*Access Asia Forum - Dana Thomas on Luxury, Smoke, Mirrors and China*
*Dana Thomas has been the cultural and fashion writer for Newsweek in Paris
for 12 years. She has written about style for The New York Times Magazine, The
New Yorker, Vogue, The LA Times and the FT. She is the author of the
critically acclaimed and best-selling Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Lustre - the
book the luxury brands industry doesn't want you to read. *
*The Glamour Bar*
*6th Floor, 5 The Bund*
*Wednesday 19th March - 6-8pm*
*RMB50 (includes a glass of wine)*
* *
Access Asia brings you journalist and author Dana Thomas, the author of last
year's best selling book *Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Lustre *(Penguin), a
compelling argument that 'luxury' is no longer about luxury at all but a
business run by soulless corporations that focus only on growth, visibility,
brand-awareness, advertising and above all, profits. This is the book the PR
and hype-driven luxury goods business and the countless 'Luxury Conferences'
do not want you to read. Miss it and you'll stay clueless.
Dana will be talking about some of her major arguments:
*Made in Zhejiang More Often Than in Paris:* Quality has long since been
replaced by quantity, and almost all manufacturing has been outsourced to
large factories in places like China - Yes, your dream handbag is knocked up
next to a Wal-Mart rucksack;
*Think Secretaries Rather Than Aristocracy: *The market is not driven by the
rich and wealthy but by the new luxury-obsessed middle-class consumer
thinking they're getting a taste of the good life - luxury relies on
secretaries not billionaires;
*Smoke and Mirrors:* China is naturally at the heart of the growth of the
luxury business - but is it real?, who are the customers?, what tricks are
they being sold? And how has the media contributed to the 'luxury' hype
getting so out of control?
*Rip Off:* why the modern luxury industry is a sham because its offerings in
no way merit the high price tags they command? Production costs fall,
margins go up, your bank account goes down.
These are just some of the dirty little secrets the luxury spin and hype
machine doesn't want the punter to know. At Access Asia we, of course,
immediately found Dana's thesis compelling and true and so we've lured her
into the heart of the luxury beasts lair to counteract all the nonsensical
advertorial, lazy journalism, endless and repetitive 'Luxury Conferences'
and 'Millionaires Fairs' in Shanghai with a dose of reality - to smash the
myths and debunk the hype that surrounds this most over-hyped of businesses.
[ 本帖最后由 enlayer 于 2008-3-19 12:53 编辑 ] |
发表于 2008-3-19 12:47
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发表于 2008-3-19 14:37
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