sociology of luxury

Imagine showing Louis XIV your life. Almost everything would amaze him. He would offer you half of Gascony for your flat-screen television. Even driving a 20-year-old car would delight him. The Palace of Versailles consumed more water than the city of Paris, yet the cleanliness of your water supply would still astound him, as would your flushable t

Luxury Paradox : The more expensive something is the less likely you are to use it, so the relationship between price and utility is an inverted U. Ferraris sit in garages; Hondas get driven.

What pops to mind is Café Leon Dore, Ralph’s Coffee, Bar Luce, Café A.P.C., or even the Bode Tailor Shop. The same idea applies across the board. Experience a bit of a glamorous lifestyle for only five bucks.

There’s a difference between having good taste and being able to afford something. Rich people like Mark Zuckerberg, like Jeff Bezos: what do these people who have everything not have? They don’t necessarily have taste.

If we imagine a future where the majority of people have smoothed their wrinkles away with Botox, plumped up their lips with filler, sucked out their cheeks with buccal fat removal and straightened their teeth with veneers, will it become desirable to have the natural features that are becoming increasingly rare; the crooked teeth, the smile lines