The Road to Luxury

Chapter 5Brand Identity, Clients, and Ethos

The young child walks with halting, hesitant steps as the grandfather walks slowly beside him, watching and encouraging.

Both are out for a stroll in a park adjacent to the Avenue des Champs-Élysées, just a few steps away from the luxury meccas of Avenue Montaigne and Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré.

On Sundays in this park, there is a puppet show, the last Guignol, and the grandfather and grandson find seats on a front-row bench.

Guignol hits the thief on the head and the child bursts out laughing as the grandfather smiles. What is he thinking? He certainly is not thinking about luxury, which means nothing to him in this precious moment when he is simply enjoying life, this warm intimacy between two beings who are enjoying each other's company without the encumbrance of wondering why. Guignol has finished. The grandfather and grandchild wander toward the merry-go-round.

Then the child speaks. He has seen and understood. His view is pure, simple, and direct.

He doesn't like the person in front of him, a “poorly dressed” woman.

He dislikes the color of the horse, an old faded gray, an ugly color!

This, too, is luxury, the observation of a child who reacts spontaneously without forethought, without constraints, the look of a child who guides the creator as closely as possible to simplicity, reality, a truth often in disguise.

The grandfather knows this perfectly well: The child's view is the key to luxury.

Brand Identity

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