The imaginary of luxury

Abstract

In this short article, Patrick Mathieu and Frédéric Monneyron offer a new analysis of luxury they have developed in their noted book, L’Imaginaire du luxe (Imago, 2015). Their study is grounded on the idea that luxury is always a way of keeping death away and that luxury is a matter of images more than objects. Calling on the works of two major French anthropologists, Gilbert Durand and Georges Dumézil, they consequently identify on the one hand the main trends of luxury, conspicuousness, elegance and comfort and their growing importance in today’s societies and, on the other hand, they stress the importance of luxury brands and their place in the luxury market.