72 73 February 2014 February 2014

high life
GUEST
ESSAY
W
hat is Luxury? How has it evolved over time? Who
has been the luxury consumer over the years? Why
is one attracted to consume Luxury? What does it
all really mean?
These are some pertinent questions associated with the notion
of luxury consumption. Some more can be asked, given the cur-
rent Aam Aadmi (common man) wave. Is conspicuous con-
sumption viewed with distaste? Does it reflect the great divide
between the haves and the have nots?
If one googles the word Luxury, it throws up about
197,000,000 results in some 0.33 seconds.
Various definitions crop up for example, something inessen-
tial but conducive to comfort and pleasure; something expen-
sive and hard to obtain; sumptuous living or surroundings;
something pleasant, expensive & surprising and several others.
So what really is Luxury ? Luxury is a product for some. For
others, luxury is a status or a service while for some, it is a prized
possession or asset. It can also be a combination of all these for
a few. Luxury is also a differentiator in the social hierarchy. Its a
way of life for some. But the meaning always changes with time.
FLASHBACK: END OF 1800S TO EARLY 1900S
Luxury was reserved for the kings and their queens. Luxury was
also meant for the British aristocrats and the brown sahibs but
not for the common Indian.
Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala ordered Cartier to cre-
ate a special necklace for him which was later named Collier
de Patiala. Weighing a total of 962 carats, it contained 2,930
diamonds including the famous de Beers which was the worlds
7th largest diamond at 234 carats. Maharaja Yadavinder Singh,
his heir, was the last to don the necklace.
Maharaja Jagatjit Singh, an avid traveller and gamer, was fond
Post-Independence, with dismantling
of the zamindari system, the caste
and class systems, reforms were the
way of the society. The British, having
siphoned off most of Indias treasures
& upper class income, the so-called
Indian elite was not left with much to
spare. No longer could the upper class
maintain palaces and harems or wear
silks and muslins.
However, post Independence, the
new classes of industrialists, bureau-
crats, lawyers, doctors, teachers and
journalists arose, whose social position
came from education, training and suc-
cess rather than heredity and inheri-
tance. In the princely states, however,
the remnants of the Mughal aristocracy
continued with their extravagances
with large palaces, harems, hordes of
retainers, miniature armies, ceremonial
elephants, tiger hunts and stables full
of Rolls Royces. Luxury thus was still
restricted to the aristocrats in the early
days but this would change soon.
In the post-Independence era, the
single most contributing factor to devel-
opment of luxury has been fashion and
the influence of the film industry on
fashion. Bollywood was an early trend-
setter where costume designers like
Bhanu Athaiya started experimenting
with film fashion in the 1960s. Over
of carrying his entire royal gear on his
tours. He was a loyal Louis Vuitton
customer. Louis Vuitton crafted special
wardrobe-like trunks for his travels. The
company took special pride in filling
his orders. It is believed that he owned
over 60 large trunks that would hold his
clothes, paraphernalia, swords, suits,
turbans, shoes, etc besides his elabo-
rate traditional dresses.
Automobiles were another fascina-
tion for our maharajas. It is believed
that the Maharaja of Mysore had no
less than 24 Bentleys and Rolls Roy-
ces. In 1930, when not dressed in his
royal gear, Maharaja Bhupinder Singh
was not properly attended to by a
British sales person at a Rolls Royce
showroom. He then went back to the
showroom in full fanfare to buy 3 cars
and convert them into garbage-hauling
trucks back home. The entire British
administrative machinery was on their
knees to dissuade him from going for-
ward with his plans. He then went on
to become their greatest pre-war cus-
tomer, eventually owning 44 Rolls Roy-
ces. It is believed that some 800 Rolls
Royces were imported to India between
1908 and 1937.
Hence the era of the late 19th and
early to mid 20th century was the one
which acted as a great market for the
European luxury brands. The Indian
market exclusively consisted of maha-
rajas, nawabs, sultans, nizams and
land owners.
FAST FORWARD : 1940S TO 1980S
The Swadeshi (a part of the Indian
Freedom struggle) Movement, fuelled
by a desire to be self-ruled and self-
governed, led to a major upswing of
anti -British sentiments and everything
foreign was a taboo. Khadi (Indian
hand-spun cloth) became the order
of the day and textiles made in the
mills of the British empire were being
discarded and burnt on the streets.
From the Rolls Royces of the
maharajas to the Canali suits of
todays successful urban Indian,
how the meaning of conspicuous
consumption has changed
By Abhay Gupta
the years, popular bollywood trends
were the differentiator between an
ordinary and a fashionably luxurious
attire. Gradually, situations and themes
of Indian cinema became westernised,
paving way for global fashion.
The brain drain of the 70s and 80s
and the frequent movement of the NRIs
in and out of the country brought in
glimpses of fashion and luxury from
the developed countries to a still
third world India. Cousins would be
requested to bring back a pair of Levis
jeans during their trips overseas. Sim-
ple living with practically no means of
INDIAS TRYST WITH
Maharaja
Bhupinder Singh
of Patiala ordered
Cartier to create a
special necklace
for him which was
later named Collier
de Patiala
LUXURY
74 75 February 2014 February 2014
high life
GUEST
ESSAY
luxury indulgence was the usual fate
of the common Indian. Few of the rich
who frequented foreign shores and
were perhaps educated abroad enjoyed
the westernised concept of luxury.
FAST FORWARD : 1980S TO 1990S
After over four decades of protec-
tionism, the government decided to
liberalise the economy in 1991. Before
that, through the 70s and 80s, the
youngsters of India were frustrated and
wondered why he or she should not
have the same lifestyle as his counter-
part from other parts of the world.
Amongst other sectors, fashion and
luxury too got affected by this socio-
politico development. Ingress of inter-
national brands, manufacturing tech-
nology, modern day techniques was the
order of the day. Lifestyles, dress sense,
consumption patterns were moving
upwards.
Train travels were becoming faster
thanks to introduction of Rajdhani
Express in the early 70s. The humble
ambassador was getting replaced by the
fast & swift Maruti 800 in the early 80s.
By early 1980s, the first generation
of Indian fashion designers started
cropping up, including Satya Paul. How-
ever, it was Rohit Khosla (19581994),
who became a pioneer in the fashion
industry when he founded Ensemble
in 1987 with Tarun Tahiliani, Abu
Jani-Sandeep Khosla and others. In its
early years, the 1980s, Indian design-
ers largely focussed on haute couture.
However, the 1990s saw a growth in
the domestic retail industry as well as
an influx of outsourced garments busi-
ness from the western countries. This
meant better quality and larger manu-
facturing facilities available locally. In
the coming decade, fashion industry
experienced a boom, both in terms of
volume and trends.
Amongst the initial international
fashion brands which set foot into
India, names like Lacoste, Benetton,
Wrangler, Levis Jeans, Reebok, Adi-
das, Louis Phillip, Arrow, Tommy
Hillfiger, etc are prominent. Hordes of
Indian brands cropped up and spread
deep into India very quickly.
The Indian design fraternity became
the symbol of luxury until the mid
2000s when international luxury
labels started to show their presence
via multi-brand stores selling previous
seasons stocks. Ritu Kumar, the doy-
enne of Indian fashion, says Luxury has
been an inherent part of Indian culture;
whether it is jewellery or clothes or
even lehengas, we have been exposed
to high value pieces from a very early
age. We have a 2,000-year-old culture
of gifting silver and precious fabrics;
we understand luxury. Other names
which impacted the luxury-fashion sce-
nario include doyens like Sandeep Kho-
slaAbu Jaani ; Sumeet Verma; Rohit
Bal; Tarun Tahiliani; Manav Gangawani.
Modern and younger names like Rajesh
Pratap Singh, Manish Arora, Sabyasachi
Mukherjee; Manish Malhotra became
the new global faces of Indian luxury.
Indian born designers like Prabul
Gurang on the other hand have started
to enter the fashion and luxury space
from international ramps rather the
other way around.
From the end of the 1990s to the
early 2000s, international brands had
begun to be prominently visible in the
urban wardrobes. High duty structure
and overall costs of imports made it
extremely difficult to establish this as
a viable business. However, retailers
like Sehgal Brothers (The Blues New
Delhi) ; Benzer (Mumbai) ; Ffolio (Ban-
galore), etc were quietly teaching the
Indian men to dress in Italian fashion by
importing previous seasons stocks. The
need to look different from other men
in similar circles was driving a small yet
wealthy lot of customers to experiment
with names like Ferre, Versace, Canali,
Hugo Boss, Trussardi, Princepe, Valen-
tino, etc.
LUXURY COMES A FULL CIRCLE
In 2005, the countrys first full fran-
chise agreements were signed for Ver-
sace Collection & Corneliani. Others
followed soon when in 2008, Indias
first luxury mall Emporio in New Delhi
opened doors to names like LVMH,
Christian Dio, Fendi, Canali, Hugo Boss,
Ferragamo, Armani etc. This mall was
soon followed by the UB City in Banga-
lore and The Palladium in Mumbai.
The luxury fashion scene in India had
begun to explode. The world was reel-
ing under an economic crisis and the
luxury brands were again approaching
Indian shores. But the customers were
no longer the maharajas. They were
successful people, they were discerning.
The cycle is back to India where it all
started for many luxury brands almost
100 to 150 years back!
LUXURY TODAY :
Today luxury has seeped into every
aspect of our lifestyle. From automo-
biles to fashion, travel to tourism, health
to wellness, hospitality to fine dining,
aviation to medical tourism, watches &
jewellery to home & interiors, from gad-
gets to physical fitness, there is rarely
something that has been untouched by
the so-called luxury phenomenon.
Indias population has adapted to
this globalisation at varied levels and in
different degrees of intensity. Further
segmentation of the phenomenon has
resulted in premium accessible aspi-
ration core luxury.
The changing Indian mind set of its
youth population is calling the shots.
The great Indian middle class aptly
termed as The Closet Customer is
not shy of experimentation and wishes
to engage with luxury, even if it is for
a brief duration. He seeks value for
money and does not accept the product
or brand just for its name or face value.
He wants to sport the life style of the
rich and famous. Even a short experi-
ence is welcome.
Luxury brands are responding to
these demands and fuelling further
growth, desire and craving for such
India has a
2,000-year-old
culture of gifting
silver and
precious fabrics;
we understand
luxury
latent dreams. Luxury brands are scaling
down and premium brands are scaling
up to meet this new customer. Despite
challenges, cultural restrictions, social
norms, brands are adapting and creat-
ing special products and unique experi-
ences specially suited to the Indian cus-
tomer. Adaptation to Indian tastes and
likes is a norm. Hermes creates sarees;
Canali offers bandhgalas; McDonalds
introduces McAloo Tikki burgers. These
are all attempts to remain relevant and
grow in India.
Eventually, luxury is a long-term busi-
ness and India is a long-term market.
Indians are realising their own potential
and creating their own unique identity
and demand. Indian heritage is being
rediscovered by the new youth and is
being restored to its past glory. Luxury
is here to stay and relive its glory again.
The glory that existed in Indian heritage
is being refuelled by a modern nation.
(The writer is founder and CEO of
Luxury Connect and was
instrumental in bringing leading
international luxury brands to India)
Hermes creates
sarees;
Canali offers
bandhgalas;
McDonald s
introduces
McAloo Tikki
burgers