Luxury Pyramids

I ran across this interesting article a while back by Meagan Willet on the "Business Insider" website: Here's the Hierarchy of Luxury Brands Around the World. It cited a book by HSBC Bank managing director Erwan Rambourg titled The Bling Dynasty: Why the Reign of Chinese Luxury Shoppers Has Only Just Begun, in which Mr Rambourg created a pyramid of brands to show how major brand names range in accessibility from more-or-less affordable everyday luxuries like Starbucks coffee* and craft beers to extreme-high-end luxury items like top-of-the-line diamonds. Here's his pyramid:

The idea is that brands which become overly accessible to the Great Unwashed like you and I become less desirable and appealing to those higher up on the economic scale. If too many people are able to buy a particular item, it loses its appeal as a symbol of the wealth, power, and sophistication that allows the privileged to exist in the rarefied atmosphere of the social and economic elite.

I tried to do up a few versions of the Rambourg Pyramid** that would be a little more realistic when applied to the 99%, but wasn't really happy with any of them. Here's one version ...

In my pyramid, the first five levels represent the increasing levels of more realistic "luxury" (meaning that there's more disposable income to be able to dispose of at increasingly expensive stores). Most of us will never reach the peak of super-ultra-premium-high-end goods represented at the Bespoke*** level of Mr Rambourg's pyramid.

I spend most of my time in the first three levels of my pyramid and the first level of Mr Rambourg's, and at my age I'm not likely to move up much higher. So tell me ... what does your pyramid look like? Leave a comment and let the rest of us know.

Have a good day. Shop at the right places, and come back tomorrow when we reveal our Right Cheek Ass Clown of the Month for April.

More thoughts then.

Bilbo

* I'm not sure I agree that Starbucks Coffee is an "affordable everyday luxury" ... I sometimes think that each Starbucks location should have a collocated bank branch to handle short-term loans.

** My term, not Mr Rambourg's.

*** "Bespoke" means "custom-made," as opposed to off-the-rack.