For Global Luxury Brands 'Ethics Is the New Elegance'

In another nod to Smart Sensuality women, and the growing dominance of Cultural Creatives in fashion, IHT’s Susie Menkes reports from the IHT Sustainable Luxury Conference in New Delhi.

The conference asks a key question in defining luxury: what if luxury were separated from fashion? If fashion is defined with its constant desire for change and built-in obsolescence, suppose that luxury is defined as a more private joy that is crafted to last?

Menkes reports that “sustainability” and “responsibility” are the new buzz words for luxury brands.

In a beautiful phrase, Menkes writes: “ethics is the new elegance.” Doing things right carries more weight than doing things fast. Having the time and the money to care about where clothes come from is set to be a key feature of 21st-century luxury.

Designers like Stella McCartney remind us that responsibility is becoming an emotional word in the fashion world … or is it the luxury world, should a split occur.

In 2006, I advised clients on coming changes in the luxury industry. An important report “Deeper Luxury” published by the World Wildlife Fund-United Kingdom in November 2007, summarizes many of those ideas and is now a focus of the New Delhi Conference.

Admittedly, the premise that the affluent, global elite, who are the core luxury consumers, are aspirational — “seeking a better world, and not merely a better-designed handbag”, is a more European idea. These trends do not play in Las Vegas, where more is always better.

The wheels of change are in motion globally and most experts don’t believe that an improving economy will dash the hopes of Cultural Creatives, who are betting on the influence of this new, more conscientious Smart Sensuality luxury customer.

There is no doubt that Smart Sensuality women are looking for deeper brand values that encompass social and environmental issues. The global economic meltdown, which is unleashing consumption-related problems around the globe, will accelerate the priorities and concerns of Smart Sensuality women, like activist Trudie Styler, featured today in Cultural Creatives.

Click on this link for a free copy of the World Wildlife Fund’s report on sustainable luxury. Anne