We take an alternative look at the products and ideas by names like Rolex and Coco Chanel that have shaped the modern world of luxury.
We generally bring you the very latest news in luxury, whether a cutting-edge watch or a phenomenally fast supercar or a superlative island resort. But just how did this universe of exquisitely made goods and services arise? The staff atdecided to delve into history and pinpoint the essential milestones.
Whether the expression had taken root in some patrician quarters by the time Momand penned his satire is moot. The strip encapsulated what was, is, and will ever be one of the main drivers of the luxury industry: envy. For many car enthusiasts, the cupholder represents the beginning of the end.
Ritz’s observation that design is as central to top-tier restaurants as the kitchen continues to reverberate .Luxury was globalized by one man inspired to use a centuries-old maritime loophole to create a new business.
The rise of the superfake has coincided with a change in luxury retail: Once, staffers at high-end boutiques were career employees, as expert about the brand as the CEO or head designer would be. As fashion houses have expanded, staffing at scale has become complicated: Those brought in are often far less knowledgeable about, let alone invested in, the product they are there to sell—or not sell, as actually buying a bag legitimately has gotten so much harder due to supply issues.
The very first test-drive ended in a crash, but eventually, the inventor later estimated, he reached 10 mph. It was his wife and business partner, Bertha, and their two sons who really put this new mode of transportation on the map when they journeyed nearly 112 miles in the third version.
The tourbillon’s purpose was to neutralize the effects of gravity in pocket watches, allowing them to keep better time. French for “whirlwind,” the mechanism is a revolving carriage that keeps the escapement, spiral hairspring, and balance wheel in constant motion even when the watch remains static in order to achieve a single average rate. The advent of the wristwatch negated its function entirely, with the wearer’s three-dimensional movements keeping accuracy in check.
After WWII, when civilians began exploring scuba diving as a hobby, watchmakers caught on to a new opportunity, and the commercial dive-watch category kicked into gear. The Omega Marine was ahead of the curve, having been available for industrial use since 1932 and commercially since 1939, but soon Blancpain came out with the Fifty Fathoms in 1953, with Rolex launching its Submariner in 1954.
Young European noblemen had always taken a grand tour, but in the 19th century, frequent, pleasure-seeking travel became a fixture for the upper classes, newly able to gallivant by steam train or cruise liner. These modern modes of transport required a handier way of conveying passengers’ possessions—hence the steamer trunk, the ultimate convenience for the earliest globetrotters and a direct precursor to our era’s ubiquitous four-wheeled suitcase.
By then, construction had begun on his famous Biltmore Estate in Asheville, N.C., which, upon completion in 1895, set the bar as the largest private residence in the U.S. Designed by architect Richard Morris Hunt, the elaborate, 175,000-square-foot mansion featured 250 rooms, 65 fireplaces, 42 bathrooms, and a slew of splashy extras including a bowling alley, a gymnasium, and most notably, a heated indoor swimming pool.
Brunelleschi’s dome was the first freestanding example since classical times, and it remains the world’s biggest masonry version to this day. Dome builders ever since have paid homage to Brunelleschi’s genius: Michelangelo used the same technique for St. Peter’s, as did the architects of the Panthéon in Paris and the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.
In the 1600s, this “red gold” was a commodity harvested by enslaved labor, often leading to local revolts, large-scale conflicts, and supply disruptions. During the so-called golden age of mahogany, from the 1720s through 1820s, demand hit a peak with boatbuilders as well as with English furniture-makers such as Chippendale, Sheraton, and Hepplewhite.
The mills that later appeared in Britain as a result of the industrial revolution became processing centers for wool of all kinds, cashmere included, and Scottish factories remain cashmere specialists today—though empire drove that business, too: Wool was needed in mass quantities for the uniforms of Britain’s globetrotting soldiers. was the world’s first luxury brand.
Though an image was first digitally scanned into a computer in 1957—a black-and-white photo of a computer engineer’s infant son—it took a few decades before the pixels multiplied exponentially, promising high-resolution images that could be printed at monumental sizes . Scanners also enabled photographers to manipulate images digitally, unleashing a wave of creativity among new generations of artists, from Jeff Wall to Carrie Mae Weems.
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