The Luxury Century, Part II
Get Closer, Get Back to Basics
We concluded in the last issue that time is a luxury that has prompted air travel to reach new heights in terms of quality service and comfort. In the final part of this feature on 21st century luxury, we learn how the rich and powerful of this world are getting in touch in this global village. And money is not always necessary to access true luxury. But appreciation of tradition and craftsmanship is.
The last time you probably heard of Mali was when Madonna controversially adopted little David Banda in 2006. A much less known personality is Amadou Samassekou, known as Topin, a jewellery designer living in the city of Mopti. But his exquisite creations didn’t go unnoticed at Maison Hermès, in their quest to find unique craftsmanship around the world.
Is this the highest form of luxury in contemporary fashion? Centenary French House Hermès believes so.
In his insightful book “Luxe” (Le Cherche Midi, 2007), the company’s international director Christian Blanckaert describes in a delightful short story, the meeting with Topin and the beautiful party he organised for him and his colleague in true African welcoming fashion, with a whole village celebrating their visit. Topin is a fine example of African craftsmanship, finessed by the oral knowledge transmitted throughout the centuries by artisans, and that’s exactly what the French house was looking for, even if it had to fly thousands of kilometres to meet Topin in a remote Malian spot.
“Luxury should go in-depth and find again the origins of the objects,” Mr. Blanckaert writes, “luxury has this duty of reviving the hand of men, of finding money and space for the rare pieces, sometimes unique, which, thanks to our houses, find an honourable opportunity.”
Tradition and modernity have proudly been at the core of Hermès’ raison d’etre since its foundation in 1837 and I find that this duet is expanding to all areas where luxury can be found. It’s certainly a key reason for the enduring success of the brand, and this part of the world is no exception.
Mainland China represents 2 to 3 percent of Hermès’ global sales but it will rise to maybe 10% over the next 10 years. But if one includes Hong Kong and Macau in China, then the sales rise to 12 percent.
Commercial profit is certainly key to the economic health of the company, one of the few to have remained in the hands of the same family (the Dumas) for six generations. But Hermès does not succumb to the tyranny of figures and knows all too well how deep swerves based on momentary and illusory consumers’ tastes can dictate the end of luxury houses. When Rochas sold cognacs in Japan, as Mr. Blanckaert writes in his book, “not knowing what else to do with a ship adrift, it was a calamity.” And yet, at its peak, this was a great fashion house.
When I speak with Mr. Blanckaert on the phone, he is in Hanoi, no doubt checking out artisans like the ones that provide the lacquer used by the brand on its sandals. He is very critical of what is today perceived as luxury.
“Luxury has no meaning these days,” he tells me, “there’s a lot of fake luxury. Anyone can make a product, and sell it at an expensive price saying it is luxury. That’s illegitimate luxury.
We have to differentiate what is luxury and what are marketing gimmicks.” The word in fact is not even liked in the house, ‘craftsmanship’ being the preferred one.
“Hermès has three pillars,” he explains, “the first is craftmanship, the second one is extreme quality in its relationship with the supplier. The third pillar is innovation, keep innovating and be ahead of the times.”
That is why Hermès is not “in a hurry” to deliver products with no other purpose than to put together the en vogue tendencies.
“We are not a fashion house that creates products to be out of fashion,” he states, “we try to anticipate fashion. And all our products are potentially vintage products. They can be damaged and we will repair them.”
This is rare, almost unique in the ever-changing world of fashion, an industry where today’s hit item is tomorrow’s garbage, to justify a new season and a whole new array of disposable products.
Service will always matter for old and new money
It’s true that the days of a handful of elites who would have exclusive access to luxury articles and services and would impose their taste, predominantly European, onto the whole world, are over, like the colonial empires they dominated.
The old (and sometimes decadent) families can resent and snub millionaire newcomers as “new money”, but they are spreading over all latitudes. And their appetite for luxury grows exponentially just as their wealth.
Michael Ziemer knows all to well the two groups, as a veteran hotelier and current general-manager of the Mandarin Oriental. The son of German parents, he was raised in Australia, and has consolidated his career in-between East and West, gaining valuable lessons from the unbeatable Asian service as well as from the solid teaching of the Swiss-German hotel schools, still the best in the globe. “I think luxury means a lot of things to a lot of different people. There are true core of values of luxury, which are obviously based on service, on quality, and on individuality, that never change,” he explains, “but I think different countries around the world, whether it’s the Russian market, the Middle-eastern market or the Asian market, have different levels of luxury that are important to them.”
So, for the German well-to-do, affluent clientele at the Mandarin Oriental Munich where he was based before coming to Macau, the idea of luxury is “getting things done promptly and efficiently, the bedding, the food and beverages, the restaurants they can go to.” The Middle-Eastern market, he continues, is looking for opulence, largess, they have the gold taps, the marble fittings. The Asian market is “very spoiled because it’s got wonderful hotels. The travellers here in Asia are looking for the smaller boutique hotels, which are also doing extremely well because they get individual styles of service which is becoming very important.”
Not surprisingly in a celebrity age, pop-rock-rap stars and movie divas (and “divoes”…) have become a driving force with their over-the-top approach to luxury at every level and in all areas, setting new trends amongst world travellers, especially rich Russians and Chinese who love to flaunt their money around. “There’s a range of menus and different things they are looking for,” Mr. Ziemer confides, “whether it be the (specific kind
of mineral) water, the white flowers in the room, the type of bedding that they require, if it’s fret linen only, if it’s 500-threadcount Egyptian cotton. People know exactly what they’re looking for, particularly the younger affluent group.” One trend, though, is becoming stronger for old and new customers: the exigency of tailor-made, bespoke service. Being able to adapt to a customer’s needs, can be a challenge at times, but Michael Ziemer insists that’s fundamental, especially in a five-star hotel. “We have to read into what the customer likes”, he concludes.
But customer personal care doesn’t mean attending to all their absurd demands and in this sense Mr. Ziemer sees in the current financial crisis, some benefits. The recent past has been made up of so many excesses that not even the star-rate system was spared. “I’m a very traditional hotelier, he says, “I believe in three-star, four-star, five-star and five-star deluxe. That’s how I grew up in the industry and that’s what I stick to. I don’t believe in seven-star, I don’t believe in six-star.” According to Mr. Ziemer, when it comes down to making a decision, the customer will consider above all the money they will spend and if the package is good value for money. “Seven- stars is telling some people that you are very expensive. Is that what you really want to do?” he asks.
So these hard times will be “a reality check for everybody”, he says, adding that his creativity and that of his peers, will be much needed in order to continue to attract customers to a place that has been dubbed the new darling of the luxury world.
“I think that is going to happen”, Michael Ziemer predicts, “I think the image of Macau is evolving, it’s changing, it’s not just that spin-off from Hong Kong who come across on the ferry for the day to play in the casino and maybe stay the night. I think that it is now becoming more of a destination.”
What the city needs more than ever is an efficient infrastructure with a top-notch transport network and services that won’t scare visitors away. Making a VIP customer wait for one and a half hours in the immigration queue does nothing for Macau’s image and first impressions are enduring. As for the future, his luxury chain of hotels will be opening a second property in Macau in the hyper-chic One Central complex which will include a five-star deluxe new Mandarin (ultra-modern but with a Chinese vibe).
The project will introduce to Macau a brand new concept, Shun Tak managing director Pansy Ho said recently to Closer, “a metropolitan style of living that includes shopping, entertainment and hospitality together in a compact formula. There’s no competitor in the market at this point,” Ms. Ho says, “most of the retail we know here is composed of accessory boutiques (smaller stores with a limited sample of a certain brand), but One Central will be the prime place for flagship stores.”
Louis Vuitton, Dolce and Gabbana (a first in Macau) and Hermès will be there. Revealingly, all the residential flats have been sold.
The New Gourmet and the Old Prejudices
Food and wine are perhaps some of the easiest ways for humans to access luxury. And this is perhaps the chapter in our Luxury guide that is experiencing a revolution in terms of concepts, tastes and preferences.
Closer’s food and wine editor Simon Tam, is also director of the Independent Wine Centre (www.iwinecentre.com), a company dedicated to the education of wine, even though, as he recognises, what he does simultaneously with his clients/students is pure cultural marketing “showing the delights of the West to the hungry East,” he jokes.
“Everything you find is luxurious, people express it through all clichés, like champagne and caviar, Sauterne and foie gras, lamb and Bordeaux red wine,” he defends, “there’s no shortage of what is generally perceived as, and I believe wrongly, as luxury in food and wine. What I think is a mistake is that they consider luxury in food and wine to be scarcity, but scarcity isn’t always luxury.” The problem, according to Mr. Tam is the interference of the marketing/business world and the make-believe strategy that expensive means exquisite. It’s not that it doesn’t apply in some cases, but it’s far from being a general rule. Wine and delicacy merchants, he adds, are notoriously guilty of this. “They seldom get that the sense if a certain product really stimulates the raw core of emotion in all of us, and that really is what and where luxury should hit. Not the wallet, but the raw core of our very being,” he stresses.
So one can spend millions at a good wine merchant or on a white truffle
(“no more than a mould growing on the ground,” Simon says), but are they luxurious? “Maybe to some,” he says, but “luxury should be a state of mind and should be a typical experience and something that engrains in you. And once you have that perception, much of what you perceive as luxury, tends to fade away.”
Therefore, Simon Tam defends that luxury should not be confused with scarcity, but rather be considered a pleasure to be repeated time and time again. The key factor is knowledge. And knowledge comes through education.
A good example is caviar. Most people, he reveals don’t know the difference between Beluga, Osetra and Sevruga and would be afraid to say that don’t like Beluga because is the most expensive. But Mr. Tam prefers Sevruga because it has the most defined flavour, it pops in the mouth and it’s not a hard chew. And he finds Beluga too salty. “Having confidence and having the knowledge allows you to have confidence on your own terms,” he explains, “and if you can define luxury in your own terms, you can certainly make your dollar sense last and last, and stretch and stretch.” That’s exactly what he explains to his Chinese clients, allowing them to fast track the route to luxury and not commit the same mistakes of spending millions on a
delicacy that ultimately they do not appreciate.
And what place will Macau have in this world of luxury, now that fine wines (with zero tax) and fine dining are going from strength to strength?
“I think Macau has all the right qualities to be a luxurious hotspot,” he says. Examples abound in the “closest and most precious bit of Europe in Asia,” (as Simon describes it): one can submerge themselves in the finest bacalhau (Portuguese for codfish) dishes, olive oil and Portuguese wines; one can see and take photographs of buildings constructed in 1850 or 1870, that cannot be found anywhere else in an ever movable Asia. “I think that to me is a luxury that I hope our children are able to enjoy,” he defends. And then of course one has the casinos day and night, the finest vintage wines in the world and the high-end shopping. A word of advice though, “Since there are Louis Vuitton shops pretty much everywhere there’s money, let’s look a bit deeper and see what Macau really has to offer. That’s what is really luxurious.”
The Global Village of the “Luxe People”
So if you are one of those self-made men or women who worked hard and made a fortune, have no time to lose and yet want to make the best of whatever is left, you best bet to have access to prime experiences is to register with a concierge company and in this high-end market it’s difficult to beat Quintessentially (www.quintessentially.com).
Funded by two Britons, Aaron Simpson and Ben Elliot, this private club now has 44 offices all over the world, obviously London and New York, but also in exotic Mozambique. This private club doesn’t have a sleek town-house as headquarters, the kind of place you would find in London’s Piccadilly or Mayfair, but access to it is as exclusive as an old club, with the plus of being there for you pretty much everywhere.
When I ask Quintessentially’s chief executive for Asia/ Pacific Emma Sherrard for her definition of luxury, she encapsulates the philosophy of the company. “Luxury has probably got to do with time and experiences that get associated on how I spend my time,” she says, “luxury can be defined in different areas and depends on the individual. It’s the very, very best of each area, but it can always mean the insider’s information.”
Experience is perhaps a battered word in the marketing world, but it’s the best one for luxury movers and shakers to describe what they can provide: if you already have for instance all the hit bags, how about travelling to Italy to meet an artisan who is going to design your dream bag with your specifications. Love Versace and have a full wardrobe to prove it? How about going to meet Donatela to do a frock just for you? It has happened already with a client. And it can get bolder: a pink private jet was used for a special marriage proposal in Morocco. The company is getting famous for its ‘everything is possible” approach, but above all, they work as your guide, wherever you are.
“It’s about finding the hidden gems, absolutely, Emma tells me “it is insider knowledge and we are well placed with 44 offices around the world. If you are a newcomer, and if one night you want to go to a fabulous, glamorous spa, and experience the dim-sum where locals go, we can arrange that. That’s luxurious because people love this sense of belonging. For us it’s about nestling for what our members want and directing them accordingly.”
Another advantage is how the world becomes smaller and easier at this level. Quintessentially can put members together and understand who the members are. There will be business introductions and networking. In Asia, people like clubs. The company doesn’t have a house as such, but it works with a tight network of bars and restaurants. It has in fact 22 thousand suppliers worldwide.
“Our core business is people. I love to describe us as your best friend that you carry in your back pocket and that you pull out whenever you need,” Emma says.
There’s obviously a price to pay, for instance an expert showing you the best buys in an art fair ahead of the crowds, or for getting VIP tickets for a concert that hasn’t been publicly announced. It goes from an annual membership fee of HK$55,000 to an elite membership of HK$300,000 (by invitation only). For the latter, you’ll have a team of personal elite account managers, 24 hours a day to cater for your every personal need.
But price hasn’t prevented people from joining the club. Emma doesn’t talk specific figures, only saying that in Hong Kong for instance, there’s a cap of 2000 members. In the first phase they were expats, but over the past 18 months there’s been a shift to the Hong Kong Chinese community which is exactly where Quintessentially wants to be positioned. Hong Kong Chinese members now make up 56 percent of all membership, and the rest are international.
Emerging markets like India and China have steadily being providing members for this private club, and Emma says that there are many connoisseurs and collectors for instance that know exactly what they want from a club like Quintessentially. But for newcomers eager to learn about this exclusive world, there will be experts to help. And will Macau be part of this circuit?
“In the next year or so we will probably have an office in Macau,” she confides, “we have offices in Beijing and Shanghai. But surely the fine dining, the Cirque du Soleil, the high-end hotels will attract more and more high-end visitors.”
In Macau the club also looks for inbound traffic of members from around the world, who are looking for a feel, that Emma describes as “Vegas in Asia”: great entertainment, great dining, great casino action.
