In the past, life was considered good if you could afford everything. Everything usually meant at least one summer and winter holiday a year, two cars, a house, maybe even one or two weekend houses in the countryside or somewhere near the beach. New generations neither have a driver's license, nor do they learn to ski in school anymore. Intercontinental flights are also being questioned in the times of Greta, COVID, and the climate change discussions. What about going out for dinner? Yes, but vegan please, preferably with local ingredients. A good life: what does it mean today?
"The end of consumption leads to a reorientation of luxury. Reducing, leading a minimalist lifestyle, seems to be the consequence of prosperity."- Tanja Schug
Goodbye luxury, goodbye consumption
With consumption it is similar, as with the monthly salary: up to a certain level, we are still happy about a promotion, until the marginal utility of any further increase becomes zero. After this point we do not care anymore because the next promotion would have to be immense to fundamentally change our lifestyle. In the Western world, the last 40 years have been good years. What do I mean by that? We have lacked nothing, everything has been available and if then we have rather asked ourselves the questions about the more, but never about the whether it's necessary. However, constant availability simply leads to turning away, because it becomes boring. Something similar happens with consumption. As it has become vulgar, as a response, we don't want to test the next Michelin Star restaurant, or buy another car, nor do we need a new house in Spain - the children don't fly anymore anyway, to keep their carbon footprint as low as possible. The end of consumption leads to a redefinition of luxury. A minimalist lifestyle seems to be the natural consequence of prosperity.
A simple lifestyle
Luxury has always had a demarcation benefit, represented by the limited availability or high price. Now, platform models such as booking.com or UBER, as well as providers such as easyJet, are trivialising a commodity long reserved for those with the 'good life'. Today everyone has access to a top deal in a 5* hotel, and your chauffeur (UBER) picks you up from the airport, while your flight costs only 39.00 CHF. When the status of luxury is suddenly democratized, this triggers a turning point. Add to that the new ways of communication, which are more visual than verbal. The perfect Instagram image replaces the postcard from the vacation and WhatsApp allows us to be constantly connected with our friends despite thousands of kilometers of distance. In the end, we are longing for a break: break from the availability, to find that imperfect moment that we remember because it doesn't look like it was photographed from an ad of a lifestyle magazine.
A distinct character
Allowing for the imperfect takes courage. We have been trained for decades on what a good life should look like and now we are supposed to just forget about it? Difficult, and yet it opens up a new path. I date to say that the new luxury is strongly linked to the personalty and the stronger we build our character, the stronger our "new luxury perception" will be. The path to the good life heralds the era of artists. Individual and with a clear attitude.
