»Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster

Dana Thomas's Deluxe, sub-titled "How Luxury Lost Its Luster", an exploration of brand-name fashion, disappointed me: I was looking for a deeper cultural history, one that would explore the connections consumers have with marks and brands.

Her research focuses entirely on modern and contemporary fashion, and almost exhaustively so. Her presentation of the history of various houses, such as Chanel, Herm�s, and Louis Vuitton does dig into the social aspects of their creation; she avoids the ingrained aspects of our desire for specific luxury goods. She hints at this when she makes a contrast between Herm�s, which does not ostentatiously brand its clothing with its logo; and Gucci, which does.

I have a vague recollection of some Aristophanic humour involving slaves who came from the wrong trader, but on the other hand the joke may have only been in an Asterix comic. The desire for association with a well-known purveyor certainly dates back far into history.

Aside: "the quality guarantees the brand", as Lord Peter Wimsey pointed out in Murder Must Advertise.