A Small Talk on Luxury Brands

  “Luxury is the necessity that begins where necessity ends”- Coco Channel     

Donning an Armani suit or a Gucci dress while carrying a Louis Vuitton and riding in a Mercedes-Benz, now that would be life! Living a luxurious life is everyone’s ultimate goal in life, a concept that has turned into a full-fledged market today. Luxury brands, a part of the huge business market, yet apart from anything existing. According to traditional definition luxury is a state of great comfort or elegance, especially when involving great expense or an inessential, desirable item which is expensive or difficult to obtain, or more simply put a pleasure obtained rarely. Now there is a whole a market for Luxury Brands making that rare pleasure slightly more obtainable, of course it is for the elite, but then again each one of us is striving to get there, creating a huge demand for Luxury Brands.

The Luxury market is an all encompassing industry which includes fashion, accessories, automobiles and much, much more. In the economic sense luxury goods or luxury brands are something for which as demand increases as income does. Luxury Brands on the other hand is regarded as images on the minds of consumers who associate that image or brand with fine quality, something rare, extraordinary, exquisite and pricey. Luxury Brands have gained memento over the years, and have emerged in every branch of industry, from fashion to automobile to travel every business of Luxury Brands attached to them.

Abhay Gupta, Founder and CEO, Luxury Content and also the recipient of Luxury Retail Icon, 2012 was at Whistling Woods Neeta Lulla School of Fashion sharing some useful insight on Luxury Brands. According him to quality and knowledge are the keys to evolve as a professional in the luxury market segment. 

A Luxury Brands are looking for different skill sets in a resource and the learners should be knowledgeable equipped. Expanding your thinking and knowledge across different segment of business will help you evolve as a professional in the Luxury Market. The Hybrid Luxury Market is evolving enormously and creating enviable employment opportunities for equipped professionals. Moreover, Luxury Market and Brands are immune to recession and the industry grows at an average of 20% every year.

Abhay Gupta is also the first one to establish India’s firsts Luxury Boutique Business School. Luxury Brands in India still have to gain more strength and root themselves into stronger grounds. In India consumers still tend to prefer international brands, but the vast and elusive industry has been in an ever changing mode.          

Shine Bright like a Diamond

Clothes, shopping and fashion are some of the things that humans cannot live without. A large amount of money is spent on buying the latest trends and boy, do we spend! The graceful gowns, the stylish dress, and the trendy denims all lead to lighter pockets. Manish Malhotra, Rocky S, Gucci, Gabbana and the who’s who create some of the most alluring garments that we have no other choice but to bag! Yet the prices of these apparels pale against some of designers who have created extraordinary creations and of course a price tag to match. We have compiled a list of the most expensive garments ever made, and most of which have used a girl’s best friend: Diamonds.

Debbie Wingham's The Abaya

British designer Debbie Wingham created The Abaya, which would have sounded like any other creation if not for the fact that the price tag flaunted is a cool £11.7 million. The dress is a loose over-garment, a robe like dress, worn mainly in the Middle East. It is a detailed work, but the main appeal of the creation lies at the center of the dress in which the world’s rarest and most expensive diamonds dazzle. It is said that one in every hundred million diamonds is a natural red color which on average are found every 50 years, but are too small to grab attention, so getting a cluster of them is quite an achievement. 

Debbie Wingham working on The Abaya

Besides using red diamonds, the dress is crafted using fifty 2 carat white and black diamonds, which are all set in platinum. The dress is hand-stitched in 14 carat white gold thread, all of which has made this one pricey dress. 

Debbie Wingham's work

This British designer seems to fancy diamonds a lot. Wingham’s creation for the Ukraine Fashion Show was encrusted with fifty 2 carat black diamonds and the dress amounts to a staggering £3.5 million. 

Debbie Wingham's work

The work on the bustier is handmade (which is six months worth of work) and boasts a center piece of five carats of black diamonds, securing a position on every girl’s wish list.  

Faisol Abdullah's Nightingale of KL

Another designer by the name of Faisol Abdullah created a Nightingale of KL, which is a vibrant red gown with a splendid 750 pieces of diamonds and Swarovski crystals and that is not all, the added 70 carat tear drop diamond surely adds a spark to the dress.

Marilyn Monroe

Let’s conclude with a bit of history. The gorgeous Marilyn Monroe delivered a sultry ‘Happy Birthday’ to President John F. Kennedy wearing a sheer and sheath flesh-colored jewel-encrusted dress. Rumor has it that the gown was so tight that Monroe was sewn into the gown.

Marilyn Monroe's gown

These are just a few examples there are many more designers who have created some extravagant clothing using the ever-loving diamonds taking luxury to whole different levels.