WHAT DOES LUXURY MEAN IN A POSTPANDEMIC WORLD?

Selina Denman questions whether the pause the pandemic has afforded means our collective priorities will change

Will there be a shift in priorities and perspectives?

Luxury can mean many things to many people. It can be material or experiential, tangible or intangible – something as weighty as a gemstone or as flighty as time. It is cultural and contextual, but also deeply personal. And it is ever-changing. There is a baseline definition, suggests Milton Pedraza, chief executive of The Luxury Institute in New York, and it includes things such as quality, design, cra smanship and exclusivity. As a general rule, he maintains, luxury is “the best of something”. Whatever that something may be.

But every individual will also have a personal definition, shaped by their tastes, upbringing, environment and experiences. For Pedraza, this translates as: “Time and the ability to spend my time the way I want to. It’s almost equated with freedom. Freedom is a luxury to many people – maybe to all of us. The freedom to choose how to invest your time and get the richness out of it. That is probably the most personal definition of luxury I have.”

The idea of time being life’s greatest luxury is not new. Time is the one thing we cannot control and, in an age “of the glorification of busy”, it was the one thing we all thought we needed more of. But the pause presented by the pandemic has perhaps given us a chance to reconsider our relationship with time.

“I’ve always believed, from my side, that luxury is time. But it’s actually about what you do with that time,” says Jonathan Ashmore, founder of architecture and design firm Anarchitect. “Time is a state of mind. If you are busy and anxious and not mindful, then what’s the value of time?”

For Sonu Shivdasani, founder of Soneva Hotels, luxury is defined by rarity: “My view is that luxury is a philosophy; essentially that which is rare, that which is new but true; something that rings a chord in your heart when you touch or experience it.”

Certainly, in recent years, the idea of luxury has shi ed from the material to the experiential. While an elusive Birkin bag or limited-edition Bentley are still much sought-a er, it is the unique, memorable moments that we have truly come to treasure. And this o en involves a paring back of all the adornments and demands of our increasingly connected and hectic daily lives.

“As urbanisation has continued, more and more people have yearned for that rare experience of space and privacy. And also just the simple things in life, such as the ability to dine out in the open air with one’s feet in the sand with the Moon hovering above, or that fresh salad that was plucked from the garden that morning, or just simply being able to walk barefoot for a week,” says Shivdasani, whose hotels are built around this very premise.

But will perceptions of luxury be different in a postCovid-19 world? Globally, we have had to confront the realities and repercussions of a wide-scale health pandemic. We had to forsake global travel for

I believe that the vulgar display will be frowned upon even more

the confines of our homes, and substitute human interaction with screen time. Our designer clothes meant little when we couldn’t leave the house, and luxury cars were rendered useless when there was nowhere to drive them to.

Things that we once took for granted – the ability to see family or the freedom to move across borders – suddenly became precious and rare. But will this collective experience lead to a long-term shi in our priorities, as some have predicted?

“People were able to get some space and stillness to re-evaluate how they were spending their time and money, and the things they valued before the pandemic may not be the same things they value a er. So yes, priorities will change,” says Dr Saliha Afridi, clinical psychologist and managing director of Lighthouse Arabia.

“Many people still worked from home and were busier than ever, but they enjoyed the stillness of being able to do everything from one room, one space, one computer, rather than driving from home and back, flying to other cities for meetings, or even walking from office to office. It was not as hectic.

“The simple life that most people have lived for the past few months has taught them that they do not need much of what they were spending their money on to be happy,” Afridi adds.

These are sentiments echoed by Bong Guerrero, cofounder and chief executive of Fashion Forward, who hopes that this changing mindset will have a knock-on effect on the fashion industry. “The healthcare crisis and resulting economic challenges could lead to a global realisation and consensus that we truly do not need so much of anything and everything. We need to produce and consume less on a universal scale, which would be a welcome realisation in the fashion sector.”

It is also possible that consumers will become more discerning about the brands they buy from. The coronavirus crisis has compounded a trend towards conscious consumerism, but widespread conversations about racism in the wake of the murder of George Floyd have also led many people to question the values of the corporations they support.

For Pedraza, luxury brands will increasingly need to show that they are ethical and socially responsible, based on three key pillars. “The first one is that you’re sustainable. You are really working to mitigate your negative impact on the environment and, in fact, you may have a positive impact.

“The second is that you are ethical with your associates, your customers and society. You are doing the right thing. You have moral clarity, not just economic clarity. And then I think the third one is that you contribute to causes that are important to you and / or your customers. You find causes – like maybe eradicating racism – and you don’t just throw money at it, you live that cause.

“For example, Gucci and Kering have been champions of women’s rights and anti-date rape, things that are not popular and that we don’t really want to look at directly. LVMH has done a lot of that, too. And they have the resources to do it. But do I think other brands could step up and be better citizens? Absolutely.”

For many people who were forced by the pandemic to retreat into the safety of their homes, having a space that offers comfort and security, and responds to a new set of daily needs, has become the ultimate luxury. “Your home is now working so much harder – it’s a gym, it’s an office, it’s a school,” says Pallavi Dean, founder of Dubai design firm Roar.

“There’s a typical rule of thumb that you spend a third of your income on where you live, either on rent or a mortgage. We think people are going to be spending more time at home, with more work from home and education from home. Therefore, that figure might creep up from 33 per cent to 40 or even 45 per cent,” she adds.

One thing seems certain however: material luxury will take a more muted turn in the wake of the pandemic. There is little space for maximalism, glitz and glam in the midst of a health crisis. “I absolutely believe that the vulgar display will be frowned upon even more,” notes Johann Rupert, chairman of Swiss watch behemoth Richemont, who also claims the current crisis is “not a pause; it’s a reset” for the luxury industry.

“The vulgar display has always been frowned upon,” agrees Pedraza. “Even in the era of cave men and women. I think that a lack of humility is something people dislike. To try to provoke jealousy and envy out of people is a fool’s game. I think people realise that.

“But it has never been less of a virtue than now. There are so many people dying – they are not just getting sick or losing their jobs – they are dying. So this is no time to be showing off.”