Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster
by Dana Thomas
List Price:
Our Price: $3.45
You Save: $24.50 (88%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Dana ThomasEdition: Hardcover
Published: 2007-08-16
ISBN: 1594201293
Number of pages: 384
Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The
Book Reviews of Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster
Book Review: informative and eye opening book
Summary: 5 Stars
this book was overall well written and full of interesting tibits about everything from the decline of haute couture and the rise of globalization. it definatly changed my mind about fashion shopping. probably not going to buy "luxury" items (made in china, supports business tycoons and not the designers/artists) even though i've had in the past. i recommend this book to anybody who wants to be a smart consumer.
Summary of Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster
A hard-hitting behind-the-scenes look at the luxury fashion industry todayThere was a time when luxury was available only to the rarefied and aristocratic world of old money and royalty. Luxury wasn't simply a product, it was a lifestyle, one that denoted a history of tradition, superior quality and offered a pampered buying experience. Today's luxury marketplace would be virtually unrecognizable to its founders. Gone are the family-owned businesses dedicated to integrity and quality; the industry is now run by multi-billion dollar global corporations focused on growth, visibility, brand-awareness, advertising and above all, profits. Handcrafted goods are practically extinct, and almost all manufacturing has been outsourced to large factories in such places as China, where your expensive brand-name handbag is being assembled right next to one from a mass-market label that will cost substantially less.
Dana Thomas, a journalist who has covered style and the luxury business for The Washington Post, Newsweek and The New York Times Magazine from Paris for the past fifteen years, digs deep into the dark side of the luxury industry to uncover all the secrets that Prada, Gucci and Burberry don't want us to know. Traveling from the laboratories in Grasse, where the ingredients for Christian Dior and Prada perfumes are produced, to the crowded factories in China, where workers glue together "Made in Italy" bags by the thousands, Thomas explores the whole of today's high-end shopping experience to answer some pressing questions: What is the new definition of luxury when advertising for this lifestyle is targeted mainly toward the mass market? What are we paying for when quality has given way to quantity? Can integrity survive in a corporate culture driven to meet regular growth and profit projections? Is luxury still the best that money can buy?
Thomas has traveled all over the world to interview corporate heads and factory workers, old-money, old-luxury clients and new luxury-obsessed middle-market consumers, and she paints a surprising picture of today's New Luxury. With Deluxe, she delivers a fast-paced, uncompromising look at the real world behind the glossy magazines and red carpet couture and asks: How did luxury lose its luster?
Popular Culture Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Audiobooks on Cassette
- Audiobooks on CD
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- e-Books
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Anti-Counterfeit
Dangerous Doses: A True Story of Cops, Counterfeiters, and the Contamination of America's Drug Supplyby Katherine Eban
Harvest Books; Published: 2006-05-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.19
Price in other shops:
Knockoff: The Deadly Trade in Counterfeit Goods: The True Story of the World's Fastest Growing Crime Waveby Tim Phillips
Kogan Page; Published: 2007-05-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.99
Price in other shops:
Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Lusterby Dana Thomas
Penguin Press HC, The; Published: 2007-08-16; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $4.95
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
The End of Fashion: How Marketing Changed the Clothing Business Foreverby Teri Agins
Harper Paperbacks; Published: 2000-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.94
Price in other shops:
Let Them Eat Cake: Marketing Luxury to the Masses - As well as the Classesby Pamela Danziger
Kaplan Business; Published: 2005-01-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $16.44
Price in other shops:
The Official Filthy Rich Handbookby Christopher Tennant
Workman Publishing Company; Published: 2008-06-19; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.00
Price in other shops:
The Beautiful Fall: Lagerfeld, Saint Laurent, and Glorious Excess in 1970s Parisby Alicia Drake
Little, Brown and Company; Published: 2006-09-05; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $16.79
Price in other shops:
The Cult of the Luxury Brand: Inside Asia's Love Affair With Luxuryby Radha Chadha, Paul Husband
Nicholas Brealey Publishing; Published: 2007-01-09; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $19.68
Price in other shops:
Chasing Cool: Standing Out in Today's Cluttered Marketplaceby Noah Kerner, Gene Pressman
Atria; Published: 2007-05-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $5.04
Price in other shops:
Fashion Babylonby Imogen Edwards-Jones, Anonymous
Atria; Published: 2008-02-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.54
Price in other shops:
The Little Black Book of Styleby Nina Garcia
Collins Living; Published: 2007-09-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $11.25
Price in other shops:
Bringing Home the Birkin: My Life in Hot Pursuit of the World's Most Coveted Handbagby Michael Tonello
William Morrow; Published: 2008-05-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.94
Price in other shops:
Richistan: A Journey Through the American Wealth Boom and the Lives of the New Richby Robert Frank
Three Rivers Press; Published: 2008-06-24; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.99
Price in other shops: