The Price of Luxury

You'll be surprised at what luxury is for the people who provide us with those covetable luxury goods! Here's the full report from Reuters:

VENICE, Italy, June 6 (Reuters Life!) - For some people it is an exotic location or something that denotes quality but for others luxury is freedom or free time.

As executives from some of the world's top luxury goods producers gathered at the Financial Times Business of Luxury conference, Reuters asked some of them what would be their greatest luxury.

The answers were priceless.

Federico Marchetti, chief executive and founder of online boutique YOOX: "Time. Time is luxury. In a fast-paced era, where technology is accelerating everything and everyone, that is true more and more. 'Time is money' is less important."

Vincenzo Cannatelli, chief executive of yacht maker Ferretti Group: "The freedom to use your own time in exotic places. To reach exclusive places feeling at home and to be able to be ... with your family and friends there."

Gianni Castiglioni, head of designer group Marni: "Luxury is something which isn't recognizable ... a product which is lived in by the person wearing it, completely at ease, that's fundamental.

"Free time is a big luxury."

Francois Curiel, chairman of Christie's Europe: "The freedom to do whatever I want, whenever I want."

Philippe Starck, designer: "For me, luxury is intelligence and quality. I don't see a lot of intelligence and quality in luxury when it's used to make fast, big money."

Michele Norsa, chief executive of Salvatore Ferragamo: "Exclusivity. Being alone on a beach with a few close people. It's more places than objects."

Stanislas De Quercize, chief executive of jeweller Van Cleef & Arpels: "A piece of eternity on earth. We all would like to be eternal. We are not ... we are all longing for something to stay for us. And for me, luxury is that. It's a piece of eternity on earth because if you have beautiful jewellery or beautiful works it's going to outlast you."

Jon Asgeir Johannesson, chief executive of Baugur Group: "Something special, good quality, good design. Something with an edge."

Luc Vandevelde, founder and managing director of Change Capital Partners, previous chairman of Marks & Spencer: "There are two types of luxury to me. Having the freedom to do what you want to do in life is the ultimate luxury to me. Most of the time that would be measured by whatever financial needs you have but not always."

"Luxury in terms of a material sense, it's the kind of things you feel good with ... it doesn't necessarily have to be expensive .... Feeling good with a product or identifying yourself with a product, is what luxury is all about."

Hmmm, guess with all the free time I have blogging about my fashion obsessions, never mind that I don't have the goods (yet! heehee!), I have been living in the lap of luxury after all!