Driving by the Marine Blvd in San Francisco on a winter evening, watching the yellow shaded living spaces through the clear glass windows of the houses made me wonder how living in such a posh location must be like. The carefully tied drapes and the parts of dark wood furniture — at least the parts I could see — seemed to me as an epitome of a luxurious lifestyle. This made me wonder, why does luxury seem so appealing in the first place. And is luxury the privilege of exclusivity or the price we pay for someone's time, or both? Can luxury and exclusiveness be used interchangeably?
So how could something exclusive be considered luxurious?
Well there are two parts to it. Not everything exclusive is luxurious, but everything luxurious is exclusive or made to look that way.
Why do we keep getting drawn to exclusive items?
As humans we like to be perceived as different from the herd. From the shoes we wear to that neatly crafted photo of them on social media. If everyone has the same taste or similar photos put up, the crowd is less likely to appreciate your individuality. As social as we are, societal recognition is the feedback we gain for our choices. Owning something unique or being a part of a gated group fills that void.
Self esteem
Does the ownership of a one-of-a-kind item or experience raise our self esteem? Modern consumerism has become very social — we enjoy sharing our day to day experiences on the web. So if showcasing something new and different gains us the recognition we seek, we seek it. If not everyone can get their hands on something, does it make us feel good? An interesting point is the case for authentic pride vs hubris pride. Where one is our genuine desire to reward ourselves on an achievement — luxury hence is a side effect — while the latter is an intentional showcase of luxury. Our intention to reap the social rewards of uniqueness drives a lot of our day to day decisions. Consequently, companies try to address our need for uniqueness by making products short in supply or marketing them so.
Confidence
Does ownership of anything unique make us feel confident in societal structure? If owning an item limited to a group can make us feel included and more confident, we certainly would like to fit in. After all we are social and emotional beings — we make emotional choices and rationalize them later.
Self expression
Is it also a form of self expression? People have different tastes and choices. If pursuing them can give an impression of luxury relative to someone who lacks that kind of taste, it will be perceived accordingly. However if enough people lacking that taste try to adopt the same one, it no longer is a taste and just becomes banal.
Certainly there are a lot of other factors being researched by psychologists and some may not be accurate as stated above. But it still is thought provoking.
What makes products exclusive or short in supply?
Exclusivity can be created by employing clever marketing tactics or intentional targeting of a demographic. Things can be manufactured at a reasonable price but targeted for a certain demographic. Take for example Apple iPhones, which certainly are a good breed of product. However the prices are set high enough to make it something aspirational for people who cannot afford it and creates an aura of exclusivity around the overall Apple brand itself. ($550 for a pair of headphones, really?!)
Nowhere discounting the product quality, but things can be made cheaper. We can certainly assert that material costs for those sapphire crystal displays and aluminium frames do come at a higher cost. This is another reason where exclusivity gets created not intentionally but as a byproduct. Use of higher quality or limited materials raises the cost of the product itself, consequently the price, and limiting the people who can afford it. As expensive as materials are, so is labour. Handcrafted items require a craftsman or craftswoman to spend endless hours creating a fine product. They must be compensated for their skills, time and effort. They can only make a given quantity of products, unlike machines that can keep toiling on electricity. Hence shortage of output results in higher prices and a limited customer base.
Things can be rare simply due to the lack of enough of them — diamonds. In such cases are we actually paying for the product itself? Or are we paying for the time of a person who labored days to dig raw diamonds and the person who polishes by hand and inspects it to deliver the final glittering rock? Both. So does that mean that mass produced goods cannot be considered a luxury? Certainly not. But nothing stops them being marketed as such.
Going back to the houses along the pier in San Francisco, they check a lot of boxes:
- Quality — certainly, who wouldn't enjoy a house with a view overlooking the ocean.
- Shortage — well, they can only fit a certain number along the pier.
- Demand — you can check the prices for those homes on the web.
To sum it up: human nature and clever brand marketing work together to give luxury a meaning.
Thanks Dakshil, Rohan, Sharad, Vineet for some critical feedback on the first article.