Luxury In A Turbulent World: What’s Next?

What’s next? There are more than 20 books on Amazon with those two words in the title (and subtitles like “Britain’s Future in Europe,” “Creativity in the Age of Entertainment,” “Dispatches on the Future of Science” and “The Smart Nurse’s Guide to Your Dream Job”). They form the mantra of Silicon Valley, are featured on the Obama Foundation’s home page, and the title of a cultural trends report by the futurist Richard Watson. And they are the question in a Bloomberg headline after the most recent luxury industry results: “Gucci Loafers Are Everywhere. What’s Next?” They are, in other words, two words that act as shorthand for the bundle of anticipation, expectation and disruption that is our understanding of the future. But when it comes to luxury, once upon a time they also had a very specific meaning. They encapsulated the driving force of creativity: the constant quest for new ways of seeing, new ways of working, new ways of crafting and expressing identity, new ways of being relevant in the world. They were the causal root of trends, and they paved catwalks; they were the subtext of seasons, and the theory behind thinking six months in the future. Read more at The New York Times.