degradation of luxury goods thru their rampant availability, this book points out that pirated goods have become an all too common way of life that does nothing but cheapen everything. Its time to STOP! Better to carry a great bag from Target than to carry a cheap knockoff Louis V.
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