From bling to bliss...welcome to the new luxury

This century has seen the bling, ostentatious consumerism of the 90s gradually rejected in favour of all things that is synonymous with terms like organic, natural, eco-friendly, hybrid, homemade and locally-produced, just to name a few. Something peculiar has happened to our concept of luxury in the past few years. Before I allow you to proceed any further with reading, yes, this post may seem biased and that it’s not a fair representation of all demographics across the globe…BUT – if you’re reading this post, then it definitely applies to you. Do not be pointing fingers that it’s been abandoned the situation of the current global economy, but let us at least be enlightened with a sigh of relief in knowing not only what is today’s concept luxury but also that it is so easily attainable by anyone of us.

Social and economic circumstances have colluded for us to change the understanding of the very concept of luxury. Those of you in the urbanized towns of Malaysia, who hasn’t been in close proximity with someone who is toting a Prada bag or Gucci shades? Pardon the decadence in tone but if you’re really interested in luxury today, you won’t find it plonked on the lap of the girl next to your workstation.

Clearly, the concept of luxury is far from dead. The luxury goods market was worth more than US$ 200 billion last year, and according to Bain & Co., even in light of the global economic turmoil triggered by the subprime crisis, it only has a projected decline of only between 3 to 7 percent in 2009 (after a steady expansion over the past few decades). It’s just that its rules have changed. Generations ago, luxury wasn’t a product, available to anyone who had the money to purchase it, it was founded on a tradition that maintained quality and integrity. And in the Twentieth Century there was the exclusivity of precious Mikimoto pearls and anything that comes with a wait-list that came along with unjustifiable figures to many like the Birkin bag. Today, ‘luxury’ goods can be found piled in mountains by workers in China gluing away thousands of “Made In Italy” tags to leather goods.

As a result, true luxury today embodies something entirely different. Luxury was once in the form of tangible items. Now, it’s sitting on the sofa with the kids after having a warm home-cooked meal together. Duck confit at the latest “It” restaurant in town, or the ability to go on a weekend getaway to an organic farm tucked away from the urban towns we live in? In our time-poor society, it’s not getting one’s hands on the iPhone but the ability to shut it off for the evening.

The new luxury hinges on originality, traceability, ethics, eco-consciousness and a first-hand experience. Sprouting out from the mega-success of online-auction eBay is etsy.com – a site catered entirely to dwellers of luxury being able to make their own hand-made items and then selling it on etsy.com. You’ve been forewarned that it’s another online empire in the making but who would have thunk that an infinite amount of hand-made items could be so in demand? And never mind the fight for the latest mean machines menacing the roads, Chanel has taken a cue of the change in trends by producing its own line of bikes. Imagine that, never mind the special edition automobiles lining up the driveway – in place of that, a Chanel bike tucked under the stairs. And no silly, if you are thinking that Chanel is solely (and arrogantly) attaching its heritage of yester-years with the bike, it’s them inevitably keeping up with the times of the eco-conscious society. And at $12,400 a pop, believe you me that the bike comes with a price enough to rival its engine-enabled counterparts.

Some new ways to indulge in luxury today ranges from spending an entire day in your PJs, and eating organic ice cream straight from the local farm, or growing your own herbs to even sponsoring an orang utan. With the challenging times that lie ahead for most of us in the coming year of 2009, let us not get carried away in benchmarking against what now constitutes as ‘old luxury’ and indulge whenever we can in nouveau luxury.