While checking out one of my other favorite sites I came across a review of a book by Dana Thomas titled Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster. From reading the review on this website and reviews on amazon this book seems like a great read. Here is the review from Linda Grant on http://www.bagsnob.com:

Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster
A Book Review by Linda Grant:

As London eagerly awaits the opening, later this month, of the Victoria and Albert Museum’s landmark fashion exhibition, The Golden Age of Couture, a new book reveals exactly how far we have come from the days when a small elite of aristocratic women were the market for luxury goods.

Deluxe: How Luxury Lost its Luster delves into the mainly European-led luxury market, the heirs to some of the world’s most famous houses: Hermes, Chanel, Dior and Louis Vuitton. Dana Thomas’ thesis, unsurprisingly, is that luxury goods have been democratised, that anyone prepared to max out their credit card can buy deluxe. The trend started in Japan in the 1980s, with disposable income looking for something to spend it on, and has now radiated out to the formerly Communist states - China and the Soviet Union – long starved of things to buy,. Under the direction of two or three companies controlling almost all world-wide luxury brands, once-distinguished houses have now become the window-dressing for the most ruthless forms of capitalism.

If you want to read more of her review check out the link below.

http://www.bagsnob.com/2007/09/snob_book_r...ry_lo.html#more

Happy Reading!

I heard a recent discussion with the author of this book on NPR. Here is the link:

//www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14185246

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"the World Customs Organization states that the fashion industry loses up to $9.7 billion (7.5 billion Euros) per year to counterfeiting"

I'm not arguing about where the funds are going, but this figure must be a hypothetical one. Hypothetically - if everyone who bought a fake actually bought a genuine item. But this probably isn't real dollars lost. Very few of those who bought a fake would have actually bought from a legitimate store.

Quote from the same book, I believe:

"Luxury players took the focus off quality and put it on the logo, which switched the game to carrying a logo or not. The name became more desirable than goods themselves."

Completely agree with this statement. The luxury industry definitely had a hand in creating the problem. Maybe I'm just cheap, but when I see a $300 designer top, I can't understand why it is still made of POLYESTER!! Okay, maybe that doesn't happen so often, but it's ridiculous when it does.

One last question: does Diane Von Furstenberg own the wrap dress design?