Obscene luxury prices are just a sign of the times

The rich got richer, so of course Louis Vuitton got more expensive

Years ago in Paris, I was killing time between fashion week appointments and thought I’d check out the Cartier store on the Champs-Élysées. I had zero intention of spending money there, I just felt like having a look around. But the security guard wouldn’t let me in. The guy holding the door took one look at my outfit — a hoodie and a bomber jacket — and shook his head. Cartier didn’t like what I was wearing, so Cartier wouldn’t let me in.

I didn’t really mind. Even though I used to sit front row at all the big shows, I am absolutely not a luxury consumer. One of the great ironies of fashion in 2023 is that so many of the people who keep the wheels turning in the industry — the editors, buyers, PRs and the like — can’t afford the clothes they’re supposed to be wearing. That was true back in my Highsnobiety days, and it’s even truer now. Luxury fashion has always been expensive (duh) but these days it’s really expensive. Like, really stupid, taking-the-piss expensive.

The Row has always cost a lot, but Marie-Kate and Ashley want almost two grand for a cotton oxford shirt.

How about dropping over 13 grand on a trompe l’oeil Bottega Veneta leather sweatsuit (hoodie $6.8k, sweatpants $6.4k)? 

$4,500 on a knitted Burberry beanie that looks like a duck sitting on your head? 

$7,800 Louis Vuitton skis?

If you’d like to keep your spending below four figures, then Prada does a $925 basketball. It’s made of nylon, so it’s “part of the brand's genetic code”, according to the website.

Pharrell's $1m Louis Vuitton bag is another level of expensive. Called the Millionaire bag because it costs a million dollars (duh), it’s made of crocodile leather, with gold hardware and diamond pendants. It’s so special that ordinary people like you and me can’t even see it on the Louis Vuitton webstore — we only know what the product page looks like because NBA player PJ Tucker leaked a screenshot from Vuitton’s VIP portal on Instagram. 

The New York Times reports that luxury prices are up by 25% since 2019, while Chanel has more than doubled its handbag prices since 2016. A few weeks ago, Phoebe Philo fans were shocked to see the price tags on the collection they’d been waiting years for — $3,000 for a necklace that says “MUM”, $8,500 for a large leather tote, $19,000 for a sequined dress.

And while the industry’s PR line is that higher prices are just a reflection of the increased cost of raw materials thanks to the pandemic, inflation and the war in Ukraine, that’s not the whole story. Business of Fashion describes rising luxury prices as “a bid to pad margins” — aka brands want to make more money. And they know they can, because rich people are richer now.