Prof Mahul Brahma’s new book weathers the silent storm of quiet luxury

The Quiet Luxe is a comprehensive research-based manual for understanding the history and evolution of “quiet luxury” and includes lectures delivered in the Bath Business School in the United Kingdom. The book explores the uniqueness of luxury brands that are dependent on beauty, art, design and aesthetics. It deep dives into the strategic perspective of leading luxury brands, which cater to both “quiet luxury” and “loud luxury” consumers -- Aesthetes and Connoisseurs versus the Flaunters. The book traces the history of “loud luxury” from the days of the Maharajas to the Great Indian Aspiring Middle Class of today versus the rise of ego-driven “quiet luxury” with the New Maharajas, the Richie Rich, who only flaunt to those who can afford. The book will be launched in the UK in June 2024 just like my 8th book Aesthetic Leadership in Luxury.

The Luxe Trilogy, my first three books comprise Decoding Luxe, Dark Luxe and Luxe Inferno.

The later books, somewhat of another trilogy are The Mythic Value of Luxury, Aesthetic Leadership in Luxury and The Quiet Luxe.

My writings on luxury have always had an academic bent, given my profession as an academician. I have gone beyond the basic dazzle and looked at luxury from various prisms such as philosophy, sociology, anthropology, and economics. This exposes various facets of luxury.

My reader will always find many layers. So while you can read then in one go on a flight, of you really want to delve deeper, you will need much more dedicated time than that as they are all laced with references for deeper understanding of every concept. So I always had two kind of readers – one who are the quick ones and the other who love to explore the references and delve deeper. The latter luxury trilogy is more mature and has more layers than the first trilogy.

It is a natural progression of thoughts. My previous book Aesthetic Leadership in Luxury dealt with the importance of design and aesthetics in luxury. It talked about aesthetic leaders like Marc Jacobs, Tom Ford and, of course, Steve Jobs and how they are obsessed with design and aesthetics. So I had moved away from the tales of flaunters into the holy land of the connoisseurs and aesthetes. These consumers are more interested in the aesthetics, design and craftsmanship of luxury products and usually stay away from brands that flaunt logos or monograms. So, there was a need to research in details on this quiet category of luxury, which has become a revolution.

Quiet luxury is a minimalist approach to luxury and fashion that emphasises timeless elegance, legacy, aesthetics, subliminal ego, and exclusivity. It is a form of elitist flaunting wherein logos take a backseat. Imagine spending INR 2 lakh on a jacket that is not adorned all over with logo of Gucci or Louis Vuitton. So people will not be able to even identify that it is a luxury spend. It will not make any noise. So, what’s the point? However, your jacket is a subtle cut that you jacket has that is a signature of a certain elite tailor at Savile Row. It is thus a hand-stitched bespoke from Savile Row. Thus it is luxury. However, only someone who also is a regular with Savile Row will be able to identify what you are wearing. So you are crowding out the Great Indian Aspiring Middle Class as well as the Nouveau Riche or “New Money” segment of New Maharajas to only extend your vanity to the “Old Money” New Maharajas. So your “quiet flaunting” luxury is exclusively for only those who are a class above others. Quiet luxury is new-age minimalism, with a larger focus on investment pieces and thoughtful shopping habits.

Exclusivity and ego are the two main drivers of quiet luxury.

An Indian example of quiet luxury is the Shahtoosh shawl, woven from the fur of a rare Tibetian antelope, which is on the verge of extinction. It is crafted over years and only a connoisseur can identify a Shahtoosh and its luxury quotient. When a Shahtoosh shawl is compared with a logo-studded Gucci or LV scarf, it becomes easy to discern between quiet and loud luxury.

Let’s first understand the consumers of quiet luxury, primarily the ones who are obsessed with aesthetics such as Aesthetes and the ones who are the “real collectors” or rather the Connoisseurs. These are the two categories where the consumer is just not swayed by logos.

These are consumers who come from “old money”, who do not feel the need to establish the “coming of age” to everyone. However, they are more ego-driven to establish their supremacy to the others who they think are also from the same strata of society. The subtle cut of the bespoke suit from Savile Row or the logo-less uber-class limited edition jacket of Louis Vuitton, which are hard to find but the trained eye will know that it is 10 times more expensive than the logo-studded jacket are the signs of flaunting in “quiet luxury” space.  

So communication also has to be bespoke. Communication has to be driven by two factors – exclusivity and ego. Therefore, luxury brands who are targeting the quiet luxury consumers have to keep a special communications and branding package ready wherein the logo is not showcased but the exclusivity is.

You can buy the logo but you can’t just buy the class!