1. Luxury, Back to Origins

Prior to defining the “luxury experience,” we first need to explain what we mean by “luxury” and what are its origins, characteristics, and typologies. In this chapter, I’ll trace back the rise of luxury and its shift from a traditional perspective on luxury grounded in the logic of conspicuous and distinctive luxury consumption to the emergence of the “luxury experience,” a more emotional, sensory, and symbolic consumption of luxury. The objective of this chapter is, first of all, to explore the existing definitions of luxury by providing a summary of relevant aspects that should be retained throughout the analysis of several books and studies on luxury marketing. I’ll then offer a new definition of “luxury” which is more in tune with the customer experience and today’s customer perception and practice of luxury.