What Is Luxury? A Dream, Perhaps.
One week into my Master’s in Luxury Brand Management in Milan, Italy, and I am already questioning everything I thought I knew about luxury.
“What is luxury?”
I have been asked this question in almost every class this past week. And every time, we are told that there is no right answer. Luxury is subjective. It is personal. It means something different to everyone.But what has been interesting to me is not the question itself, but how differently everyone seems to approach it.Almost everyone around me, especially students from Italy, France and other parts of Europe, seems to know so much about luxury already. From the names of brands and how to pronounce them, to different types of bags, designers, perfumes, beauty products and the histories behind these fashion houses. A lot of this knowledge seems to come naturally to them.
Meanwhile, I find myself trying to catch up.
Of course, it makes sense. When you grow up in a place where many of these brands originated, where their stores are part of the city and their names are familiar even to people who may never buy from them, you are exposed to a completely different world. It becomes a part of your surroundings, your culture and, to some extent, your general knowledge.
For me, coming from India, it has been a different experience altogether.
And I think that is what has made this first week so interesting.
Luxury as an experience
When we were asked what luxury meant to us, a large part of my class spoke about experience, joy and positive emotions.And I do agree with them.
Luxury is the entire experience of a brand. It starts when you see an advertisement or a campaign that catches your attention. Then comes the curiosity, the desire to own the product, the experience of walking into a flagship store, the way you are treated, the packaging and finally, the feeling of walking out with something you have wanted.
It is not just about the product. It is everything that happens around it.But while listening to these answers, I realised that I had never really thought about luxury this way before.
For me, luxury was always something you worked towards. Something you wanted to own someday. I understood the feeling of wanting something, but I had never really thought about the entire experience that a brand creates to make you want it in the first place.
And that got me thinking about how much our understanding of luxury depends on where we come from.
In India, luxury is a dream.
India is now being discussed as one of the emerging markets for luxury. We are often referred to as the next big opportunity for international brands, the new consumers, the market with potential.
But sometimes I wonder how much of this conversation reflects the reality of the country.
India has a population of more than a billion people, but how many are actually familiar with luxury brands beyond the names they see celebrities wearing? And how many understand the history, craftsmanship and brand identity behind these products?
Of course, India is incredibly diverse, and there are consumers who have been buying international luxury for generations. But for a large part of the population, luxury is still something distant. Something you see, admire and perhaps hope to own one day.
It is not necessarily something you experience.
I first became acquainted with luxury in this way. As a dream.
One of the designers I worked for had been running her own brand for around ten years. She had spent nearly twenty years of her life working in the creative field, building her brand, working with traditional Indian brands and putting years of effort into her career.
At around forty, she finally bought herself a Louis Vuitton bag.
I remember this because it was not just about buying an expensive bag. It was something she had wanted for years. For her, it was a reward for everything she had worked towards. Almost a way of telling herself that she had reached a point in her life where she could finally afford something she had always wanted.
And I think that was the first time I understood what luxury could mean to someone.
I did not know much about Louis Vuitton back then. I did not know the history behind the brand, its craftsmanship or why a particular bag could cost so much. I certainly did not understand the experience that luxury brands work so hard to create.
But I understood her happiness.
I understood the feeling of working for years, achieving something and finally being able to reward yourself.
That was luxury to me.
It was not about the bag itself, but what the bag represented. Years of work, personal achievement and a feeling of gratification.
Looking back, I realise that my first understanding of luxury was closely connected to success. You worked hard, you achieved something, and one day, you could afford it.
Luxury was something you reached.
Knowing luxury versus dreaming of it
Coming to Milan has made me realise that there is a difference between growing up around luxury and growing up wanting to be a part of it.
Some of my classmates already know the brands, their histories and the little details that make one product different from another. They understand why certain bags are iconic or why a particular designer matters. For them, a lot of this information is already familiar.
For me, it is all part of the learning process.
I am slowly understanding that there is so much more to a product than what you see. The materials, the craftsmanship, the person who designed it, the history of the house and even the cultural references behind a collection all contribute to how we perceive it.
A bag is no longer just a bag when you know the story behind it.
And perhaps this is what I have been missing. Not the desire to own luxury, but the knowledge that allows you to understand it differently.
At the same time, it makes me question something.
If luxury is so personal, how much of what we desire is actually our own choice? And how much of it comes from the environment we grow up in?
Would I want a particular bag if I had never seen a celebrity carrying it? Would I still consider it special if I did not know the brand name? Would I want it as much if nobody around me recognised it?
I honestly do not know.
But I am beginning to understand that luxury is not just about the person buying the product. It is also about the world that makes that product desirable.
Why are influencers invited to fashion shows?
One of the things that came up in our discussions was the presence of influencers at fashion shows and exclusive fashion events.
Why are influencers being invited to these events instead of actual designers or people who have spent years working in the fashion industry?
It is a fair question. But when I started looking at it from the perspective of someone who is still learning about the industry, I began to see it differently.
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Influencers are a way for brands to reach people who might otherwise never come across them.
Think about India.
Someone who has never read a fashion magazine or followed a designer’s work might not know much about Valentino, Elie Saab or John Galliano. But they might follow a Bollywood actor who attends a fashion show, wears a particular designer or becomes the face of a luxury brand.
Suddenly, that brand is on their screen.
They might not know its history, but they know the person wearing it. They might not understand the collection, but they recognise the name. And the next time they see the brand, it is no longer completely unfamiliar.
I have seen how much more aware people in India have become of international luxury brands through celebrities and social media. A celebrity attending an event or an actress representing a jewellery house can introduce a brand to an audience that traditional fashion media may never reach in the same way.
And that is where I think influencers become important.
They are not just there to attend an event. They are helping brands reach new audiences, create awareness and, eventually, build desire.
Of course, there is a difference between making a brand visible and making people understand it. Someone might know Chanel because a celebrity wears it, but that does not necessarily mean they know anything about its history or what makes it different.
Still, awareness has to begin somewhere.
For someone who is unfamiliar with luxury, seeing a brand repeatedly might be the first step towards wanting to know more about it.
And suddenly, those front-row invitations make a little more sense to me.
Is a Birkin really worth it?
There is another thing I keep thinking about.
In the world of luxury, the Hermès Birkin is often treated as one of the ultimate status symbols. It is desirable because of its craftsmanship, exclusivity, brand history and the difficulty associated with getting one. There is also a lot of discussion around its resale value.
But I wonder how someone buying luxury in India looks at it.
If you have enough money to buy a Birkin, would you choose to spend it on the bag, or would you rather invest that money in gold, property or stocks?
In India, gold has a very different meaning from what it might have in other parts of the world. It is connected to weddings, family traditions, security and wealth. Property can mean stability and achievement. Investments can mean building something for the future.
A luxury bag might represent something else altogether. Personal taste, social status, access to a certain lifestyle or simply the pleasure of owning something beautiful.
None of these meanings is necessarily wrong. They are just different.
And although certain luxury bags can perform well in the resale market, I do not think it is fair to treat them as guaranteed investments. Their value depends on several factors, and buying one purely for financial returns is a very different decision from buying one because you have wanted it for years.
So, is a Birkin worth it?
I suppose that depends on what you want from it.
But this is where I find the Indian luxury market particularly interesting. A brand might have a very specific idea of what its product represents, but when that product enters another culture, it becomes part of a completely different set of values and aspirations.
What feels like the ultimate luxury to one person might not mean the same thing to someone else.And perhaps brands need to understand that just as much as they need to understand their products.
Luxury is knowing
After a week of these conversations, I keep coming back to one thought.
Luxury is knowing.
Knowing the brand, its history, its craftsmanship and the story behind the product. Knowing why a particular design matters and why one bag might be more desirable than another. Knowing the difference between something that is simply expensive and something that has a history, a purpose and a distinct identity.
But I also think that luxury is about recognition.
You could own a Dior bag and still feel that it means very little in a room where nobody knows what it is. And, in another setting, that same bag might communicate something about your taste, your knowledge or your social position without you having to say a word.
It is strange when you think about it. Sometimes, the value of a product comes partly from the fact that other people recognise it.
Luxury is personal, but it is also social.
You buy something because you like it, but there can also be a part of you that wants others to understand why you chose it. You want to belong to a world where people recognise the same details, appreciate the same things and understand what a particular object represents.
At least, I think that is one part of it.
Because if something is beautiful, well-made and meaningful to you, should it matter whether anyone else knows the brand?
I would like to say no.
And yet, so much of the luxury industry is built around recognition, exclusivity and the desire to own something that not everyone can have.
That contradiction is something I am still trying to understand.
So, what is luxury to me?
This first week in Milan has been quite eye-opening. Not because I have suddenly learnt everything about luxury, but because I have realised how much there is to learn.
There is a difference between someone who has grown up around these brands and someone who is still discovering them. And I have started to understand that I do not need to pretend otherwise.
I come from India, where luxury has its own context. I come from a background in fashion and textile design, where I have learnt to appreciate the materials, the people, the time and the work that go into creating a product.Perhaps that will shape the way I eventually look at luxury.
I am still learning the names, the histories and the codes. I am still figuring out why certain brands matter so much and why certain products become objects of desire.
But I am also learning to question things. To look beyond the price tag, beyond the celebrity wearing the product, and beyond the idea that luxury is simply about owning something expensive.
I still do not have a perfect answer to the question, “What is luxury?”
Maybe that is the point. Maybe the answer changes as you learn more, experience more and understand yourself a little better.For some people, luxury might be something they have always known. For others, it might be something they have spent years working towards.For me, it has been both a dream and a learning process.And even though I am now studying it, surrounded by the brands and the people who know so much about it, I think a part of me will always see luxury as a dream.Not necessarily a dream of owning a particular bag or wearing a particular brand.But a dream of understanding this world, finding my own perspective within it, and eventually becoming a part of it in my own way.
For now, I think that is my answer.
