How Luxury Brands Work

Abstract

I have often been privy to conversations about how to tell whether Calvin Klein, Versace, Donna Karan, Armani, or Ralph Lauren are or are not luxury brands. Invariably in Paris the discussion ended immediately with a scornful “no.” Once, after I cited one of the numerous American studies that placed these brands in the “luxury” category, I was greeted with this reply: “Don’t tell me you’re going to listen to what a bunch of Midwestern rednecks have to say!”