Has Luxury Fashion Priced Itself Into Extinction?

Big-name high-end brands like Burberry, Prada, and LVMH are in the midst of difficult financial times: The public simply doesn’t covet their once-desirable labels as much as it used to. The fashion eco-system needs and feeds on luxury brands. To see how deep its dependence runs, leaf through the opening pages of the April issue of American Vogue. Eliminating cosmetics and jewelry brands, you’ll find, in order, expensive (between $175,000 and $200,000 per page, according to the magazine’s rate card), sometimes multi-page ads from Ralph Lauren, Dior, Gucci, Prada, Chanel, Bottega Veneta, Saint Laurent, Celine, Dolce & Gabbana, Fendi, Marc Jacobs, Michael Kors, DKNY, and La Perla. Now, look at that another way. Of those front-of-book advertisers, only the publicly traded Michael Kors and privately held Chanel are stand-alone brands and independent operations. La Perla belongs to a Luxembourg-based private investment firm that also owns modeling agencies. Read more at The Daily Beast.