One of the problems with making people understand the value of brands is that they don’t understand the real value of brands – the whole gamut of ‘life experience’ that an iconic marque can infuse a product with. Take the previously-loved (the latest term for ‘pre-owned’ that was once termed ‘second-hand’) 2014 XXL Shopping Basket Chanel bag. Many online shoppers, including those who already have their fair share of high-end luxury accessories, have reacted to the price set by online luxury fashion retail platform Farfetch for the bag with mirthful horror (or is it horrific mirth?) – a nice $104,663 (around ₹86 lakh). What they see is a bag, a stunningly designed luxury bag stitched with haute irony – a leather and silver-plated chain link-detailed bag designed to look like a ‘standard’ supermarket shopping basket. But it clearly is not just a beautiful take of a mall shopper’s repository.
What Chanel brings to this bag’s owner’s arm is a je ne sais quoi – what the Americans end up calling a ‘wow factor’ – because of the intangibles the two entwined Cs’ logo bring: a reliable signpost for detailed, durable and dexterous craftsmanship, a symbol of a way of looking at the world, and a sure sign not just of beauty but also of being owned by someone who recognises the true value of beauty. Which here is a very understandable Rs86 lakh.
