When you’re a ‘very important client’ — spending $200,000 or more a year — luxury brands will do anything to keep you happy (and spending).
VICs and their fashionista friends at Vogue World’s preshow cocktail party at Casa Del Sol in Paris in June 2024. From left: Elena Silenok, Megan Blase, Hayley Sullivan, Sabrina Harrison, Meagan Eby, Holly Julian, Jenny Chandler, Lisa Sher-Chambers, Meghan Beswick, Dawn Beswick, Fumi Lee, Chanel Stewart, and Abbie McLaughlin.It was just a few weeks before Chanel’s haute couture runway show in Paris this past June when Laura Sachs found out that she had made the guest list.
This past summer alone, the fashion schedule was stacked with client-stocked events: Max Mara’s outdoor dinner in the grand courtyard of the 14th-century Doge’s Palace in Venice, Chopard’s tables at the glitzy AMFAR gala at the Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc during the Cannes Film Festival, Saint Laurent’s mini-holiday in private villas in St.
How can they? The $400 billion global luxury-goods market has more than doubled in size since 2010. Today, almost everyone can buy a taste of it, even if they’re just splurging on a $60 designer lipstick or spending a few hundred dollars on a secondhand logo handbag. Over the past decade, however, fearing overexposure, many luxury houses have focused on releasing limited-edition products or otherwise gatekeeping their most coveted styles and designs for their most reliable customers.
This summer, fashion’s three largest conglomerates, LVMH, Kering, and Richemont, reported revenue declines. Brands that are most popular with the “aspirationals,” like Gucci and Burberry, were hit the hardest. Park tells me about one particularly magical evening Louis Vuitton hosted this past March. The night before the fall 2024 ready-to-wear show, the labels hosted her at a formal dinner at the Abbaye des Vaux-de-Cernay, a sumptuously renovated former Cistercian abbey outside Paris. Dozens of servers in tuxedos lined the entrance of the candle-filled refectory as guests filed in. “It’s like in the movies,” Park says. “They have a high budget and spend a lot of money to hold these events.
And this market’s make-a-splash tastes matter. Chanel has fallen out of favor among many of the VICs since Karl Lagerfeld died in 2019 and his longtime deputy, Virginie Viard, took over — competently but without much sparkle. “None of my clients have purchased Chanel since Virginie,” says the New York–based stylist. “It’s just not interesting to most people.”
Brands can’t completely control what clients look like or what they wear. But it’s clear they are watching and judging. Whenever she goes to a fashion event, Park wears the host label “from top to toe,” she says. “That, in my opinion, is etiquette.” A client’s social-media behavior can also undermine their chances of landing coveted invites. “I’ll tell them, ‘If you keep posting shit like this, you’re never coming to a show,’” says the New York stylist of his newbie clients, referring to posts that are “too logo everything. Too— if it looks too manufactured.” Taking selfies with celebrities is also a big no-no, though it does happen. Clients can also draw side-eye if they take too many photos and videos during shows or parties.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Luxury Unfiltered: A new playbook for luxury brands navigating challenging timesLuxury Unfiltered is a weekly column by Daniel Langer, an expert in luxury branding, hospitality and activations who was named a “Global Top 5 Luxury Key Opinion Leader” by Netbase Quid.
Read more »
Luxury Unfiltered: The real reason luxury brands failLuxury Unfiltered is a weekly column by Daniel Langer, an expert in luxury branding, hospitality and activations who was named a “Global Top 5 Luxury Key Opinion Leader” by Netbase Quid.
Read more »
EM District Crowned Best Luxury Shopping Mall in Bangkok by Prestigious Luxury Lifestyle AwardsThis award recognises EM District's exceptional curation of luxury brands, innovative experiences, and commitment to unparalleled customer service.
Read more »
Luxury Unfiltered: The true cost of cutting luxury pricesLuxury Unfiltered is a weekly column by Daniel Langer, an expert in luxury branding, hospitality and activations who was named a “Global Top 5 Luxury Key Opinion Leader” by Netbase Quid.
Read more »
Luxury Unfiltered: How AI undermines the essence of luxuryLuxury Unfiltered is a weekly column by Daniel Langer, an expert in luxury branding, hospitality and activations who was named a “Global Top 5 Luxury Key Opinion Leader” by Netbase Quid.
Read more »
Luxury Unfiltered: Connecting with ultra-luxury clientsLuxury Unfiltered is a weekly column by Daniel Langer, an expert in luxury branding, hospitality and activations who was named a “Global Top 5 Luxury Key Opinion Leader” by Netbase Quid.
Read more »