Luxury ?? Longevity: A Match Made in London

I’m not much of a patriot. But I adore London.?

That’s not to belittle the shire-like serenity of my West Country upbringing, London is just a different kind of extraordinary.?

William Wordsworth famously preferred the pleasures of rural living yet composed one of his most celebrated works on Westminster Bridge. Disraeli described the city as “a roost for every bird” and Wilde said its society “is composed now of beautiful idiots and brilliant lunatics.” Virginia Wolff made London in mid-June a dream worth experiencing while Samuel Johnson believed if one became tired of London, they were tired of life.?

Across canon and culture, London is both cornerstone and caricature. It’s vibrantly revered and decisively abhorred. The commonality in such contradicting responses is exactly that: you can’t help but feel something for this capital.?

But despite London’s seemingly eternal capacity to spark visceral reactions in residents and visitors alike, there seems to be a collective loss of faith in this city.?

Sure it regularly takes the listicle top spot in the clickbait game of (often localised) publishing, but London’s light appears to have dimmed a little for onlookers when it comes to luxury.?

It’s not all that surprising when faced with headlines like “London Is Losing Its Crown as a Luxury Shopping Destination” or “How London Became an Anti-Car, Anti-Tourist “Ghost City”. I think I speak for everyone when I say “fucking VAT”.?

We’ve lost confidence in London because of a few fear-mongering front pages, dictated by numbers and not much else. London has the energy; it has the momentum — luxury just hasn’t had the confidence to jump back on the ride after a prolonged spot of turbulence.?

If we can’t believe in luxury in London, believe in innovation here instead. Believe in the timeless legacy of this sprawling city and the timeless potential of brands built here.?

Oxford Street’s Big Topshop might be no more but we have Covent Garden, Coal Drops Yard, Battersea Power Station. We have The National Gallery and glaringly graphic Shoreditch streets. We have Savile Row and we have Brick Lane. We have Notting Hill, Little Venice, De Beauvoir Town and Hackney Wick. I’ll even concede that Clapham does possess a certain je ne said quoi that can’t be ignored.

London is just as much a home to Rolls Royce as it is to Triumph. The orbit of both Boodles and Soho House. The flagship of both Fortnum & Mason and Goodhood.?

In comparing The Big Smoke to the English language, Stephen Fry encapsulates the dichotomies luxury needs to put new faith into: “proudly barbaric yet deeply civilised, too, common yet royal, vulgar yet processional, sacred yet profane.”?

Luxury needs to lighten up globally but especially in London. At Walpole’s Annual British Luxury Summit last month, legendary photographer RANKIN put it beautifully:?

We’re being too British about being British.

And luxury in London has toppled into the trap headfirst. It’s becoming standoffish and disconnected, existing inanimately instead of acting like actual people. And for all the grumbles of grumpy Londoners, this city is filled to the brim with humanity.?

From an economic standpoint, London has all the makings of continued splendour for the luxury industry. But what will dictate the sector’s success isn’t simple foundations, it’s acceptance—actually, it’s confidence—that London is indeed a melting pot; a mongrel of cultures, behaviours, loves, hates, cuisines, styles, traditions, deviations — and it’s a pot luxury needs to climb into and get a bit sticky, instead of resting on laurels of exclusivity.??

After all this city is eternally full of activity, boasting a landscape of individuals who continuously seek out the unseen, the unique and the underappreciated, despite the recession squeezing even the U/HNW.

For luxury brands, that translates to a vast audience ready and willing to receive what only the best storytellers can give them — a vibrant lifestyle in one of the world’s most coveted capitals.