“Luxury is a necessity that begins where a necessity ends” -- Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel

What is Luxury?

“Luxury must be comfortable, otherwise it is not luxury”. -- Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel

Luxury is a term that can mean different things to different people; therefore there are multitudes of ways to describe it. It is, as a whole superfluous, based on the attainment of desires and is not considered to be a need. According to Christopher Berry luxury is “an expenditure that goes beyond what is necessity” (Berry 1994). It revolves around the concept of aspiration, objects / things that people aspire to have. However, over time the ideals of luxury have changed drastically. Luxury was first only reserved for the
The little detailing that is seen on the garments is what makes the product luxury and makes it distinctive.

This is closely associated with the principle that luxury is about adventure and risk, since in order to be different one must always take a risk. In the 1970’s Burberry had an unfortunate downturn, when their brand image was destroyed by the “Chavs”. The “Chavs” are considered to be young with a high school education, who usually wears ‘baggy tracksuits, clunky gold jewellery, and anything and everything with the Burberry Check’ (Thomas 2007). Burberry took a risk and hired Christopher Bailey as their new creative director, as well as changed their target audience from a more mature consumer to a much younger audience, making Emma Watson the new face of their brand. This major change and risk within the brand has led to Burberry reviving their destroyed brand image, with overall revenues up by 27% and a 36% rise in their retail sales in early 2011 (BBC 2011). According to Angela Ahrendts, the CEO of Burberry, "Burberry had a strong finish to the year, driven by our design, digital marketing and retail initiatives, as well as good early progress in China".

Burberry is also associated with superior quality having an upstream product and supply chain channels, from their manufacturing of shoes, handbags,