Salon du luxe – day 1
This post is also available in: Bulgarian French
What is luxury, how codes are changing and what are the new challenges in the context of the latest events?
When I published, 1 year ago, the longest post in the blog, I didn’t think 12 months later will be the turn of the article that took me longest time to think and write.
It was an honor and pleasure for me to visit again le Salon du luxe in Paris and within 2 days to find out trends, guiding lines, statistics and innovations in this sector, to meet with professionals and to discover new horizons. This event is also a unique experience which is hard to describe: starting from the location, different workshops and exhibitors, networking sessions, coffee breaks and musical surprises from the organizers, the warm welcome from Laura Perrard, founder of Salon du luxe and her team.
Words of writer Guillaume Apollinaire
It’s high time to light up the stars again!
were motto of the conference.
What is luxury? This is something rare, but also socially responsible, transparent in terms of process and production. This is, for instance, the Chanel example with the #chanelgrasse story and the production of Chanel 5 perfume. In May bloggers and media are invited to the annual May rose harvest in Grasse to live the experience (you can find one of the stories here).
Luxury is plural as it has many different faces. One of the guest speakers, famous jeweler Lorenz Bäumer, a man who has never been afraid to take risks, who invented tattooed diamond and scented jewelry said a man should be brave and not afraid of making mistakes. If this happens, it is not a big deal…Every change is a marvelous opportunity.
I found very interesting his reflection on technologies and jewelry as if basically haute jewelry is something to last, technology is something that will get old in a couple of years. However, there are things to be done in this perspective (especially in connected objects).
Artisans in specific segments of the luxury industry are on high demand because of their limited number and unique savoir-faire. (I am thinking here of fabulous Valérie Tanfin who is a plumassière and who I met at the Luxury conference).
In a way luxury is getting more human, more accessible and more transparent.
The return to the essence of life and some interesting quotes:
The unstoppable flirt between luxury and fashion
Luxury is rare and as it is rare, it is expensive
Fashion, on the other hand, is more accessible. It becomes a social reference, this is the debate between being (luxury) and looking (fashion).
Fashion as appurtenance to a world, uniformity – equality, fraternity – everyone is wearing the same sneakers. This uniformity is spread in different shapes. Owning some items, people consider important in order to belong [to a group]. The greatest value is to possess the object of the moment.
What is luxurious is priceless.
Real luxury are the values of the soul. Invincibility. The luxury of the 21st century will be the return to the essence of life.
Luxury is elusive because it is always in the future.
Luxury & Retail:
It turns out luxury boutiques do not address the expectations of the clients. They are too retro for a hyper-connected customer, they look all the same, so standardized and lacking the slightest emotion.
Read the article about the store of the future.
Specialists advise empathy is key for creating emotion. Hence the role of the seller who should awaken the interest and desire of the client. The so-called personalized sale is not only for the client (and the relationship with them), but also – about the brand, its specifics, values, DNA. Another key point is the relationship based on trust.
It goes beyond the physical shop – it is about exchange of expertise. Client sees classical and standardized everywhere, they are looking for tailor-made, creative, surprising, out of the box, beyond the store, they experience something money cannot buy.
Keeping the human relationship as it was 70 years ago: I’d rather make a friend than a client – Kiehl’s founder.
And what else?
The IT bag and the muse are not working anymore. Latest surveys show, that question “Which brand makes you dream?” gets an answer: None! And the only luxury product people would buy is a luxury travel.
LUXEEE or the three E’s of luxury:
Exception
Excellence
Emotion
There is no mystery on the internet but the legend of the brand exists. The image that I want to build – transparency, honesty, kindness, and most of all – no secrets, mysteries and uncertainties.
Creating series of stories, their management and circulation. For example: dissection of a haute couture garment – this way buyer realizes and identifies as an investor. Actually, fans and well aware connoisseurs of the brand can tell its story in an extremely accurate and trustworthy way (see the success story of Jacquemus)
There is no luxury without history. Even the smallest stories feed the legend of the brand and we add to them the culture.
A moment at Bea & Greg corner, two young people who capture exceptional portraits and create so many personal stories.
Coming-up next: second part of the story where I will share something I did for the first time at Salon du luxe!
😉
