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Luxury has developed an international language. A language that no longer needs to be explained, because we have come to recognise it. The way a product is photographed, the design of its packaging, the use of materials, the environment in which it is sold and even the words a brand uses to describe itself; together, they can make it almost immediately clear that something belongs to the world of luxury. For new fragrance brands with international ambitions, that can be attractive. In many markets, established ideas about luxury can influence how a brand presents itself in order to be recognised as luxury. A visual and cultural grammar already exists. Speaking that grammar can help a brand to be understood; much of the message is already embedded in codes that are recognised internationally.
But why do we expect a brand seeking international visibility to first learn to speak an existing international language? Why should speaking a language we already know be seen as a route to international acceptance in the first place? And if brands from more and more parts of the world mirror the same codes in order to be recognised as global luxury, perhaps we should ask a more uncomfortable question: is luxury really becoming more global, or is one existing definition of luxury simply being spread further around the world?
And if it is the latter, what remains of the individuality that is supposed to make luxury special? How distinctive can an international luxury language remain when it is spoken everywhere? Perhaps there is a strange paradox here: the more successful that international luxury language becomes at creating recognition, the greater the risk that recognition itself leads to uniformity. More brands from more parts of the world, all speaking the same visual language.
The answer to that potential uniformity is not necessarily to make geographical or cultural origins literally visible. Translating that background into an expression of its own requires research, interpretation and abstraction before a concept, and ultimately form and imagery, can emerge from it. Cultural and historical context does not therefore have to translate directly into traditional symbols, local ingredients or recognisable cultural references. In the space between context and expression, a distinct form of authenticity can emerge.
So the question is not only how a brand's cultural background can be translated into its own expression of luxury. More interesting is why certain ideas about luxury have become so self-evident internationally that other expressions of luxury seem to have to position themselves in relation to them. Why should mastering those established codes be seen as the starting point for international recognition, acceptance and success in the first place?
A new dynamic could emerge when different expressions of luxury exist alongside one another. If luxury is no longer dominated by a single internationally recognisable language, the way it is recognised, understood and valued could change too. That does not have to mean replacing one prescribed luxury language with another. But what if multiple languages begin to exist alongside one another, each emerging from a different cultural and historical context?
Perhaps a next phase of luxury, then, is not about more and more brands speaking the same language, but about how many different languages luxury can speak.
Luxury has developed an international language. A language that no longer needs to be explained, because we have come to recognise it. The way a product is photographed, the design of its packaging, the use of materials, the environment in which it is sold and even the words a brand uses to describe itself; together, they can make it almost immediately clear that something belongs to the world of luxury. For new fragrance brands with international ambitions, that can be attractive. In many markets, established ideas about luxury can influence how a brand presents itself in order to be recognised as luxury. A visual and cultural grammar already exists. Speaking that grammar can help a brand to be understood; much of the message is already embedded in codes that are recognised internationally.
But why do we expect a brand seeking international visibility to first learn to speak an existing international language? Why should speaking a language we already know be seen as a route to international acceptance in the first place? And if brands from more and more parts of the world mirror the same codes in order to be recognised as global luxury, perhaps we should ask a more uncomfortable question: is luxury really becoming more global, or is one existing definition of luxury simply being spread further around the world?
And if it is the latter, what remains of the individuality that is supposed to make luxury special? How distinctive can an international luxury language remain when it is spoken everywhere? Perhaps there is a strange paradox here: the more successful that international luxury language becomes at creating recognition, the greater the risk that recognition itself leads to uniformity. More brands from more parts of the world, all speaking the same visual language.
The answer to that potential uniformity is not necessarily to make geographical or cultural origins literally visible. Translating that background into an expression of its own requires research, interpretation and abstraction before a concept, and ultimately form and imagery, can emerge from it. Cultural and historical context does not therefore have to translate directly into traditional symbols, local ingredients or recognisable cultural references. In the space between context and expression, a distinct form of authenticity can emerge.
So the question is not only how a brand's cultural background can be translated into its own expression of luxury. More interesting is why certain ideas about luxury have become so self-evident internationally that other expressions of luxury seem to have to position themselves in relation to them. Why should mastering those established codes be seen as the starting point for international recognition, acceptance and success in the first place?
A new dynamic could emerge when different expressions of luxury exist alongside one another. If luxury is no longer dominated by a single internationally recognisable language, the way it is recognised, understood and valued could change too. That does not have to mean replacing one prescribed luxury language with another. But what if multiple languages begin to exist alongside one another, each emerging from a different cultural and historical context?
Perhaps a next phase of luxury, then, is not about more and more brands speaking the same language, but about how many different languages luxury can speak.