- Paperback: 375 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Books; Reprint edition (29 July 2008)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0143113704
- ISBN-13: 978-0143113706
- Product Dimensions: 21.1 x 13.7 x 2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 580,914 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
? What Fast Food Nation did for food service, this book does for fashion?
?"Los Angeles Times"
? A crisp, witty social history that's as entertaining as it is informative.?
?Michiko Kakutani, "The New York Times"
? Globalization, capitalization, class, and culture . . . A fascinating book.?
?Fareed Zakaria, "Newsweek"
? What Fast Food Nation did for food service, this book does for fashion, exposing the underbelly of the $157-billion luxury industry and the lockstep consumer psychology behind its glamorous veneer.?
?"Los Angeles Times" --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
?"Los Angeles Times"
? A crisp, witty social history that's as entertaining as it is informative.?
?Michiko Kakutani, "The New York Times"
? Globalization, capitalization, class, and culture . . . A fascinating book.?
?Fareed Zakaria, "Newsweek"
? What Fast Food Nation did for food service, this book does for fashion, exposing the underbelly of the $157-billion luxury industry and the lockstep consumer psychology behind its glamorous veneer.?
?"Los Angeles Times" --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Product Description
Fashion may be fabulous, but what price true luxury? With incredible access to the glamorous world of the luxury brand, Deluxe goes deep inside the workings of today’s world of profit margins and market share to discover the fate of real luxury. From the importance of fashion owners, to red carpet stars and the seasonal ‘must-have’ handbags, Dana Thomas shows how far illustrious houses have moved from their roots. Thomas witnesses how these ‘luxury’ handbags are no longer one in a million, discovers why luxury brand clothing doesn’t last as long, and finds out just who is making your perfume.
From terrifying raids on the Chinese sweat shops to the daunting chic of Paris workshops, from the handcrafting and economics of early-twentieth century designers to the violent truth behind the ‘harmless’ fakes, Deluxe goes deep into the world of extravagance, and asks: where can true luxury go now?
--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a well written account of the globalisation of luxury goods and services. It analyses the inevitable effect of mass-marketing on products that were originally designed to be very exclusive. An 'exclusive' handbag that is sold to hundreds of thousands of people is an oxymoron - the trick employed by its manufacturer is to convince the poor saps (sorry, customers) that they are buying something exclusive even when they know perfectly well it couldn't possibly be so. Dana Thomas gives tantalising glimpses of what it must have been like in earlier times to be a couture customer, and even more tantalising glimpses of those who still are - oh to have a saddle handmade at Hermes! She also gives a worrying account of the price of counterfeiting - I for one will not consider buying such goods again.
I wish her publisher would encourage her to write a revised and updated edition. Ms Thomas employs the thorough research so typical of an American journalist, making sure her facts are detailed, interesting and stand up, and it pays off. This book has a broad appeal - to those in the business of marketing luxury goods all the way through to those of us who long to be able to buy them. Knowing that so many are illusory in both their quality and exclusivity provides a fine inoculation against shelling out for them. Alternatively, if you do have the cash, she tells you just where to go to spend it and have a first rate, luxury experience in doing so. I'm just booking my flight to Brazil.....
I wish her publisher would encourage her to write a revised and updated edition. Ms Thomas employs the thorough research so typical of an American journalist, making sure her facts are detailed, interesting and stand up, and it pays off. This book has a broad appeal - to those in the business of marketing luxury goods all the way through to those of us who long to be able to buy them. Knowing that so many are illusory in both their quality and exclusivity provides a fine inoculation against shelling out for them. Alternatively, if you do have the cash, she tells you just where to go to spend it and have a first rate, luxury experience in doing so. I'm just booking my flight to Brazil.....
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Excellent journalistic writing, each chapter could be a feature in a magazine and stand on its own. Dana Thomas clearly knows what she is talking about and had access to the key people in the industry. After what she has written it is less certain she will have the same access again.
By tracing the origins of luxury goods and demonstrating the few places which still adhere to these ideals, eg Hermes, she exposes the fact that "brand" is no longer the mark of quality artisanship but a crutch to sell high margin goods to insecure, unaware buyers.
Quite breathtaking how cynically knowing the manipulation is from the companies. Good therapy to read the book before a shopping expedition.
Hard to look at Louis Vuitton, red carpet gowns or the perfume industry in the same way again.
By tracing the origins of luxury goods and demonstrating the few places which still adhere to these ideals, eg Hermes, she exposes the fact that "brand" is no longer the mark of quality artisanship but a crutch to sell high margin goods to insecure, unaware buyers.
Quite breathtaking how cynically knowing the manipulation is from the companies. Good therapy to read the book before a shopping expedition.
Hard to look at Louis Vuitton, red carpet gowns or the perfume industry in the same way again.
Format:Paperback
This is a good down to earth book which is informative and interesting. It presents a view of the history of brands and some of the real issues surrounding Luxury brands today.
A very good companion to other texts on the subject.
A very good companion to other texts on the subject.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
informative but badly written
This book provided an intriguing and informative read once you got over the innumerable amount of typos, spelling errors and periods of waffle. Read more
Published on 9 Feb 2009 by KIM
Tour Elite Shows, Remarkable Ateliers, Sweat Shops, and Bogus Goods...
If you like behind-the-scenes books about privilege, luxury, greed, and lust for status, you've come to the right book. Ms. Read more
Published on 30 Oct 2007 by Donald Mitchell
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