I have to agree with RACHYLOU: privacy is the new luxury!

Fashion-related, high-end fabrics which look and feel wonderful. Any item which is somehow a bit more than usual—better fabric, better design, a higher cost.

Very interesting responses! For me, a luxury item is something that is not very essential, or if it is an essential, it is at a price point far beyond what a similar version would cost.

For instance, a Burberry scarf is luxury to me, because you could get another scarf that is just as warm, with a similar fabric and design, that does the job just as well but for a much lower price.

The same goes for many luxury makeup brands. I can get the same quality and same general shades of eyeshadow, for instance, without having to purchase Dior or Chanel.

I guess what I'm seeing is that for me, luxury means that at the end of the day, you are paying more for a name than for quality. The same quality, function, longevity, etc., can be had at a more modest price point.

I totally agree Gigi! I think these days you are mostly paying for a name. Maybe in the past the “luxury” brands actually were higher quality.
It is hard for me to know because the closest I have ever got to luxury is some higher end NZ designers not international brands.

As an impressionable young girl, I thought luxury was all about designer brands and expensive items. Those things were well beyond my reach but I really loved many of the looks and the lifestyle I imagined went with “living in luxury”.

To me, luxury is stuff I can't afford. Maybe I'm cynical at the moment, but luxury just sounds like the 1%, and not in an aspirational way, in a 'these people are actively making the world worse for the rest of us' way.

I agree with the idea that time is the biggest luxury. I'm currently full-time, and I miss the luxury of having my afternoons and multiple days off to myself. However, with my credit card bills laughing at me, and no husband's income to make it easier to pay those bills, time is a luxury I cannot afford right now. Hence the scrumptious fabrics and light colors and self care like scented body creams and such.

Thank you, all of you, for your wisdom and inspiration

I've been thinking about this since you posted it, and finally came up with my answer today. For me, luxury is having someone else do something for me that I'm perfectly capable of doing myself. Luxury is more experiential for me than anything. The more service, the more luxurious.

I love this question and all of these thoughtful responses.

For me luxury in clothing is quality fabrics and quality tailoring-- I know what Angie means when she says of her Smythe jackets that they are so well made they nearly make her cry. When I acquire objects like that I thoroughly enjoy their luxury. I like fabrics with extremely high thread counts, a soft hand or a dramatic crispness, a pleasurable drape, or great tactile interest. I like it when something fits perfectly out of sheer luck, and I feel spoiled by it = luxury.

Another kind of luxury is choice and variety-- multiples of the same thing even though multiples are not functionally necessary. Until I was 27 or so I only owned one pair of shoes and one coat at a time. Now I have way too many shoes and coats, which I can rotate in and out to suit my mood or my preferences in self-presentation, and that is undoubtably a luxury.

My first thought was time as well, or being free to choose what to do with my time. And go figure -- choice was my second thought! Having a full pantry and choosing what to make for dinner, being able to choose different shoes/bag to go with each outfit/set of circumstances, etc.

Sumptuous fabrics don't hold a whole lot of sway for me. I don't swoon over the feel of silk the way some folks do, and cashmere is just as itchy as merino on my arms and legs. Clothes are either comfortable or they're not. And if they're not, I don't keep them!

Logos and branding are even less appealing to me. They should be paying me to advertise for them, not the other way around! Even brands I enjoy supporting, like Patagonia, turn me off with prominent logos. I was disappointed when Everlane started putting leather logo patches on their jeans; the first two pairs I bought didn't have any exterior branding whatsoever.

I'm with La Ped. Time, choice, nice quality yes- big logos no.
I like the word luxurious more than luxury. Luxurious to me are things that feel nice, silk or things that are extra soft
The word luxury is overused imho, and to me signifies "costs more than is really worth." You always see "luxury apartments" right next to the highway for example :/

Luxury to me would be not having to work.

Right now to me it would be going to a fully stocked supermarket without crowds.

Sometimes one doesn’t recognize or appreciate what one has until it is gone.

Luxury to me RIGHT NOW would be not having to fear death from the coronavirus. However, that is a luxury I won't have thanks to my COPD and scar tissue in my lungs from a bout with pneumonia 10 or so years ago.
The fact that I am grinding away at my body pulling extra hours at work just so people can hoard a bunch of perishables they ain't gonna consume before they go bad? Is likely increasing my risk of serious complications from coronavirus if I contract it.

I read this article this morning and it reminded me of this topic:

https://www.theatlantic.com/ma.....ce=faceboo

That article summed up many of my thoughts Janet which I could not have put so eloquently.

CIndy - I am thinking of you and wishing you all the best.

Omg. Ok. That’s my new word: premiocre. Premium Mediocre. That’s brilliant. $500 yarn doll, I’m looking at you

But my now defunct $5 donuts were not, I swear, premiocre. Hehe. I miss those good ol’ hipster days.

Many designer 'luxury' brands never appealed to me, even when I was younger - obvious logos, gaudy patterns, too loud colours. The irony is that many people look at how I dress & think that's what a gift for me should look like, just because I like to dress colourfully. That's how I end up with all these jewellery pieces that I never wear but also never get rid of, out of pure guilt. Things like neon pink & bright green doorknocker earrings, lol. Even if those are 'luxury' items, they don't appeal to me - I guess because other people can't see the thought process behind my 'colourful' style, playing with proportions & shades that work for me.

Luxury therefore has more to do with aligning the balance & harmony with what I want out of an item. Price is not a determining factor; thoughtfulness is.