Reflection with David Watts

Recently, I had the honor of attending a few lectures with business advisor David Watts. He currently owns his own consultancy, but in the past worked with numerous prominent fashion designers, and guided them to success. He also supported initiatives by the British Council, as well as committed to efforts to build business support and guidance to Black Fashion Designer brands in the USA.

In the beginning, I was a bit intimidated by the immense gap of knowledge I had in comparison to my lecturer. He had decades of experience, and it felt like I was only just starting my fashion journey. However, it was also really humbling to see how interested David was in hearing our thoughts and opinions about the luxury industry. Here is what I gathered from our talks:

1) Luxury in a holistic view, is beyond fashion.

It was refreshing to learn more about the luxury industry outside of fashion. Luxury can be an expensive car, traveling to the Maldives, limited-edition sneakers, or so much more. There are opportunities for luxury beyond the normal scope of fashion. With the rising Industrial Revolution, luxury can now be included in genres such as virtual reality to AI technology. This may impact people's definition of luxury.

Often we think of luxury in terms of only the biggest name brands in haute couture such as Chanel or Gucci. However, David reminded us of the numerous luxury opportunities and brands in the world. Working in the luxury industry (as I was reminded) does not have to be limited to fashion. There is endless room for creativity.

While being reminded of the vast field of luxury, we were also asked to think about what we truly think luxury is, and how this is different depending on who you are. David's definition of luxury (which focused more on exclusivity, craftsmanship, and price) was very different from one of my Gen Z classmates who wanted trends and specific logos on her products. This leads to my second point.

2. The definition of luxury is clearly very different between each generation.

Although I'm surrounded by Gen Z classmates and am still defined as a Gen Z in multiple categories, I found myself agreeing with David about his definition of luxury. In luxury, I also focus on high quality and craftsmanship. I also focus on the designer themselves, and how I resonate with their work. I think of it similar to how people buy art from their favourite artist.

After hearing my thoughts about this, David commented: "You are a grown-up Gen Z"

His comment rang in my head, as I realized, perhaps, I was someone who had grown up faster, in the hopes of understanding the world better amidst my younger chaos.

Finally...

3. What's in store for the luxury industry if they are owned by large corporate groups? How will luxury go hand in hand with sustainability?

These are the hard questions. The luxury industry is indeed fascinating. From using a top-down pyramid approach in marketing to building anticipation and hype using exclusivity, there are several factors as to why luxury brands tend to stand out above normal designer or fast fashion brands.

However, as the world sinks deeper into superficiality and mass consumption with irreversible effects on the environment, it's hard to think of supporting these brands when it comes to marketing more goods.

Do we really need this many items? Do we really need to be marketing in this manner? Are we helping people, or are we manipulating perceptions to build people into loyalty schemes that, inevitably, will disrupt the world's ecosystem?

These are hard questions to think about, and I felt a turmoil of my own emotions as I evaluated my own morals. David questioned these to us and I found myself a bit lost of how I could balance my own morals with my own actions.

This ultimately leads to my research in my other class, about the perception of sustainable luxury, and I'm hoping that as I learn more this year that I will find a better understanding of my own role in the luxury industry and what I can do to further my growth and understanding.