There is still room for grace, awe and wonder

If you feel the word ‘luxury’ feels a touch out of place right now you’re not alone. There’s much to be concerned about – but also there are values we can still appreciate.

Our latest article for Luxury Briefing magazine addresses the matter. It's the sixteenth in our series and you can read all the others by following the links at the end of the article.

The Crazy World of Arthur Brown had a hit with the iconic ‘Fire’ in 1968: ‘You fought hard, and you saved and earned. But all of it's going to burn’. Apocalyptic or prophetic? Either way our world is increasingly defined by division, speed, and disposability. Do you ever feel the word ‘luxury’ feels a touch out of place right now?

Don’t worry, I bring only good news from the front: the heart still beats, the hand still builds, the eye still seeks beauty. Only glad tidings sold here.

But where do moon-harvested grapes, quadruple milled soap, single-note perfumes, 24K gold facials, underwater restaurants, hotel pillow menus and car leather seats made from bulls (because they don’t get cows’ stretch marks), fit in with war, economic instability, and political outrage.

Those examples are easy sport of course. But the ceaseless search for something rare, slow, meticulous is to be treasured. To produce something because it had to be just so, just perfect, just now, just flawless... where imagination and frankly money is unlimited... absurd even… has a role.

It also illustrates a truth: that the soul of luxury often lies in the unreasonable, in the poetic, the obsessive, the utterly unnecessary.

Paradoxically, I feel luxury matters now more than ever. Not for its opulence or exclusivity, but for the values it preserves: patience, craftsmanship, mastery, beauty, service, respect and care.

True luxury is not about wealth flaunted, boys’ toys, egos massaged, club membership, or logos displayed. It is about the human hand, and the time it takes to create something well. It is about depth and substance in an age obsessed with surface and superficiality. It is the opposite of the algorithm, the throwaway, the hurried. It is, at its best, an act of devotion.

A Savile Row bespoke suit that takes sixty hours to stitch is not just an object - it is a protest against the curse of speed. A centuries-old perfume formula preserved by a fourth-generation perfumer isn’t nostalgia - it is continuity. A fifth-generation jeweller still writing thank you letters to customers in pen and ink isn’t a legacy prop – it is also continuity. A winemaker or cheesemaker preaching Slow Food is not only about the preservation of local cultures and traditional methods -it is also continuity. And continuity, in a fractured world, is a radical act.

There is also a spiritual dimension to luxury that often gets lost in the white-hot next big-thing crucible of marketing. (NFT’s, Brand Purpose anyone?)

To encounter something truly beautiful - crafted with intent and integrity- is to be reminded of what we on earth are capable of doing at our very best.

Beauty heals. Excellence uplifts. Elegance endures. Precision satisfies. Detail enchants. Craftsmanship reconnects us to meaning in a culture that is more interested if it can instantly go viral, have a celeb like it or it can drop well on TikTok.

The relationship between art and luxury has been well noted before in these pages. Amongst many other benefits, luxury’s loyalty to slow over binge, originality over reproduction, and memory over utility makes good sense.

A painting is more than oil on canvas. A hand-cut Graff diamond, a Bentley car engine, or a Miller Harris rare scent are not merely items, but the physical poetry of craftsmanship. To own them is a reminder that exceptionalism still matters, especially in a world that often forgets. Experts are not needed apparently.

Luxury, then, becomes a kind of quiet rebellion. Not against progress, but against indifference. It holds the line and flies the flag for the handmade, the thoughtful, the enduring. It reminds us that some things are still worth doing the absolute best we can, because to do otherwise would be to surrender something essential, something human.

Because luxury, at its core, is not about having, it is about being. It asks of us what the modern world rarely does: attention, patience, reverence. To engage with luxury is to slow down, witness, connect.

As the world becomes more digital and virtual, our need for the tactile, the unique, and the real deepens. We want things that carry the fingerprint of their maker. We want experiences that are unique. Luxury, when authentic, can meet those needs -not just as escapism but as re-enchantment.

Ultimately, luxury isn’t just a market sector. It’s a value system.

One that stands for time over convenience, mastery over speed, subtlety over spectacle, humanity over AI. One that in a world unravelling, noisy, cynical says there is still space for grace. There is still room for awe, for wonder.

And maybe, just maybe, that is the most luxurious thing of all.

A little more on Anew - a London-based luxury branding Agency

Anew’s two founders deliver: insights from market research, strategic brand thinking, new brand names, luxury logo design, messaging, online and offline content, coffee table books and luxury brand websites. We help companies increase brand profitability through sharper insights, distinctive propositions, creative ideas and faultless execution.

To get in touch do drop us an email. We'd be delighted to meet for a coffee, either face-to-face or virtually to discuss your brief.