In Defense of Luxury: Of Sandstorm, Louis Vuitton and Guilt
Luxury may mean excess, vulgarity and obscene waste; but it’s also a basic human instinct- Sally Feldman
Luxury is a hard thing to understand, and only those who know the little pleasures it brings a man can tell you of its essentiality. However, for those standing on the outside, luxury consumption is questionable. It needs justification and explanation. This debate about luxury started a long time ago and it is not just about to die. There were moral debates about it in the 18th Century, a time when luxury was beginning to be accepted as a valuable part of the economic growth. Bernard Manderville for example, a Dutch-English writer, philosopher, political economist and satirist looked at luxury as a vice that was necessary to keep the economy going. David Hume was also of the opinion that luxury helps a society advance their skills, and it is a vice that pushes us forward, it drives economic activity.
Over the weekend, a couple of friends and I were sitting somewhere discussing the evening away, and topic on the table was luxury, particularly Sandstorm Kenya. If you do not know Sandstorm Kenya, allow me: it is an internationally acclaimed brand that makes refined, resilient and elegant travel bags. One reviewer describes their products as “Strong like an elephant, beautiful like a leopard, and cuddly like a young warthog in the vast savannahs of Kenya”. In short, Sandstorm products are not for the shopper next door, they are for the ‘rough-hewn, sophisticated men of the world”, the kind that are willing to cough Ksh 30,000 or more for a bag and feel nothing thereafter, if only the joy of holding a Sandstorm Bag. It is said that their customers range from safari-goers to celebrities, including Bill Clinton, Scarlett Johansson, and Jack Nicklaus. To buy Sandstorm is to buy class, elegance and exclusivity.
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Now you know. But the talk was not about the kind of products that Sandstorm Kenya makes. It was about the consumption of Sandstorm products and all other luxuries than many a man deems an unnecessary waste of money. Why would anyone pay Ksh 50,000 for a bag when they can get similar quality bag for an amount that is 50 times less? Others felt that for one to buy Sandstorm, then you understand Sandstorm in this way- it is a luxury product, in which luxury consumption is about vanity, not morality. Vanity does not need to be explained or justified. Only those who indulge can understand it. It is about holding a Sandstorm bag and feeling, yes, I own a Sandstorm bag. I can afford one. It is about the association with the brand name. It is about approval by spectators and other birds of a feather.
One person pointed out that at the recently concluded Bizarre Bazaar, a Sandstorm bag was going for unbelievable prices, edging close to Louis Vuitton prices. So another question was asked: if it is about the brand, why would one go for Sandstorm when Louis Vuitton is selling at almost similar prices and it is a more prestigious brand? “More prestigious brand according to who, to you?” asked someone else on the table. So this friend asking the question reminds us that, even though there is middle ground in prestige, there should be room for relativity. What might be prestigious to one person might not be the case to another. Similarly, luxury is about personal choice, the individual. Perhaps, we have ridden this entitlement to choice far too long, but no matter how you look at it, luxurious consumption is about the individual. It is a hard thing to explain this desire for the divine. We cannot ignore the human’s appetite for the fine things. Fables from the ages of the old tell us of days when people asked to be buried with their gold and silver.
One writer , Sally Feldman, explains it and almost closes this debate that is as old as the beginning of centuries. She writes
Luxury is redolent of the most noble and the most base of human desires. It denotes an appreciation of beauty and excellence, a striving for betterment, a lust for perfection, ultimate comfort: textiles that swathe the body in soft caresses, cushions that allow you to sink and float; a fine wine sliding, velvety, down your throat.
Yes. She doesn’t say much. But that is the point of luxury. If it needs explaining, or justifying, then luxury is not a thing for you. If you have ever attended Fashion High Tea, then you know what I am talking about. Apart from raising money for charity, there is another side to the event. The side of hobnobbing and rubbing fancy hats and dresses with Nairobi's crème de la crème. Same thing applies to events like Blankets and Wine and Capital Lounge. Sometimes, its not about the artist who is performing.
However, spectators of luxury will not understand why one would buy a phone worth Ksh 200,000, or pay Kshs 10,000 for dinner. They will question this, put it on a moral and economical gauge. Maybe the reason we need justification for luxury from the other is because deep inside, we are dying of jealousy. There is a part of us that desperately wants what the other has. Or as I previously asked in this article, is it because luxury exists in a world that is so impoverished?
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