Study fair offers an education in luxury brand management

“Luxury is a necessity that begins where necessity ends,” said Denis Morisset, a professor in international luxury brand management at ESSEC Business School, quoting Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel, at a fair for French luxury education in Beijing on Dec 9.

In his speech, he introduced the cultural foundations of luxury brands, the motivations behind luxury consumption and emerging trends in the luxury market. “Chinese consumers are now the leading force in luxury consumption, and this is just the beginning,” said Morisset.

The captivating prospect of the growing luxury market in China makes it an appealing subject for Chinese students to study in related fields. To provide students and parents with more options in choosing a major related to the luxury industry, representatives from ESSEC Business School, EMLYON Business School and seven other higher education institutions in France gathered at the fair to promote their own courses and programs in luxury education.

Jin Nan, a graduate in international luxury management from ESSEC, who is now a regional operation manager for the Italian luxury brand Gucci, shared her experiences of studying at the school at the fair.

She says she benefited a great deal from the education resources at the school, where it was not uncommon to have giants from the luxury industry give classes as visiting professors.

But she also points out that students were still likely to encounter many hardships by opting to study luxury management, and that their decision to choose the subject should not simply be based on a love of luxury goods.

For those who are eager to gain work experience in France after graduation, she advises them to become proficient in French before moving to the country.

Zhao Sichong, a graduate of the Grenoble Graduate School of Business in France, and now an editor at the website Only Lady, introduced a new career choice for students studying fashion design or luxury management — working in the fashion media, a growing area for students looking for something outside of the traditional industry fields of public relations, retail or marketing.