When Luxury reconciles us with Time.
We live in a collective toxic relationship with Time. We are unable to project ourselves into the future because it’s worrying us. And we are unable to master the present because we feel like it’s accelerating and going too fast. We are left with a reconstructed & phantasmatic past we keep longing for. Our obsession with the Past is not limited to the luxury world. The nostalgia trend affects all industries and categories. But luxury might be the only industry that could benefit from it. Indeed, luxury houses can rely on their history, legacy, and know-how to leverage a reconstructed and fantasized Past imaginary, celebrating their roots and reassuring customers. And Luxury might be the only industry which has the power to reconcile us with Time for two reasons. It is acceptable for customers to be projected into the future when luxury brands turn it into a lifestyle synonymous with innovative experiences and explorations. And only luxury houses know how to transcend the experience of the Present to elevate it and, turn it into a moment of eternity. Who knows how to reenchant our relationship with Time, knows how to win over our brains and hearts. Who knows how to master Time is not only synonymous with Longevity but also Transcendence.
Let’s face the reality: we are into a very complicated, not to say toxic, relationship with Time. Never satisfied, always suspicious, we are stuck with Time. We are constantly trying to make up for lost time, while being obsessed to be in the now and afraid to ask what’s going to happen tomorrow, we live the paradox of Time. It’s nothing new. A few millennia ago, the Greeks and Christian philosophers such as Aristoteles and Augustine were already reflecting about Time. Augustine said it in a definitive statement: “What then is time? Provided that no one asks me, I know. If I want to explain it to an inquirer, I do not know”. Why? Because according to him, the past doesn’t exist anymore, the future hasn’t yet occurred and regarding the present: “If we can think of some bit of time which cannot be divided into even the smallest instantaneous moments, that alone is what we can call ‘present’. And this time flies so quickly from future into past that it is an interval with no duration”. In the short interval of time it takes to pronounce the word “present”, the present has already become the past.… Confusing, indeed! But, where Augustine was happy to leave this paradox on the side and focus on the role of one’s consciousness, we are today stressed and anxious by this elusive concept that is Time. To the point that we believe oblivion has become the (only?) solution.
Are we stuck in the paradox of Time?
We long for the past because we don’t want to project into the future. The more our societies are concerned by an anxious future synonymous with (make your choice) climate change, widening gap between rich and poor, economic uncertainty, etc., the more they tend to create fantasies about the past. Pop culture is not helping as the most viewed contents are almost exclusively about dystopia: from Don’t Look Up to Blade Runner 2046 through The Handmaid’s tale or The Last of Us. For more than 10 years now we have been measuring the evolution of the worldwide population percentage who agrees with the statement “society is moving in the wrong direction”. In Europe, the percentage has been high for a long time, and it keeps increasing (beyond 75%). But what’s new is that we observe this percentage rising in geographies that were, until now, immune to that trend: China and the United States. It is the first time in a very long time, that China is tempted by nostalgia. And Chinese society is tempted to take solace in its close past. Wong Kar-Wai’s acclaimed series Blossoms Shanghai offers a travel in time straight to the city’s golden 90s. It has “accumulated a staggering 4.3 billion views on China’s micro-blogging platform Weibo” according to Jing Daily. Even in the United States, the country which embodies optimism and whose alternative motto could be “tomorrow will be better”, we capture weak signals of a tendency to rely on the past. For instance, in our most recent Prosumer research, we spotted that 77% of American Prosumers (vs 92% in France and 72% in China) agree with the statement “I hope the state of the world will improve but I worry nothing will change”. And no matter your age bracket, you can find solace in the past decade of your choice. The youngest are (re)discovering “Murder on the Dance Floor” (2001) thanks to Saltburn, after having rediscovered Kate Bush’s “Running up that Hill” that topped the UK Charts 37 years after its release thanks to Stranger Things. Not to mention “The Power of Love” by Frankie goes to Hollywood that made the grade thanks to the movie All of us Strangers, to the point it has been used a couple of days ago as the conclusive soundtrack for the Gucci Cruise in London…According to a recent research conducted by Spotify (Culture Next 2023), 68% of the Gen-Z (16-25 yo) say they listen or watch media contents from decades ago because it “reminds” them of a “time when everything was simpler”.
We don’t want to project into the future, but we are also unable to master the present…
A couple of years ago, a German Sociologist became famous when he published a book called Social Acceleration: a new theory of modernity. In his book, Hartmut Rosa explained that we “run, run always faster, not to reach an objective, but to maintain the status quo, to simply remain in the same place”.
According to a Gallup Poll conducted in 2022, 61% of American declare not having enough time to do what they want. Some have called this feeling the “Time famine”. We feel paralyzed by what we must achieve every day, all the content we have to scroll through to be up to date & keep up with how the world’s hasty pace. As a consequence, only living in the moment is not a sustainable option, despite what we could think. If we go live on social media to stream what’s happening to us, it’s not so much to enjoy the moment than to record it for the past to come. We have recently conducted a Prosumer report called “Is the Party Over?” in which we have uncovered that 63% of Prosumers consider that using smartphones (posting stories, TikTok) during parties is part of the fun. Because it creates memories. Because it transforms the moment into the past. A past we can control. A sense of grip we are otherwise deprived of.
So, no wonder why luxury celebrates the Past to make us feel alive. Most of the luxury brands customers love in the world are centennial. And it looks like no one is tired to see the mention “since xxx” appended at the bottom of brands’ logos… May be because it is safe & reassuring. Take for instance one the most cutting-edge fashion brand: Balenciaga. After the bad buzz generated by its failed campaign, the brand came back to its roots to highlight its haute couture origins. Even its most recent print ads focus on past models and iconic bags to reconnect with a celebrated past. Or Burberry. On its (not so successful…yet) journey toward elevation, the house has decided to revive its old logo and reconnect with its aristocratic British roots… Another smart way to connect with a reassuring past is of course to celebrate it through exhibitions. To amplify legacy. Mlle Privé or Culture Chanel by CHANEL are the epitome of the celebration of a glorious past that brings us solace and reassurance. Same goal with brand campaigns and contents magnifying roots and know-how, from Dom Perignon to Cartier showcasing Catherine Deneuve defying time to celebrate the Tank Watch… All of that without any risks of customer fatigue. According to our latest Prosumer Report The Luxury Issue, 63% of Prosumers that purchase luxury expect the social accounts of these brands to “help them understand the universe and brand’s heritage” . 72% of the 18-25 years old declare buying luxury goods “to celebrate a strong know-how”. And know- is intrinsically linked to a legacy of immemorial gestures and techniques… Anchoring oneself into a celebrated past is the best way to ensure success for the future… The past creates excitement. In a nutshell, timeless is what drives timely enthusiasm in the luxury industry. No wonder why luxury houses invest so much to sign partnerships with publishing houses to edit books which are, by definition, collectible objects that defy time.
Yet, beyond the obvious celebration of the Past, luxury brands can reconcile each of us with the 2 remaining members of the Time Trifecta: Present & Future.
Time reinvented: when luxury turns the Future and the Present into livable experiences.
Luxury helps us to play with the very idea of the Future. We believe that luxury can drive a more desirable vision of the future through its creations – even when they are dystopian or when they interrogate our society. Because in fashion especially, there is always an element of playfulness. It enables us to apprehend the future as a game. There is a “je-ne-sais-quoi” in fashion that allows to ask serious questions without existential angst. Because it’s all about staging, playing, and exploring. Fashion designers encourage us to play with styles, hence enabling us to imagine what the Future could be. Thanks to fashion shows, to their exuberance or minimalism, there is something magical that happens, like a catharsis, that helps to project ourselves into the future.
Beyond this almost metaphysical experience, luxury brands are expected to provide innovation and experiences that can project an optimistic vision of the future. In our Luxury Issue Prosumer research, we uncovered that 86% of Prosumers “love when luxury brands use new technologies to propose innovative experiences”. Because if these innovations are put at the service of enriched and delightful experiences, we can reconcile ourselves with the future and what it could bring to us.
Luxury elevates our experience of the Present to immortalize it. In 2011, Hermès launched an exciting new model of its L’Arceau watch called le Temps Suspendu meaning “Time suspended”. Which is exactly what the watch offers to do: press a pusher and suspend the curse of time as long as you want. Meanwhile, the ultimate luxury lies beneath the dial: the watch still keeps track of the time, even if you can’t see it on the dial. And when you press the pusher again, the time resumes and returns to normal. I think it might be the best metaphor of luxury’s power to turn the Present into one second or one minute of Eternity. Reaching for eternity is actually the red thread of luxury house’s recent undertakings. For example, spectacular retail experiences where you are invited to lose the track of time like La Galerie Dior’s immersive setups at Dior’s Montaigne flagship. Or events, from fashion shows to performances where you’re invited to feel as if Time had been suspended. Fashion historian Olivier Saillard has elaborated masterful performances with Tilda Swinton where she slowly puts on a series of archival fashion pieces, before almost freezing in place as if reaching for eternity. Dior’s shows are total works of art where the music and the set are designed by artists by the likes of Eva Jospin or Judy Chicago that feel like a bubble of beauty away from the mundane experience of the outside.
Creating memorable experiences, leaving a mark, it all requires time: time to think, time to get inspired, time to create, time to produce. Is the luxury industry ready to give more time to its creatives, artistic directors, designers, and partners to keep defying our defiance of time? We often hear the sentence “the true luxury is time”. Yes, it’s the time to master one’s agenda. True luxury is to make decisions based on the long-term, with the feeling to have plenty of time and work for the generations to come.