My Current Favorites [July 2022]: Luxury and Design

I finally found time to do some reading. Here are my new favorites:

Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster

by Dana Thomas (€13.46, Amazon link)

The author is a journalist. Everything she writes about in this book is documented. I searched for and read this book because I was wondering why I was becoming more and more interested in luxury. I’m very sensitive to marketing messages and easily get swept up in them, so I wanted to gain a bit of distance and see the mechanism behind it (so I don’t fall for it anymore – it’ll be better for my wallet). In this book, all the big brands are analyzed, their stories dissected, their lies revealed. And it’s not pretty: from LVMH led by Bernard Arnault, whose aggressive business practices aren’t as beautiful as his stores, to Coco Chanel’s Nazi past…

Dana Thomas strips away all the bling that makes us love these brands so much, exposing an ultra-ugly capitalist world where luxury is justa mass industry… with a high price tag.

Unfortunately, the book was written in 2005 (and reissued in 2008), so a lot of things are outdated. This book highlights Louboutin and Hermès, who, up until the time of writing, kept the essence of luxury, but that’s no longer the case now.

This book should be put in the hands of people who are obsessed with luxury, and especially those who have to save for years to afford a luxury product, thinking it will be beautiful, high-quality, handmade, and whatnot. Because after reading this book, they’ll definitely wonder why they keep depriving themselves, just for a piece of fabric, made in a dingy basement workshop on the other side of the world, but sold at five figures in the store.

Fashionary Bag Design

30€ (Amazon link)

I’m currently having custom bags made by Vietnamese leather craftsmen and I really like this book, because it lets me show the artisans the elements I want on my bags. All types of bags, handles, closures… are listed here. You can get inspiration to create your own bag, but you can also use it to clearly describe how you want a particular detail of the bag to be done.

Online Leatherworking Course

To become more of an expert in leatherworking and be able to brief my artisans properly, I also paid for three online leatherworking courses. I’ve read several books too, but I find the video format easier to absorb:

• https://secretsfromtheworkshop.com/ from Armitage Leather, contains over 170 videos. It’s so detailed, packed with little tips. For example: the video on “how to cut leather,” a seemingly basic gesture, is so well done that I can’t believe I still have so much to learn about cutting (me, who’s been doing paper cutting for years). Honestly, for the amount of information provided, it’s not expensive at all. I went with the most expensive option that gives me access to a multitude of categories, but for a beginner, the $5 per month option is more than enough
• https://www.atelierpeternitz.com/the-pepin-tote : Peter Nitz is considered one of the best leather craftsmen in the world. He’s been joined by a former Hermès artisan, Julien Danel, for a few years. I chose to buy this course taught by Julien because there are Hermès methods he still uses (like hiding threads between two layers of leather instead of cutting them). The price is a bit steep, but you can’t learn it anywhere else, except at Hermès.
• https://www.domestika.org/fr/courses/2931-confection-de-sacs-en-cuir-professionnels : a course to learn how to make a bag, by Lili Storella. I already follow her on Instagram, so I’m very happy to have access to her course. Her technique is yet another different one from the previous two courses, so you learn new things. Her sewing method seems simpler than the traditional one. I really like it!