Luxury will never die

But why luxyry cannot die, even will not die?

What is fascinating about the concept of luxury or the phenomenon of luxury is that it is not unanimous, that it cannot be reduced to a common denominator. There is currently a luxury that is expressed by 'more is more' as well as a luxury that is expressed by 'less is more'.

The wines of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti are among the most expensive wines in the world, and there are many wines that are traded at astronomical prices today. For example Screamimg Eagle, Domaine Leroy Musigny Grand Cru, Henri Jayer, Petrus, Ampoule de Penfolds and many others.

But DRC wines exude such a mystical aura that the prices here remain understandable in a very particular context - in the world of luxury.

And yet, the majority of the population does not understand this phenomenon, speaks of madness, amusement of the rich, shakes its head without understanding.

But - but the moment they enter the world of luxury, they succumb without sometimes noticing it. Nothing becomes a habit more easily than luxury.

What is the behavior that will decide whether or not the prices for luxury goods such as Burgundy or Bordeaux wines, champagne, cars, jewels or art are justified, will continue to rise or are to be revised downwards?

In fact, it is a mixture of the Snob effect and the Veblen effect. The snob effect is a pure price effect and justifies abnormal demand behavior. This effect always occurs when consumers only pay attention to goods above a certain level of exclusivity and also assume that the good will not be purchased by a wide range of consumers.

In this case, the price is rather secondary for the purchase decision; it is the anticipated behavior of other buyers that is decisive.

In the case of the Veblen effect recognition consumption, goods are preferred because of their higher price. This type of consumption aims to show what one can afford and thus define one's social status.

The higher price is thus directly responsible for the higher demand. In the case of the snob effect, on the other hand, it is the uniqueness of the cosmopolitan good that is the determining factor - the price has only an indirect influence on this.

Thus, in the high-end luxury strategy, both effects are exploited in a staggered way in order to make the price spiral ever higher.

But what are the physiological reasons for this completely natural behavior? In fact, it is our reptilian brain that is at the source of the explanation.

Located in the center of our brain is the striatum. This is a very old, somewhat globular structure of our brain that exists in all mammals. It is the size of a large plum. We now know thanks to MRIs when this striatum gives us pleasure. It releases dopamine, the pleasure hormone, when we do certain actions. It will guide us, direct our deep motivations." Since we never have enough moments of pleasure, the human brain is consequently programmed for "more and more"!

The need for social status has a direct link with the striatum. In prehistoric times, becoming the leader of your group gave you advantages: you chose your sexual partner, so you replicated your DNA, and you had more access to food. Social status was a guarantee of better chances of survival.

The striatum is governed by a simple principle: lassitude. If you are given the same peanut every day, at first the striatum sends out reward signals. Then, the only way to increase the dopamine thresholds is to increase the doses. If we transpose this mechanism to the field of consumption, it is to have a bigger car, a more beautiful woman, tailor-made suits, rare and expensive wines. So we are talking about status symbols or in other words - the libido and the desire to seduce the world around us definitely dominate our existence.

And we can assume that the evolution will not change so quickly the structure of our brain, the neuronal exchanges and subsequently our behavior and that our habits will remain the same for a long time.

Libido and seduction, two dominant forces intimately interwoven, are the protectors of the rising price curve in luxury, and this is not likely to change!