There are customized suits and books. Rich and powerful people really have everything, and some things are the latest trend: autobiographies written by hired people. No matter where you are, as long as you pay more than $654.38 million, a publishing company Myspecialbook.com will write, design and publish an autobiography for you. Exquisite inner pages are full of exquisite pictures, personal letters and other unforgettable things, which skillfully show the life of a rich and powerful person to the world. There are many comments and anecdotes from the host's friends in the book. Pedrosa, director of new york Luxury Association, remembers that a famous billionaire was moved to tears when he received such a gift from his wife. "This is your life story, told by people who love you," he said. "Can you imagine something more personal than this? This is a real luxury. "
The luxury goods industry is not what it used to be. Forget high-end fashion handbags, they were commercialized many years ago. Order a yacht? Not rare! Even luxury goods manufacturers themselves seem to be a little tired of all this-top designers design clothes for discount stores, and the cold marble palaces of high-end hotels are not as good as cabins on the beach. According to the Lynch Karp Gemini Global Wealth Report in 2006, after years of global wealth creation, there are now about 8.7 million millionaires in the world. The wealth owned by the rich has increased from 16.6 trillion dollars 10 years ago to the current 33.3 trillion dollars. At the same time, with the large-scale expansion of luxury goods, everyone can buy cosmetics made by Sister Florence online, and the Louvre opened a branch in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Is it no longer unique?
The luxury goods industry is undergoing a great change. As the initial driving force, with the continuous expansion of wealth to new places around the world, its consumer groups have undergone tremendous changes; The distribution of luxury goods has also changed. The Internet and ubiquitous retail stores make it easy to buy luxury goods. More importantly, the nature and services of luxury goods are also evolving. Consumers are not pursuing glitz, but exquisiteness, uniqueness, surprise, humor and even privacy, because rich people always want to be unique. They don't want another pair of Jimmy Choos shoes or a Bentley at all. They are eager to get an appointment with JAR, a famous jeweler in Paris (because you may not get such an opportunity), and hope to be invited to a holiday resort, enjoy the entertainment of rock stars, or be taught by Nobel Prize winners. Most importantly, they need meaning, emotion and intimacy, so "fraternity travel" became popular. Tourists from afar help build a school or start a small foundation for sanitary drinking water projects. This is not a way for people with equal status to show off their wealth, but a way to compete with Gates, the richest man in the world.
The era of big-name designers in fashion has become a thing of the past, and little-known designers have become heroes behind the scenes.
Until recently, luxury goods were strictly divided into several industries (fashion shops making clothes, brewers brewing famous wines, etc.). ). But the younger generation of luxury consumers are getting tired of these common goods. Today, the upper-class female consumers have an average of four or five specially designed handbags, compared with 65,438+0 to 265,438+00 years ago. At the same time, they have more money to buy luxury goods than their parents, and are looking for new types of goods and services to pay extra cash.
In a secret and luxurious restaurant in new york. This restaurant is only open to a few rich and powerful people.
In the past, famous clothing brands were always associated with the names of their big-name designers. Now, everything seems to be changing, and everyone can become a fashion designer. Celebrities of fashion design have stepped out of power, and they belong to the last century. Luxury brands no longer poach stars from their competitors. On the contrary, they choose young designers who have worked as assistants to big-name designers and are unknown, making them outstanding and unknown. Gianini, the creative director of Gucci, is a good example. Roman, 34, studied at the Rome Fashion Institute and won several design competitions. Shortly after graduation, she joined Fendi, a luxury brand headquartered in Rome, as an assistant in the accessories department. During Gianini's tenure in this company, Fendi's sales increased explosively. Six years later, Gianini moved to London and joined the team of Gucci handbag design director tom ford as the head of accessories department. After two years of poor performance, other Ford assistants left their jobs. In June 5438+ 10, 2006, President Gucci asked Gianini to take over the whole business.
During the three quarters as the director of Gucci's creative department, Gianini's clothing and handbags were well received by the media, and the sales volume surged, making it one of the best two years in the company's history. In 2006, Gucci's sales reached more than $265,438 billion.
The era of big-name designers in fashion has become a thing of the past, and little-known designers have become heroes behind the scenes. So is shopping. Although Paris and Milan are still fashion capitals, more and more people prefer to go to unknown places to buy luxury goods. Tim van Steber's studio is hidden in an unremarkable street in Antwerp, and trams and shopping old ladies' wheelbarrows shuttle back and forth. Tim's design studio is located in the workshop of an old clothing factory. He is working for the 2008 "Hollywood Goddess Meets Greek Song God" fashion show. Tim knows that Antwerp is not fashion capital of the world, but he thinks it is a small city with diverse cultures, which can encourage tourists to go out and feel everything.
Fashion always revolves around Paris, new york, London and Milan, which are the homes of shoppers seeking the latest fashion. These fashion capitals still maintain their importance in this industry today, but a number of second-tier shopping cities are challenging their dominance, including Antwerp, Istanbul, Shanghai and Chicago. When the fashion season changes, you will go to Paris or Milan, which is not much different from what you saw in Shanghai or Istanbul.
Globalization has pushed fashion education to a farther and wider field. Today, people know the same thing in Shanghai and Milan. 10 years ago, a housewife in Liverpool, England, had never heard of Marni, but now she is excited to bid for last season's fashion items in Yi Bei. This means that high-end consumers need to go beyond their horizons to maintain their uniqueness. "People don't want to see three other people wearing the same Chanel dress at the party, they want something unique and customized," said the fashion industry analyst. "I believe that the era of opening a small fashion design shop will come. You don't have to compete with the whole system. "
The most popular houses, bars and restaurants keep a low-key image.
Works designed by Hadid
At the Venice exhibition last month, Carl introduced an unusual object, which was elegant in color, graceful in curve, soft and quiet. It's hard to see what it is from the photo, like a big handbag or a beautiful hat. Actually, it's an architectural model designed by Hadid. This movable and detachable art model will be exhibited in most parts of the world next year. Hadid and her colleagues won the first prize in design. Many talented architects around the world have made radical changes in silence. They ignored the fashion of 2 1 century and focused on the most eternal and basic elements of architecture to create a quiet space.
The simplicity and elegance of this scheme have attracted some serious customers, who don't want to make their house the target of public attention, but pay more attention to their personal experience in that space. Deborah Burke, an architect and professor at Yale University, focuses on simplicity in her neo-modernist architectural scheme, which shines with the ghost of the classical New England style cathedral she visited as a child. Pure white and noble space is full of structural design and lighting, not tedious decoration. Another architect, Louis Khan, said that architecture is to create space creatively and arrange natural light and artificial light artistically. Architects are working hard and space is singing. This house will be a poetic personal residence.
The same is true of bars frequented by wealthy Americans. The most popular bars and restaurants keep a low profile, very low. Without GPS guidance, you can hardly find them. When you pass in front of these secret nightclubs in Manhattan, it's time to test your judgment. However, when you enter it, you will get elegant equipment, carefully prepared cocktails and exciting fun, which makes it a secret refuge.
Industry experts predict that luxury goods will be far from homogenization, and some luxury brands may emerge from places unheard of before. This not only reflects the wealth of funds, the Internet has spread some small brands to distant customers, but also reflects a new consumer taste. For example, people would rather choose a $20,000 nightgown hand-embroidered by a seamstress than go to Paris to look for fashion as usual. Nowadays, the rich pay more and more attention to timeliness and convenience. 98% of the wealthy Americans use the Internet to buy such goods and services, and half of them buy them regularly. Therefore, even a top brand like Hermes is only a matter of time before it is sold online.
Even if the rich don't shop online, they still protect their privacy by shopping at home. Answer the phone of a high-end consumer goods retailer, and the personal display cabinet will be moved to the customer's home or a small and luxurious place with only a few onlookers. Customers can sit there leisurely, smoking and drinking tea, while choosing clothes.
Even when traveling, the rich want to be as quiet and comfortable as home. Some top hotels provide personalized service for regular customers. The boutique group in London will launch a series of exclusive hotels for its members in 2008. Guests don't need to register there. The card on the door will call the waiter, and their luggage will be delivered to the usual room immediately. The staff will warmly welcome them in private. In almost all aspects of luxury travel, simplicity and moderation have now become the only rules. Rich people don't want a free bottle of crystal wine or a big-screen plasma TV. Experienced travelers want to be touched emotionally even if they stay in a middle-priced hotel: when they leave, they find a bouquet of fragrant local flowers in the back seat of the car or a list of the best dishes printed on the bill.
For the rich, when you have everything, the most fashionable gesture is to let everything disappear. In more and more young financiers and entrepreneurs, the giving and giving of fraternity is growing rapidly. They often set up foundations in their own names to help and develop society, which is the most successful luxury recently. According to industry experts, the future luxury goods will be to input the meaning of existence into products. If it can touch the heart of the super-rich, you can bet it will be very valuable.