Luxury: pronounced: ˈlʌkʃ(ə)ri/
(Noun)
A state of great comfort or elegance, especially when involving great expense.
Example: "He lived a life of luxury!"
Synonyms: Opulence, luxuriousness, sumptuousness, richness, costliness, grandeur, grandness, splendor, magnificence, lavishness, lap of luxury, bed of roses, milk and honey.
Oh no, I’m not giving English lessons, calm down. This is the meaning of luxury on Google. I'm just surprised why the synonyms don't include 'affordable things'. I was in a magazine store today, which is- according to me- one of the best places on earth. For those who do not know this already, I’m extremely choosy. And 3/4th of the times, this works against me. Anyway, I happened to come across this month’s Outlook Business magazine, and there was just one sentence on the cover; The Future of LUXURY. And this was accompanied by one picture; a bow-tie made of diamonds. Obviously, this interested me and I ended up buying this issue. When I went through it, I was like “I can’t believe I wasted my time over this, what the hell!”Because it was nothing but a fashion mag! I’m not kidding! But after a while, I figured Outlook Business does know how to make business out of anything, and none of what I got was a waste. Why? One word: Luxury. My luxury: Ideas.
On going through this book again, I realised that luxury always meant brand, cost and quality. But look around, is that real luxury? When we think about it, don’t we all have our own definition of luxury? For one person, it might be fine dining, a day out in Paris, and some Louis Vuitton bags. For the other, it might be eating Roti and Paneer from a roadside stall, going out with his family to a beach once in 3 years, and bargaining for a bag that costs 300 Rupees in a small shop, and expecting to get it at 150. For a rich kid, luxury might be just another watch from Rolex. For a kid from the lower middle class, or a kid with limited means, a Fastrack watch is something he’d cherish for life. Am I being arrogant and judgemental? Being a kid from the upper middle class myself, I can tell you, this is the harsh reality.
But my question is simple: Why doesn’t a magazine ever show a jute bag from a roadside stall as luxury? Why doesn’t the media ever notice what appeals to the common man the most?
I’m an avid reader of fashion magazines. And I’ve always tried to compare Femina with Vogue India; usually drawing to a conclusion that Femina is for the general folk. But in the recent past, the products mentioned in this magazine too are not very affordable. What I’m trying to say here is that when magazines do not show the people what 3/4th of the country lives on; if these magazines do not show what we can actually afford, what is the point? Is it just another pamphlet showing the rich what they can buy this season, and reminding the poor where they stand?
What really is luxury?
I don’t want to seem like a hypocrite to the people who know me in reality, so I’m going to admit it; I am a brand freak. But one must never lose perspective of what is a ‘want’ and what is ‘need’. One must never think that luxury and class are equivalent to money and richness. No, that’s not how it works. The concept of ‘luxury’ has been there since the beginning of civilization. The obvious divide between social classes in earlier civilizations brought the concept that luxury was limited to the elite classes. And that shaped and redefined the definition of luxury. Everything the poor couldn’t have and the elite could was labelled as luxury.
While this word is used in everyday lives to refer to certain lifestyle, the definition is specific to consumers and situations. An ice-cream would be a really big luxury item for you if you earned less than a $ per day. But if you are going to a party in the so called “elite” sector of the society, a $100,000 car may not be a luxury, but something of an embarrassment.
This brings out a multi dimensional perspective towards what luxury really is, and what media and society needs to promote, and what the true idea behind this word is. The attempts always define luxury such as high price, high quality, uniqueness, exclusivity etc. However, even with the obvious staring right at our faces, why is it still unclear; ‘What is Luxury?’
So what do you think is luxury?
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