Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster

Dana Thomas has written a fascinating book about the manufacturing, marketing, and acquiring of very high-end luxury items, and how that world has changed. As the internet and our economy has produced more and more wealthy citizens, high-end goods have become more affordable for more people. The industry that provides those goods has responded to the increasing demand in ways that have probably changed this industry forever. Knock-offs are knocked-off these days, and the finely crafted hand-tailored goods one used to expect from certain labels or brands no longer exist. Dana takes the reader into the street of China, and into backroom sweatshops where underpaid workers produce goods that still bear those labels but no longer offer the quality associated with those labels. It's the classic story of the rich getting richer on the backs of the poor, perhaps taking some of the luster off the pleasure of those designer purchases you've either made or look forward to making. And if that doesn't do it for you, there's a better than even chance these days that the designer goods you purchase, aren't genuine as the knock-off business just keeps growing and growing. This book is an extremely welldone insider's tell-all on the designer industry, where it's been, where it is now, and where it's likely headed.

Full Disclosure: I write about fashion, entertainment and celebrities for a living and have known Dana Thomas for a decade or more. I knew she was working on a book about luxury (yawn) and for the past three years, she was always exhausted, trotting off to China, Milan, Grasse or Lake Como, sometimes popping into my hood in Hollywood, constantly doing research for the book. But frankly, I'm not a big designer brand buyer and would sooner plunk $400 on a Pottery Barn couch than a pair of Jimmy Choo shoes. So I never imagined how engrossed i would be by this book. In fact, I was shocked. Dana makes this elitist world come alive by putting luxury in a historical context (Caesar wore only silk togas and the Senate was POed at the expense!) and taking the reader with her on a personal journey behind the scenes and around the world, to find out the sad truth about the decline of the luxury goods industry. It's utterly fascinating and engrossing. And it's funny! Dana has a wicked snse of humor and pulls no punches in describing the decadent denizens of the "Deluxe" world. Even if you know nothing about fashion, couldn't tell a Gucci bag from a Prada purse, and don't own a single designer knockoff product, this book will fascinate, educate and entertain. Plus any book that can make me put down the last Harry Potter - in the middle! - has to be some kind of good read.

I heard Dana at a reading last night in NYC and HAD to buy her book. I then stayed up until 2:00am reading it... and finished it this afternoon. A true fashion insider (Paris correspondent for Newsweek), Dana has the job I think we all wish we had -- covering the couture shows, getting the "real" inside scoop on what goes on behind the fashion curtain (as it were). The stories are here, and they are all real, since Dana knows all the players -- LVMH, Marc Jacobs, Galliano, Prada... She tells us the stories behind all the luxury items we covet -- Chanel No. 5 perfume, that Prada bag, that Dior evening dress. And most importantly, WHY we covet them. You might never walk down 57th Street, or Rodeo Drive, or Bond Street, and see the stores quite the same way. Impeccably researched, highly informative, fast paced -- this is on my gift list for all my pals this year. A great read...