Taking luxury to a new personal level

Sixth International Herald Tribune conference, held in Istanbul, assesses developments in high living in a local and global world

By Elis Kiss - Kathimerini English Edition

ISTANBUL – A sensational city with a glorious past and an exciting present lay at the heart of a global meeting on the business of high living last week, as “Istanbul 2006,” became the sixth luxury conference organized by the International Herald Tribune.

From the Eastern Roman Empire and the glory of Byzantium to the opulence of Ottoman rule, the city has recorded a long tradition of versatility and contradiction. Today’s reality is no exception: while Turkey’s EU membership is slowing down, the country continues to be a key mediator in Middle Eastern affairs, while Orhan Pamuk’s works are enjoying Nobel fame.

A city of contrasts, Istanbul is home to the bustling Grand Bazaar and, more recently, Kanyon Mall, a luxurious community incorporating shopping – Harvey Nichols included – leisure and residence space. What lies in the middle for the city’s population, estimated between 12 and 15 million?

Opening the conference, Turkish Minister of State H.E. Kursad Tuzmen was the bearer of good news: while the country’s exports stood at $36 billion in 2002, they have now reached $85 billion. Encouraging the development of local brands, the minister noted the existence of Turquality, a support program to aid local designs.

Luxury products, both local and global, lay at the heart of discussion and debate. How should companies develop global brands and how much should brands express an individual country’s culture? Most of all, what is luxury in this day and age?

For the meeting’s heart and soul, International Herald Tribune Fashion Editor Suzy Menkes, luxury in the modern world is all about art, craft and sensual pleasure, “not something show-off, but something internal.” It is also something increasingly abstract, noted Menkes, including congested cities looking for clean air and greener pastures. As for the host country, she suggested that the challenge for Turkey is to blend the past with the present, to find the kind of elements that can make a valid contribution without going folklore.

For Francois-Henry Pinault, chairman and CEO of PPR group, luxury is looking good. Encompassing a plethora of luxury brands, PPR includes Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney, Bottega Veneta and Sergio Rossi as well Christie’s and FNAC.

“The luxury industry is at a major turning point,” said Pinault, adding that the strategy for growth lay in developing the “high luxury” sector. To do so, Pinault suggested companies must personalize their brands for their clients, take risks and emphasize craftsmanship. Investing in view of what lies ahead is key, noted Pinault, citing examples such as leather specialist Bottega Veneta establishing a school in Vincenza to ensure the continuation of savoir-faire. What about those who cannot afford the highest forms of luxury?

“High luxury drives accessible luxury,” said Pinault, pointing to the parallel emergence of new middle classes as well as the new, uber-rich.

“You must turn consumers on for something they hadn’t dreamed of,” said Pinault. “It’s about creating surprise, not something they need.”

Bernard Fornas, president and CEO of Cartier International (of the Richemont group of companies), spoke about the elegance of opulence, now and then. While Cartier’s reputation was built and consolidated on creating exceptional jewels for very special clients – including royal families – today’s affluent world citizens struggle to maintain low profiles. And though opulence continues to be a “demonstration of power,” as well as “seduction and pleasure,” it has to be accompanied by a certain code of ethics. Similarly to Pinault, Fornas noted that “luxury is reaching higher and higher,” with demand for bespoke jewelry on the rise, and unveiling that Cartier is entering the sur mesure perfume sector, with client fragrance formulas kept in vaults.

Fourth-generation family member Ermenegildo Zegna noted his family’s strong ties to Turkey, going back to the 1970s, when the company developed mohair, to the 1990s when Zegna opened its first store and shirt factory. (Made in Zegna currently translates into production units in Italy, as well as Turkey, Spain, Mexico and Switzerland.) Zegna spoke warmly of his grandfather (after whom he got his first name) and his dream of creating and producing the “best fabrics in the world.” Today, Zegna is an international brand, based on excellent raw materials (with cashmere and silk from China and alpaca from Peru, for instance), ongoing product innovation such as cashco, a mix of cashmere and cotton, and a global presence. In China alone there currently 52 Zegna stores in 29 cities.

Massimo Ferretti nurtures fashion talent through the AEFFE group, which manufactures and distributes the work of a roster of designer brands, including his sister’s feminine Alberta Ferreti, ironic and iconic Moschino, France’s rule-breaking Jean-Paul Gaultier, New York’s modern architect Narciso Rodriguez as well as hot new British and Brazilian duo, Basso & Brooke. At the conference, Ferretti described how East and West have always inspired and conducted business with each other, from Renaissance Europe importing fabrics from the East to Italian silk used by the sultans.

“Before, it was all about big government and poor people; now it’s small government and rich people,” said Cem Boyner, vice chairman and CEO of Boyner Holdings, citing countries such as Russia, China and Turkey. For Boyner, whose group includes textiles manufacturing, luxury retailer Baymen and the distribution of exclusive brands, the current mood in Istanbul is particularly upbeat, “less nouveau and more Ottoman, perhaps.” However, noted Boyner, while the city has evolved into a cultural destination, it is not a high-end shopping attraction, while he raised the question of the Middle East region as a whole.

Eight percent of world fashion trade is fake with two-thirds manufactured in China, said Barbara Kolsun, senior vice president and general counsel of Seven For All Mankind LLC, a jeans and apparel company. The big enemy is the Internet, continued Kolsun, citing the medium’s users’ increasingly sophisticated methods. “Counterfeiting is stealing. We have to be pro-active and have a policy of zero tolerance,” she said. Currently involved in a lawsuit against eBay, Kolsun added that the law will determine whether the landlord will be held responsible for a tenant’s bad behavior.

“Ten years ago, counterfeits involved only high-end products, but now, while they have gone higher on up the scale, they also include all that can be manufactured, from food and beverages to spare car parts,” said Pierre Bertrand, technical administrator at the World Customs Organization Secretariat in Brussels, adding that what used to be produced through manual labor has gone industrial today.

The conference also focused on the emerging importance of design. If the Aghia Sophia Church remained the tallest construction for something like 500 years, perhaps today’s temples of luxury, noted Menkes, are the monuments that people will be looking at in the future. While older buildings reflected religion and royalty, they also reflected power, just like today’s department stores reflect grandeur. However, observed Menkes, there is an increasing necessity for a kind of intimacy, for getting people in touch with what they buy and further nurturing the relationships between customers, vendors, spaces and clothes.

The world of design is good for business. Take Matteo Cordero di Montezemolo, for instance, managing director of Charme Investments, whose portfolio includes classic Poltrona Frau, forward-looking Cappellini, and well-known Cassina, a brand reflecting the history of modern Italian design, as well as cashmere label Ballantyne. Developing Charme along the lines of other luxury groups, Cordero di Montezemolo noted that it is the first design group to go public in Italy, while serving a booming global real-estate sector.

Alice Rawsthorn, the International Herald Tribune’s design critic, spoke about the history of design in modern luxury, with patrons relishing the commissioned furniture of greats such as Le Corbusier and Mies Van der Rohe, ever since the early 20th century. Today, said Rawsthorn, design is enjoyed by more and more people, through products ranging from a Nike shoe to an iMac.

The power of design talent was demonstrated by Thomas Heatherwick, founder of the Heatherwick Studio. Besides his sense of humor, the designer put across a number of his ideas, a folding bridge in Paddington, London, a zip bag designed for Longchamp. “Luxury is not the design, the sketch, but the craftsmanship to realize it,” noted Heatherwick.

For Paola Antonelli, curator of the Department of Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, what used to be highly original in the world of design is now the norm. Technology diminishes time, said Antonelli, and when “desire and need come together, this ends in great design.” As for the future, the curator spoke about design being based on “spirituality, ideals and morals.”

Next year’s meeting point for top luxury executives has already been set: the 7th luxury conference to be organized by the International Herald Tribune will take place in yet another emerging hub of the high life, the city of Moscow.

Five internationally renowned fashion designers, three of them with Turkish roots, participated at the two-day event. Born in Nice, France, to Turkish parents, Nicole Farhi has spent the last 35 years designing “for myself and people like me.” For Farhi, whose design career started at French Connection and continued through her own brand, “luxury is the idea of getting pleasure out of ordinary life.” The designer has never imposed a style and is known for suggesting instead of dictating, while her concept stores are like an Oriental bazaar where one finds a little bit of everything.

For Istanbul-born Rifat Ozbek, the city has long been a source of inspiration, though he doesn’t want clothes to resemble costumes. Instead, he enjoys picking elements and using them. “I don’t want to be called an ethnic designer,” said Ozbek, for whom a traditional kaftan becomes a mini halter-neck number with innovative fabrics. Whether working on his own brand or as the designer of Pollini (part of the AEFFE group), the fact that Ozbek was born into the culture makes a difference and his heritage is always in the background. To become an international designer, however, you must distance yourself from all this.

For Turkish-Cypriot Hussein Chalayan, distance brings objectivity. The designer, celebrated for his cerebral and conceptual fashion, has lived most of his life in London, where his Turkish background and Anglo-Saxon situation have led him to be more open-minded. “Fashion is more important in the West,” noted Chalayan, who thinks up daring appearances for his shows. One included a woman on the catwalk, covered from head to toe, slowly revealing parts of her body until she was standing in the nude, with only her head covered.

New-York born Zac Posen has become an honorary Turk, collaborating with the local Vakko group and taking his small-scale family brand international. In creating a label for the 21st century, Posen noted his passion in developing fabrics, the attraction of Istanbul and his need to see fashion design as some kind of movable architecture.

Legendary designer Gianfranco Ferre has long used cultures other than his own Italian to produce lavish garments. Besides his own label, Ferre was the designer at Christian Dior before the house was taken over by LVMH. The designer, who lived in India for eight years, is also inspired by China, Africa and Mexico, among others. “I went on some journeys, while others took place in my fantasy,” he said.