In The Curious Economics of Luxury Fashion, economist and bestselling author Don Thompson offers insights and fascinating examples while discussing the intriguing and fast-evolving world of luxury fashion. Why does one handbag sells for five times the price of another that looks and feels pretty much the same? How does a luxury label justify a runway show costing many millions of dollars, when most of the outfits paraded will never appear for sale? Why are fall fashions shown on the runway in March, and spring fashions in October?
Consider that designer Tom Ford holds fashion shows in the Park Avenue Armory. In fall 2019 he switched to an abandoned subway station at Bowery and Delancey streets in NYC, and required the guests - the women in high heels - to walk down a three-story stairway to the rails. Transit Authority workers in safety vests acted as guides. Ford served dumplings and margaritas in plastic cups, rather than champagne cocktails. New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Benefit Ball, run by Anna Wintour, the editor of Vogue, is the most difficult-to-obtain ticket for any cultural event in America— in spite of being a hundred thousand dollar, tickets + outfit evening. And the size of the logo on a Louis Vuitton handbag is inversely related to its price; less expensive bags have larger logos, the most expensive has the smallest (those who matter to the owner recognize the tiny logo; those who don't, don't matter).
The book includes stories of the people and workings of luxury fashion, from New York, London, Paris, Milan—and in the rapidly growing markets of China. It includes a chapter on "Death by Amazon and AI", the inroads and existential threat of Amazon to the luxury fashion world as it previously existed.
DON THOMPSON is the author of twelve books, including the international bestseller The $12 Million Stuffed Shark: The Curious Economics of Contemporary Art. He is an economist and emeritus Nabisco Brands Professor of marketing and strategy at the Schulich School of Business at York University in Toronto. He has a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, and has taught at Harvard Business School and the London School of Economics. He has written for publications as diverse as The Times (London), Harper's Art, Fortune and Apollo. He lives in Toronto.
