Luxury Calling

What is luxury: flying business class or flying a private jet?



This question did not appear in my head all of a sudden. I've just returned from a master class in Fashion, Luxury and Creative Venture Design by María Eugenia Girón, a profession from IE Business School, who came to Moscow to meet with prospective students and alumni among other important things. I took her entire course earlier this year, and still I was not disappointed: new examples, fresh looks of the materials - the fashion industry is moving rapidly and it is moving rapidly in the cyber-direction; that's one important takeaway from me. María Eugenia said today that life is too long to live it without passion, and it is so true about the fashion & luxury industry: if it's not in your heart, you won't be able to be a success there. You might want to check out these posts on jobs in luxury:

• HR in the Luxury Industry
• Future of the Jobs in Luxury, Fashion and Design

And here the key notes that I took from today's session (I'm sorry, I'm too tired to arrange them in logical order and make look pretty :)

• Sixpocket children generation is emerging: they get money from their parents and both pairs of their grandparents;
• Creativity at the right time is the innovation in the fashion industry;
• Most rapidly growing luxury areas in Russia are food & wine;
• Facebook is now the second biggest country in the world;
• 70% of all internet sales of luxury products are done at full price;
• Polarization: flying Ryanair to stay ay Four Seasons;
• Move from conspicuous consumption to authenticity;
• The luxury consumer is always looking for the best. And the best is related to the values.
• Loro Piana and Ermenegildo Zegna put together sustainability programs to preserve vicuñas in Peru (http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/oct/01/ethicalfashion.vicuna.wool);
• Tiffany stopped using coral in their jewellery. Drop in the ocean in terms of coral reef preservation but huge visibility for the company.
• Ethical mining of diamonds is sexy: moving from B2C to B2B now.
• Elvis & Kresse: rubbish to fashion.

At the end of the master class, María Eugenia left us with a wise thought that I also liked immensely:

The best moment to plant a tree is 20 years ago, but the second best is now.

Future of the Jobs in Luxury, Fashion and Design

The world of fashion, luxury and design has been captivating hearts and minds of people for centuries. We want to be close to what is beautiful, attractive and valuable. It makes us feel good. It makes us feel valuable, just like the precious pieces that we create, handle and sell in multi-million dollar boutiques around the globe. We want to be associated with such names as Patek Phillipe, Louis Vuitton, Carolina Herrera and such. What is all this industry about? Basically - about anticipating the dreams of people, helping customers live those dreams and revel at the intimate proximity of sheer beauty.

Contrary to popular opinions, creative people sometimes do know how to make money, and not surprisingly, the luxury industry is growing, while others are shrinking. As I learnt from my professor, María Eugenia Girón (former CEO of Carrera y Carrera, by the way), it's nearly a 160 billion euro industry (2009), which continue growing or at least was not as susceptible to the recent downturn as other parts of the global economy:

A rapidly developing industry means a lot of change. A lot of change means many opportunities. Ergo, for a steep career curve you should move closer to the rich and beautiful, and here's the catch:

• there is a psychological dissonance between the perception of the industry and actual salaries for people working there (for more info see my earlier post: HR in the Luxury Industry)
• to get up in the ranks, you will have to start at the very bottom. A couple of weeks ago we had the CEO of Louis Vuitton for Spain, Portugal and Morocco coming to IE with a presentation about career opportunities for MBA students. The only MBA entry position around the world in LV is a Store Manager. They believe that the only way to learn the ropes is to get your hands dirty (as dirty as it can get selling EUR 25 K handbags).

Yet, hundreds of freshly baked MBAs join this industry each year and with the change in values across societies, the luxury industry is also trying to be more responsible and sustainable. When 80% of customers would choose a product demonstrating its sustainable nature at the same price, it becomes evident that we are moving from conspicuous to responsible consumption. Look at these example of fashion/luxury ventures, which are definitely "greener" than the others:

• CIEL: only sustainable and socially responsible sourcing;
• Ecoalf: recycling PET bottles to make textiles for their fashion creations;
• BabyDeli: only ecological product for babies.

CSR practices of a company nowadays have a definitive power to skew the employment decision of many young and bright specialists, who care about the future, and I believe we can expect the fashion and luxury industry to be more and more attractive for business school graduates.