In Search of Luxury in Myths: A Study of Contradictions

Book: The Mythic Value of Luxury

Author: Prof (Dr.) Mahul Brahma

Publisher: BlueRose Publishers

Pages: 36

Price: ₹200

What is the connection between myth and luxury? The word luxury comes from the word luxe, which means “dazzle”. What creates that dazzle? The core element of that dazzle is a concept called “mythic value”; the author Prof (Dr) Mahul Brahma explains. For a better perspective, let us now understand a concept that was developed by social anthropologist Claude Levi Strauss. Myths are future-proof, small wonder that they can live for ages. What makes myths live through ages is that they embody contradictions.

The author says that mythic value is created when two contradictions find a way to co-exist. The greater the contradiction, the higher the degree of the mythic value, and the higher the mythic value, the greater the brand value.

Prof Brahma has been a luxury commentator for over a decade and has written The Luxe Trilogy, comprising Decoding Luxe, Dark Luxe, and Luxe Inferno. His approach towards studying luxury has always been academic and he tends to look at luxury from various inter-disciplinary lenses such as Economics, History, Sociology, and Philosophy. In The Mythic Value of Luxury, he has explored luxury from an Anthropological perspective.

The objective of his search was to unearth a secret — how some luxury brands can stand the test of time and survive for centuries while others fail to sustain that luxe or dazzle. In his search, he started studying myths and how myths survive.

The book explains a non-luxury example of mythic value with the creation of Auguste Rodin. His famous bronze sculpture “The Thinker” or “Le Penseur” is his famous bronze sculpture. The reason: it is the embodiment of the greatest contradictions of all times – Mind and Body. Rodin has conceived a century ago a model that will shatter the great divide between intellect and physical prowess. As Rodin himself described: “What makes my Thinker think is that he thinks not only with his brain, with his knitted brow, his distended nostrils, and compressed lips, but with every muscle of his arms, back, and legs, with his clenched fist and gripping toes.”

Myths are still widely interpreted in conflicting ways: collective dreams, the outcome of a kind of aesthetic play, the foundation of ritual.

The book explains the mythic value from the perspective of a luxury brand Cartier, which has been able to maintain its dazzle for over a century. This is the real-life story of Maharaja of Patiala and his crown necklace. Thus, the Patiala Necklace had the seventh-largest diamond by De Beers of 234.69 carats and was overall adorned by 2,930 diamonds.

An Indian native Maharaja adorning the most expensive Cartier crown necklace with the biggest DeBeers diamond that you can ever imagine… This image is an embodiment of two contradictions — East meets West. Moreover, diamonds are a girl’s best friend. But, a man’s best friend? So this imagery has in itself another contradiction – Man and Diamonds. In his first book of The Luxe Trilogy, called Decoding Luxe, the author Dr. Brahma had shared this story to explain the love for luxury brands of Indian royalty in the 1920s. The image of Maharaja of Patiala, who commissioned the largest order to the epitome of Western brand Cartier back in 1926, is carefully showcased in all major Cartier showrooms abroad. Cartier executives are trained to carefully mention the story to key clientele, to make the client buy into the “mythic value” of Cartier’s luxury heritage.

The client is made is to feel one with the legacy of the brand that it carefully has chosen to showcase, as if the product is the conduit to the imagined community of royalty.

In the author’s second book Dark Luxe he has shared another interesting example of the mythic value in the story “Death of a Phantom”. An Indian native Maharaja buying the epitome of reputation in Western culture – a Rolls Royce. And then converting it into a garbage collector for the city. Had a European done this to an Indian brand, it would have been commonplace. Again the author asks the readers to experience the visual appeal of East deconstructing West by embodying it.

These visuals when analyzed deeply show that they capture an embodiment of contradictions. And these contradictions together create a mythic value in these brands that make them iconic. No wonder these legendary stories are alive for over a century and are still able to generate awe.

The tales of luxury in its deep history have always been a story of embodying contradictions. The greater the contradiction, the greater the appeal of the brand.

Embodying new contradictions – experiential versus eCommerce 

From the 1920s the book takes a plunge to modern times. Luxury brands need to innovate and change with the changing consumers who are mostly millennials. The contradiction today is experiential luxe versus UI/UX of luxe eCommerce.

Most luxury brands have started investing heavily in social media to generate a market for the millennials or rather millennial millionaires, a term I have coined in the third book Luxe Inferno. So suddenly UI/UX has become an important brand parameter. A mix of both worlds is the way ahead. Also, personalized service to key clientele is a key element for creating loyalty.

Therefore, in the new world order for luxury, innovation towards mediation will play a key role. Innovative formats like Zero Inventory Stores or Pop Up stores are quite a in vogue, creating a mix of eCommerce and physical stores. Around 800 stores are lined up in the next five years by top 100 firms. There is also a role that AI and ML can play. Using analytics, the clothing of the customer can be analyzed and options suggested from what is available in the stores. AI spending is all set to rise to USD7.3 billion in 2022 from USD2 billion in 2018.

The book narrates that with the rise of millennial millionaires, technology has a greater role to play as a mediator between the contradictions of experiencing luxury and using eCommerce. SAP is working with Harrods to develop technology for creating a personalized shopping experience.

Luxe will be creating experiential eCommerce using technology.

The new myth will be powered by technology, mediating between the age-old heritage and the future.

How to measure Mythic Value

The author has dedicated a chapter towards measuring the mythic value of luxury. The degree of the mythic value will determine the Luxe Quotient and Luxe Factor. The greater the degree of contradictions that a brand embodies the greater is the mythic value, the greater the Luxe Quotient, the greater the Luxe Factor. This is where perception plays a critical role.

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Why are contradictions called contradictions? Because in our belief systems and conditionings from our family, society, geography, ethnicity, among other factors, we are more comfortable with some combinations and uncomfortable with some. The ones we are comfortable with fall in the conventional quadrants and the ones that don’t fall into the unconventional quadrants. For example, we plot classic and contemporary on the Y-axis and young and mature on the X-axis. The quadrants of young and contemporary as well as classic and mature are the conventional ones. We are quite comfortable with these combinations. However, classic and young as well as contemporary and mature fall into unconventional quadrants. These are the quadrants that are of interest to us. Our belief systems have made us believe in certain comforting combinations and thus the uncomfortable ones give birth to contradictions.

How to create the mythic value of a luxury brand

The degree of the mythic value of luxury holds the key to the sustainability of the myth of luxury brands. Therefore, every luxury brand needs to look deeper into its raison d’etre and identify its inherent attributes.

So how to create and communicate mythic value in luxury brands?

1. The First step is to identify the brand attributes as well as brand associations.
2. Second, identify the opposites of these attributes. So if one attribute is youthful, the opposite will be vintage.
3. Now is the time to plot the opposites and identify the new window of opportunity. For example, if the other two opposites are economical and expensive. Then if the norm or quadrant where the brand is operational is youthful and economical, the brand now needs to find a new window of opportunity that cannot be a conventional quadrant, for example, vintage and expensive. It always has to be an unconventional quadrant, for example, youthful and expensive or vintage and economical. Something that looks impossible.
4. It is only once you have identified the window of opportunity for example, vintage and economical, the brand and communication planning begins.
5. So the new positioning and the communication thereof will be with the new attributes in the new window of opportunity.

The Concluding Words

The Mythic Value of Luxury is a very unique take on luxury. The author has tied to answer a fundamental question with the help of anthropology. So the study of myth has helped him find a possible explanation on how luxury brands survive the test of time. As an academician, the approach towards the subject is academic and the proof lies in the three-page long list of references. The author has been researching the subject for a few years and also has a TEDx Talk on it. Despite the academic framework, the tenor and language of the book are lucid enabling more and more readers to understand the subject without any challenge. The author narrates research in the form of a story, filled with anecdotes, which makes the book engaging.

The book opens the possibility of bigger research – is a luxury a myth!