"Analysts estimate that 20 percent of all luxury goods are sold in Japan and another 30 percent to Japanese traveling abroad - meaning Japanese buy half of all luxury goods....
The Japanese love of Western luxury goods is a relatively recent phenonmenon, In the 1960s and 70s, the Japanese economy flourished, giving birth to a newly flush middle class that wanted to live a more ostentatious life. Grand homes or vast real estate holdings - generally the most blatant way to enjoy as well as exhibit one's riches - was a near impossibility in the densely populated nation of Japan, Instead, the Japanese chose to show their wealth by dressing richly, and, for the postwar generation, Western luxury items such as leather goods, silk scarves, furs and jewels were the ultimate status symbols."
The Japanese love of Western luxury goods is a relatively recent phenonmenon, In the 1960s and 70s, the Japanese economy flourished, giving birth to a newly flush middle class that wanted to live a more ostentatious life. Grand homes or vast real estate holdings - generally the most blatant way to enjoy as well as exhibit one's riches - was a near impossibility in the densely populated nation of Japan, Instead, the Japanese chose to show their wealth by dressing richly, and, for the postwar generation, Western luxury items such as leather goods, silk scarves, furs and jewels were the ultimate status symbols."
-Deluxe: How Luxury Lost its Luster, by Dana Thomas
The photo, from Cobbler's Laboratory, is of a bespoke Fallan & Harvey tweed suit made for a Japanese customer.
2 comments:
I live in between Kobe and Osaka and shop in both. Japanese not only love luxury goods, but they love labels, as well. My girlfriend, a modestly well-dressed affluent Japanese woman, was in the middle of chastising me at Sogo Department Store in Kobe for my going from RTW to MTM--with future ambitions of going bespoke--as I was looking for a white linen pocket square and plain gold oval double-sided cufflinks. Then, seeing the Armani boutique, she stopped frozen in her tracks, finally saying, "Ooooh, Armani!"
Those rascals! While the cost of living has risen, the cost of living well may be becoming unsupportable.
A Japanese client over 20 years ago constantly expressed astonishment at “how cheap” playing golf in the U.S. was. He said the average initiation fee at that time in Japan was about $50,000, reflecting the value of land in Japan that you describe.
And thanks for the great photo, Will. That’s a beautiful cut and tweed.
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