Home » Opinion » Book review
Spending and flaunting also distort children's values
By Ni Tao |
November 20, 2010, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
THERE were times when the language barrier could mar the pomp of Chinese consumers splurging big bucks on luxury goods overseas.
Not anymore. Speaking English, French or Italian is no longer required in some places to ask for or haggle over prices of their coveted items.
To cater to the growing legion of spendthrift Chinese patrons, the Galeries Lafayette Department Store in Paris, a mecca for pilgrims of luxury brands, has been employing Chinese speakers in recent years to serve as "sales guides."
Big promotion signs in Chinese adorn Lafayette's Art Deco premises. There are even notices in Chinese detailing the extra discounts for making purchases worth more than 1,500 euros (US$2,043).
Those newly prosperous Chinese have occasionally asserted their power to punish whoever insults them. In February, a newlywed couple from Zhejiang Province was mistaken for con artists at Lafayette and endured several hours of harassment as a result.
After the incident was reported, the managers of Lafayette felt compelled to hold a press conference to apologize to the wronged couple, due less to public pressure than to the fact that many Chinese tourists had dropped Lafayette from their Paris itinerary as a form of protest, leading to a drop in its sales.
Things were completely different 10 years ago. Chinese customers at Lafayette were few and mostly penny pinchers. The conspicuous Asian presence there was the Japanese. "Sales guides" then had to speak Japanese to ply their trade.
The changing demographics of the clientele at Lafayette reflects a shifting landscape in the global luxury market. Although a latecomer to this world of luxury brands, the sheer number of Chinese consumers has become a major force driving the industry's growth.
A recent survey by consulting firm Bain & Co predicts the China luxury market to grow 23 percent this year, Xinhua reported on Thursday.
In their book "The Cult of the Luxury Brand," Radha Chadha and Paul Husband trace the rise of luxury culture gripping much of East Asia and explain why Asians seem to be particularly fond of deluxe goods.
They believe the general Asian affection for luxury brands is essentially shaped by economic clout. At first, however, their newfound affluence failed to bring about the desired changes in Western perception of Asians as exotic, or in other words, unpresentable in upper-crust society.
"Luxury brands are a modern set of symbols that Asians are wearing to redefine their identity and social position," the authors argue.
Asians eager to imitate the Western way resorted to buying and donning luxury attire wholesale. After all, what better way to flaunt their wealth and status than wearing easily identifiable, luxury brand products?
No people better illustrate this argument than the Japanese, known for their fervent brand loyalty to Louis Vuitton. From head to toe, Japanese women strutting in downtown Tokyo are walking advertisements of the French fashion house.
One result of this luxury mania is that "many Asians of moderate means are simply spending their way up the social hierarchy, often in amounts totally out of whack with their real income," the authors argue.
We have often heard of young fashionistas saving urgently - even skipping meals - for several months to afford an LV handbag, under peer pressure.
The health consequences of dieting, compared with the superficial glamor of carrying an LV status symbol and becoming the envy of all, become "less dire."
Yet when the buying spree results in a plethora of certain brands, whether authentic or counterfeit, it induces aesthetic fatigue or distaste for them.
This poses the biggest paradox. As Chadha and Husband incisively point out, "Today's luxe consumer consumes the buzz as much as she does the product." Luxury products, as typical "Veblen goods" (for which popularity increases with the price) are meaningful only when they have the effect of differentiating their owners from the rest.
This notion is echoed by the aforementioned Bain & Co survey, which found a "homogenizing trend" in Chinese buying patterns and preferences of luxury brands. LV, Chanel and Gucci rank as the most sought-after brands, while Prada, Giorgio Armani and Versace are the top performers in their lineup of products, said the survey.
Imagine the streets swarming with people clad in the same brands. What's so glamorous about it?
The authors also mentioned, albeit only in passing, the clash between Western notion of comforts that luxury brands symbolize and the traditional Asian values of thrift and modesty.
While the jury is still out on whether luxury brands have a corrosive effect on the traditional virtues we claim to hold dear, I tend to look for signs of a clear verdict.
When my 9-year-old niece told me recently that her biggest wish is to have all the haute couture and glittering jewelry her mother boasts, it filled me with more sadness than astonishment.
The impact of conspicuous consumption on our national psyche manifests itself through the naive yet revealing words of a child who willingly conforms to it.
Not anymore. Speaking English, French or Italian is no longer required in some places to ask for or haggle over prices of their coveted items.
To cater to the growing legion of spendthrift Chinese patrons, the Galeries Lafayette Department Store in Paris, a mecca for pilgrims of luxury brands, has been employing Chinese speakers in recent years to serve as "sales guides."
Big promotion signs in Chinese adorn Lafayette's Art Deco premises. There are even notices in Chinese detailing the extra discounts for making purchases worth more than 1,500 euros (US$2,043).
Those newly prosperous Chinese have occasionally asserted their power to punish whoever insults them. In February, a newlywed couple from Zhejiang Province was mistaken for con artists at Lafayette and endured several hours of harassment as a result.
After the incident was reported, the managers of Lafayette felt compelled to hold a press conference to apologize to the wronged couple, due less to public pressure than to the fact that many Chinese tourists had dropped Lafayette from their Paris itinerary as a form of protest, leading to a drop in its sales.
Things were completely different 10 years ago. Chinese customers at Lafayette were few and mostly penny pinchers. The conspicuous Asian presence there was the Japanese. "Sales guides" then had to speak Japanese to ply their trade.
The changing demographics of the clientele at Lafayette reflects a shifting landscape in the global luxury market. Although a latecomer to this world of luxury brands, the sheer number of Chinese consumers has become a major force driving the industry's growth.
A recent survey by consulting firm Bain & Co predicts the China luxury market to grow 23 percent this year, Xinhua reported on Thursday.
In their book "The Cult of the Luxury Brand," Radha Chadha and Paul Husband trace the rise of luxury culture gripping much of East Asia and explain why Asians seem to be particularly fond of deluxe goods.
They believe the general Asian affection for luxury brands is essentially shaped by economic clout. At first, however, their newfound affluence failed to bring about the desired changes in Western perception of Asians as exotic, or in other words, unpresentable in upper-crust society.
"Luxury brands are a modern set of symbols that Asians are wearing to redefine their identity and social position," the authors argue.
Asians eager to imitate the Western way resorted to buying and donning luxury attire wholesale. After all, what better way to flaunt their wealth and status than wearing easily identifiable, luxury brand products?
No people better illustrate this argument than the Japanese, known for their fervent brand loyalty to Louis Vuitton. From head to toe, Japanese women strutting in downtown Tokyo are walking advertisements of the French fashion house.
One result of this luxury mania is that "many Asians of moderate means are simply spending their way up the social hierarchy, often in amounts totally out of whack with their real income," the authors argue.
We have often heard of young fashionistas saving urgently - even skipping meals - for several months to afford an LV handbag, under peer pressure.
The health consequences of dieting, compared with the superficial glamor of carrying an LV status symbol and becoming the envy of all, become "less dire."
Yet when the buying spree results in a plethora of certain brands, whether authentic or counterfeit, it induces aesthetic fatigue or distaste for them.
This poses the biggest paradox. As Chadha and Husband incisively point out, "Today's luxe consumer consumes the buzz as much as she does the product." Luxury products, as typical "Veblen goods" (for which popularity increases with the price) are meaningful only when they have the effect of differentiating their owners from the rest.
This notion is echoed by the aforementioned Bain & Co survey, which found a "homogenizing trend" in Chinese buying patterns and preferences of luxury brands. LV, Chanel and Gucci rank as the most sought-after brands, while Prada, Giorgio Armani and Versace are the top performers in their lineup of products, said the survey.
Imagine the streets swarming with people clad in the same brands. What's so glamorous about it?
The authors also mentioned, albeit only in passing, the clash between Western notion of comforts that luxury brands symbolize and the traditional Asian values of thrift and modesty.
While the jury is still out on whether luxury brands have a corrosive effect on the traditional virtues we claim to hold dear, I tend to look for signs of a clear verdict.
When my 9-year-old niece told me recently that her biggest wish is to have all the haute couture and glittering jewelry her mother boasts, it filled me with more sadness than astonishment.
The impact of conspicuous consumption on our national psyche manifests itself through the naive yet revealing words of a child who willingly conforms to it.
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