Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster

Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster is a New York Times bestseller.

Overview

Published in 2007 by Penguin Press, the book is written by Paris-based American journalist Dana Thomas.^[1]

In the book, Thomas examines the corporate takeover of the small family-run luxury businesses, and their mission to "democratize" luxury by making it accessible to the masses. These new luxury conglomerates have achieved spectacular success at this by hyping their brands at fashion shows, staging provocative commercials, dressing celebrities for red-carpet events, and by making their products readily available through licensing, franchising, outlet malls, and online retailing.

According to Thomas, all of this has led to produces of vastly inferior quality, rampant outsourcing to developing nations, and a massive surge in both counterfeiting and the illicit activities it funds. ^[2]

References

1. ^ "Penguin Books Group". accessed December 28, 2010. http://penguinspeakersbureau.com/speaker/181. 
2. ^ "The Devil Wears Hermès (He Bought It at the Caesars Palace Mall in Las Vegas)". New York Times. August 21, 2007. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/21/books/21kaku.html.