Chanel Realigns Pricing for a New Global Pricing Policy

Chanel 5 Euro Coin issued 2008 held by Karl Lagerfeld 

The solid gold version was ltd ed and priced 5900 

Is it a new world order or is Chanel simply trying to cut out the 'middle men' known more commonly 'resellers' that buy in Europe and resell in Asia with a profit to them in between? I am not going to try to explain Chanel's decision  (although many commentators have tried) I promise I won't do my usual history lesson of the development and cultural analysis of these iconic pieces because that would fill a book, and I'm certainly not going to rant about the unfairness of it all (not exactly talking the need to access fresh water here). I will give you quick run through of how the rare and almost sanctified classic Chanel bag began to look ubiquitous on the streets of Asia and beyond, even in schools.  

There was a time that a select few exceedingly discerning ladies of a certain age would take the plunge and 'invest' in a once in a lifetime purchase at a Chanel boutique. Then came a select collective of hip and happening young ladies, rediscovering their mothers', even grandmothers' bags would toss them over jeans, shorts or minis in a cool nonchalant way. The irreverence of treating such a formal artefact so casually part of the charm (and I'm sure very much in the spirit of a young Coco Chanel too). An army of slightly less creative types picked up this trend with (quelle horreur!) brand new bags in ever increasing (and even younger) numbers.  Then the fakes. Then the super fakes. Then the on-line swapsies (selling one to buy another). Then the designer quilted looky-likey bags. Then the high-street copies. Then the realisation that nearly every little 8 year old has a bubble-gum pink, fake, quilted Hello Kitty bag with a shoulder chain. 

There are obviously quite a few factors that are rubbing, one against another.  In previous years Chanel have put up its prices, ostensibly for a way of maintaining these bags' exclusivity. From 2008 many of these pieces have approximately doubled at retail, classic perennials such as Classic Flaps, Reissue quilted shoulder bags and the newer but equally popular Boy bags are now priced out of reach of even most the middle-class, professional lunching ladies, the very market that had bought Chanel's cherished prizes when they were considered too bourgeois and old fashioned for the fashion crowd. Conversely, the company has slashed the traditionally comparatively much higher Asian market prices to tackle the profiteers. 

Strange to think that Chanel that talks of valuing exclusivity so highly, hiking European prices by as much as 20% recently on top of the eye-watering increases year upon year. Though the caché of the 'Frenchness' of the brand (though many leather goods are made in Italy too) is most appealing to the Asian and American market, it will be a very loyal or mega-rich European customer than will consider a Chanel classic bag purchase in the future, whist still no bargain, with tax rebates and a holiday thrown in a non-European can enjoy a little sweetener buying in Europe. 

Luxury Brands: What We Getting for Our Money?  

Photo Chanel Couture 

With the sales almost over and hopefully all the bills paid, if we have any money left over our minds wander to the new season (if we don't have any money we have our fantasies of what we would buy if we could). Depending on how we shop we can flip through a magazine, browse the Net, window shop, peruse the rails of a department store on the way to meet a friend in the coffee shop. Whether or not we have the money, our usual first thought is check out the big designers, for inspiration and form a check-list for our own forthcoming seasonal fashion-ability, if for nothing else.

However, not all products from major designers are made equal or share the same star status as the final gown on this season's catwalk. We are funny creatures and although we might desire to wear a backless, leather and lace, full-length evening gown to the supermarket on a Saturday morning, what we are more likely to invest our money in, are logo-ed jeans or tee-shirts, or a pair of monogrammed flats or a canvas shopper. That tee might look the same as we could actually buy at the supermarket, along with tins of tomatoes, but in fantasy, it's as far away as pomme frites are from chips. It's as though the tee-shirt announces 'my mega-bucks, evening gown is at the dry cleaners', it says 'I may be in a supermarket but normally I shop in Bond St or on Madison', it says 'I love shopping but not for tomatoes'. Okay it doesn't, it says, 'I went to Bond St as a tourist and bought a souvenir ' or 'my BF went to designer X but all I got was this lousy tee-shirt. I must remember to dig out my Medusa-head, Versace vest sometime and show you all!

Most large brands have different tiers of products. Lifestyle and commercial lines are relatively cheap to produce and tend to 'advertise' the brand, these are usually mass produced with very little to do with artisans, quality control of those products, whether a tee-shirt or a canvas bag, is about the placement of the logo followed by durability (people who buy logos, buy them to wear) but as we all know the mark-up is huge, they are not called the 'commercial' lines for nothing. Then there are the main line classic pieces that are created so that they don't frighten the more shy souls away. Although they are not out of the ordinary in design, they are more labour intensive, as skins and materials are carefully selected, quality control is high and things are often hand-finished and checked many times before hitting the stores, these pieces are not only intended to be worn they are expected to last, these are usually described by your ever-helpful sales-associate as 'classics' or if they're desperate 'investment pieces'. 

Then there are the catwalk, fashion, directional or seasonal pieces that are so scrutinised and written about they have to be able to seduce, and encourage discernible gasps of awe. Quality control is usually stringent but they are created more to put the design in design-er and retrench the mega-profile of the luxury nature of the brand. And then...drum role please... there are the exceptional pieces that have to make even jaded regular customers and fashion insiders gasp, whether by an exceptional exotic skin or decorative aspect, there will be so few examples of these pieces you will be lucky to see one in a flagship store. If you can obtain one of these 'pieces' either the 'only 3 ever made' or 'made to order' backless, leather and lace, full-length evening gown with fresh water pearl and onyx beading or a white crocodile and sterling silver evening minaudiere buy it, these are the real investment pieces, however much it costs is probably how much it cost to produce, and don't bother with the supermarket for a year, food is fattening and tomatoes are so over-rated.

Politically Correct Fashion: A contradiction in terms?

  Guilt: The New Word in Fashion 

Choice is what we pride ourselves on in the Western World, the only limitation on our choice is the amount of money we can afford to pay for an item. For anyone who just buys things for the logo on the front (why not just get a tatoo on your forehead and save on the dry cleaning bills?) or can't walk past a pound-shop bargain bin we have lots of tempting new ways of making you feel - so yesterday.   

Secrets of the Superbrands (first broadcast BBC Three, 9:00PM Tue, 24 May 2011 in the UK)  presented by faux stooge  Alex Riley, was a light-hearted look at luxury brands, sports brands, logos, out-sourced accessory manufacture, developing world economy, retail theatre and basically anything to do with clothes all in one episode. While some of these issues are intrinsically linked, the mish-mash of the usual headline grabbing stuff reduced any possible message to pulp. The pretence of media presenters as innocent and uneducated noble savages in the evil world of duplicitous and mind-warping commerce grows tired with every new attempt. Us fellow noble savages (the viewers) were supposed to be stunned that an American-style tee-shirt with Japanese writing originates from a British company (hold the front page) 'we' meet the self-styled anthropologist Ted Polhemus outside a jeans store (the ubiquitous doc's Doc on-location) who tells us about the origins of denim jeans cool status. Dana Thomas (always in fashion) points out that the cheaper luxe items at the bottom of the luxury market pyramid bring in the money while the uber-luxe bespoke items retain the prestige. Wow, I am stunned by all this absolutely fabulous information. Never mind fashion insider info, I learnt a great tip for making TV/film documentaries, interview really sweet, young but incredibly gullible people in the street it will make your viewers feel 'achingly cool' by comparison. 

From the noble savage to the reformed character. Lucy Siegle's To Die For: Is Fashion Wearing Out the World? Jumps on this year's fashion bandwagon for bashing consumer choice with her new found evangelical approach to clothes. She has discovered that buying cheap clothes has not meant value for money and will be more careful in the future. Wow. Holy revelation. Welcome to the world of thinking before doing. It's not her fault of course she is just cashing in on the seemingly limitless amount of guilt  women, gay men and young people are supposed to feel when earning/having/spending their own money and not investing it in highly respectable and lucrative products like savings and stocks/shares (yes, I am joking). Anyone would think that charity shops (goodwill stores) had just been launched in the wake of the United Kingdom's Prime Minister Cameron's Big Society big-up (why pay someone for doing their job when you can get them to volunteer for free?). Second-hand, sorry pre-loved, old, sorry, vintage clothes, the staple of cash-strapped street-cred for generations are so eco-friendly and goody-goody no self-respecting teenager wants to wear them any more. 

It can only be a matter of time before before they put a regulation traffic light system on clothing tags. 

Fashion is as ethical as the person who chooses to wear it, unless one is wearing an endangered species on one's back or a hate-symbol on one's front. Do yourself a favour and don't listen to the guilt hype. Fashion is about  expressing who you are individually and/or collectively. One should 

never feel guilty about self-expression. 

Fashion illustration from   http://invaderz.co.uk/wp-content/wp/basic%20fashion%20illustration-70583.html

Quick Response for Typical Quotes

The Queen of Sheba's throwaway line

 "I work really hard so I deserve my megabuck car/house/handbag/diamond" 

I've heard this line too many times now and it's turning into a  fashionable mantra. It's OK when a real-life friend is talking to me, justifying this or that new 'naughty-but-nice' purchase, but what kind of lame guilt-ridden excuse is it when a stranger, unsolicited, says it while waving their latest and most ostentatious item in my face?

I can understand someone who earns lots of money wanting to spend it, it's theirs to do what they like with but when did how hard someone works equate with how much they make, who can afford to not work hard these days just to make ends meet? Better the rich spend their money rather than it sitting in a bank. I wouldn't think better of someone who just locked their money away, I would rather they spread it around a little. I can admire a luxury object from a distance without thinking dark and dangerous thoughts about the owner. I just wonder why someone needs to justify what they do with their money? Do they want me to absolve them of their faux guilt? They would have to pay me first.

Unless they're doing a bluff of course and sit around the house all day eating chocolates, drinking champagne and watching old black and white movies from their chaise lounge like me ;)