Inside the World of Luxury Art

Luxury is a synonym of exclusivity and a symbol of sophistication. Luxury brands add a creative and emotional value to the client’s purchase of a product or service. Similarly, art forms an emotional connection with the viewer, with every client appreciating art from their personal perspective. This is why the status of luxury products is equivalent to that of an art object.

Customers admire the craftsmanship and beauty of luxury items and interpret the idea behind them from their viewpoint. Distinguishing luxury and art can be complex because of the similarity in their attributes. Both belong to individually special categories with different business models. However, the approach to sell the story behind each product is the same: form an emotional relationship with the potential customers via the art of storytelling.

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An Inseparable Relationship

Luxury and art are directly related to each other because fine arts, like luxury goods, are driven by creativity. In other words, creativity is the reason for their existence, forming relationships between them. This can result them to occasionally overlap. Luxury does not have a single definition and neither does art, which is why they are inextricably linked. Both these terms can be used interchangeably as there are various alternative meanings to them, depending on what the viewer perceives. Moreover, each product is created individually by artisans and is often handcrafted with high quality raw materials, which is a common feature in the sector of both luxury and art.

Another significant characteristic that determines both luxury and art is authenticity. According to Timothy and Boyd, ‘authenticity is associated with portraying the past in an accurate manner because heritage has been a notion of authenticity.’ Therefore, luxury and art are considered authentic when they have a heritage that can be expressed in the form of storytelling. Authenticity is also linked to scarcity because there is usually a limited number of artisan goods produced by craftsmen. This is why luxury companies are also referred to as heritage luxury brands because they create a certain value for the buyers, thanks to their exclusiveness.

This can further be explained by the fact that most of the luxury products as well as fine arts not only create value but in fact, increase in value over a significantly long period of time. For this reason, art objects from artists and creatives are sold for exorbitant prices because high net worth clients and connoisseurs consider these items worth an investment. According to Mike Featherstone, “A central aspect of luxury is value. Luxuries proclaim value: they suggest things that can readily be valued above others.” This is why luxury and art are regarded as interchangeable terms.

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Additionally, aesthetics or beauty play a significant role for both categories. However, it is difficult to define beauty in simple terms, just like luxury and art. The definition of beauty differs from person to person because of varied outlooks. According to Theodor W. Adorno, a twentieth century philosopher, expresses: “We cannot define the concept of beautiful not give up its concept”. In a similar way, the concept of luxury and art cannot be expressed in a single definition but at the same time, the qualitative and qualitative value it holds is indispensable. Besides aesthetics, the lack of the inherence of an expression of cultural quality in the identity of luxury brands and arts can risk them to lose the competitiveness.

An Old Tale

A major reason why luxury brands, particularly fashion companies, collaborate with artists is that a designer’s work has a lot in common with the artistic process. From the physical attributes, like shape and colour to intangible aspects, like the concept and story behind a distinct style, both sectors work in a similar manner. From this perspective, it can be argumented that the luxury brand and art relationships are based on how deeply the art pervades a brand’s identity. Brands have been collaborating with artists since the nineteenth century, either by getting inspired or to pay homage to the artists. For instance, haute couture designer Elsa Schiaparelli’s collaboration with well-known artists Jean Cocteau and Dali remains an important contribution to the development of luxury-art world.

Other well-known examples include Prada’s 2005 Prada Marfa in collaboration with Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset, Alexander McQueen’s limited edition iconic skull print scarves by Damien Hirst and Louis Vuitton’s fashion-art collaboration with Japanese pop artist Takashi Murakami. One of the reasons why these collaborations, especially in the fashion industry, have been immensely successful is that the world of fashion thrives on novelty. Special editions and personalised collections are key to the authenticity and storytelling of a brand.

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The Modern Heritage

Luxury companies are operating their own museums to preserve their brand heritage and increasing the prestige of their goods by focusing on their high investment value potential.  Europe is home to some of the world’s well-known luxury brand museums, from Cartier’s Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain and Fondation Louis Vuitton to Gucci Garden Archétypes and Musée Christian Dior, to name a few.

What must luxuries do if they want to attain even higher value? The answer: is become art.

Mike Featherstone, Critical Luxury Studies: Art, Design and Media

In recent years, art museums have shifted from being educational to being more commercial. While museums can play a role in the creation of luxuries by bringing items to light and making them appealing objets d’art, such luxuries can also be converted into high-quality copies to adorn the homes of the wealthy.

The high-profile collaborations between fashion designers and fine artists is a profound illustration of the fashion industry that mirrors the emotional connections of the world it lives in and the current events. In a similar way, artists profit from a global platform to gain a large-scale recognition and expand their audience by presenting their work via luxury boutique stores and catwalks. At the same time, artists also become a symbolic part of a global movement in the realms of art and luxury fashion, where the lines between the two are becoming increasingly blurred.

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The Final Word

The luxury-art partnerships are not simply just collaborative works but they also significantly contribute to the domain of rare collectibles. Thanks to the exclusive and handmade nature of these objets d’arts, they become sought-after long-term investment opportunities for the ultra high net worth clients that they can pass down from one generation to the other. Although the luxury industry faces a constant danger of counterfeit products, the one-off collaboration items are an emblem of authenticity that holds its value.