Book launch: The Mythic Value of Luxury by Mahul Brahma

Kolkata: Author Prof (Dr) Mahul Brahma launched his sixth book The Mythic Value of Luxury virtually. Dr Brahma is a Professor of Crisis Communications and Dean – School of Media and Communications at Adamas University. His last book was How to Communicate Strategically in Corporate World. He is a D.Litt in Communications and Luxury and a PhD in Economics.

Dr Brahma is a TEDx Speaker on Mythic Value of Luxury. He is also a luxury commentator and has penned The Luxe Trilogy which comprises Decoding Luxe, Dark Luxe and Luxe Inferno.

The father of myths Claude Levi Strauss has rightly said that myths are still widely interpreted in conflicting ways: collective outcome of a kind of esthetic play, the foundation of ritual. On the one hand, it would seem that in the course of a myth anything is likely to happen. There is no logic, no continuity. Any characteristic can be attributed to any subject; every conceivable relation can be met. With myth, everything becomes possible. But on the other hand, this apparent arbitrariness is belied by the astounding similarity between myths collected in widely different regions.

Dr Brahma says, “In my quest of finding the secret behind luxury brands surviving centuries I started researching on myths. So I started looking at luxury from various lenses of sociology, philosophy and anthropology. This book is my research on the same which unveils the power of embodying contradictions that create a mythic value in a luxury brand. The greater the contradictions it can house, the greater the mythic value.”

He gives the example of the Patiala crown necklace made by Cartier in 1926 that had the seventh largest diamond by De Beers of 234.69 carats and overall adorned by 2,930 diamonds. The black and white photograph of the Maharaja of Patiala adorning the necklace is widely showcased by Cartier in every strategic boutique of Cartier even today. The photograph is an example of the mythic value of luxury which embodies the biggest contradictions – diamonds are a man’s best friend and not a woman’s.

Dr Brahma says, “The realm of the unconventional is the space where mythic value is created for luxury brands.”

Dr Brahma is a former chief editor and head of communications, branding, CSR and publications for a Tata group company. He is an alumnus of IIM Calcutta, University of Calcutta, St Xavier’s College, MICA, and University of Cambridge Judge Business School. He is an actor, painter and golfer.