Enjoying the silence

After weeks of lock-down and computer frenzy, everything finally has become very calm and peaceful. It is springtime. I do not read the news anymore. There are more coronavirus experts here than Covid-19 cases. If travel used to punctuate my professional life before the lock-down, listening to the silence, finding a new space for questioning myself has become my luxury. And luxury is binding. Binding for excellence.

So I decided to sign a contract with myself: to come out of this "crisis" with a new awareness of my dream and my non-negotiable values. I am undergoing an exercise in authenticity.

And this is what tomorrow's luxury could be. Luxury has always implied excellence. A continuous striving for improvement based on self-consciousness and active decision-making, even if sometimes unpopular, but so much in tune with the creator’s idiosyncratic signature. 

In recent years, the noise of globalized markets, of money earned and spent quickly, of fast fashion, of a society that buys and throws away, and of the search for economic profit have obscured the clear vision of the values of the luxury industry. It has become inauthentic. But it should not be this nutshell thrown by external necessities or pressures on the roaring ocean of markets. Authenticity offers the compass to navigate in troubled times. The luxury industry must reconsider its leadership by its own ideals and strong values. Not elitist, but self-aware, determined, humble and better. Become a value-led industry and inspire other industries to become more authentic.