What will luxury be
in a post-coronavirus world?
'Hopefully, we will no longer take for granted the things we temporarily lost'
What does luxury mean in a post-Covid-19 world?
It’s a world that has been turned on its head; where we have had to confront the invisible threat of a deadly virus and perhaps connect it to the chaos that could be wrought if we do not address the issue of climate change.
It’s a world where we were forced, almost overnight, to learn to work, communicate, grieve, engage and entertain ourselves in new ways, and where all the things that we had long taken for granted were suddenly stripped away. It forced us, collectively, to stop and think.
As Dr Saliha Afridi, clinical psychologist and founder of LightHouse Arabia, points out, the pandemic has offered many of us the luxury of “stillness”, something that, in the age of the glorification of busy, has become all-too rare. It afforded us a break from balancing busy commutes and packed social lives and constant travel and a never-ending barrage of emails and calls and video conferences and social media notifications. There is hope that from that stillness, change can be born.
In this issue, we’ve tried to look at the ways in which that experience could shape the future of the luxury industry. We’ve asked a series of questions, and invited architects, academics, authors, designers, business owners, hoteliers, researchers and even mental health experts to weigh in on the answers.
We ask whether this crisis could lead to an overhaul of the current fashion system, signalling the end of fashion seasons and shows as we know them. An open letter from Gucci’s Alessandro Michele, which includes the quote on our cover, suggests that the winds of change are already blowing in the world’s most esteemed fashion houses. “The collections will certainly be less, but better,” Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana tell us.
Could the lessons of the last few months give rise to a more conscious and mindful consumer, who will align with brands that have a clear and strong set of values? As the global conversations around race following the murder of George Floyd have shown, there is little tolerance for grandstanding in the current climate. Brands will need to stand for something if they want to survive. It is up to us as consumers to hold them accountable.
So, what is luxury in post-Covid-19 world? It will, as ever, mean many different things to many different people. But hopefully, we will no longer take for granted the things we temporarily lost – the freedom to move across borders or to have face-to-face contact with the people we love, for example – as well as the things we gained – a cleaner planet or more time to be still and reflect.
Human beings have short memories. So it is very possible that we will come out of this and quickly slip back into our old ways. The choice is ours.
Selina Denman, editor
Are face masks the new fashion accessory?
Fashion brands have scrambled to produce their own versions of the now ubiquitous face covering, but is it ethical to profit from a pandemic – and will face masks be commonplace even in a post-Covid-19 world? By Selina Denman
At a makeshift table surrounded by the bare concrete walls of his workshop in Gaza City, Nabil Saber Abu Ghabin, 60, uses his ancient sewing machine to transform a piece of checkered cloth into protective face masks.
While the tailor would normally use the cotton fabric to craft traditional Palestinian keffiyeh, or headdresses, he, like many others around the world, has had to rethink his operations. And so the keffiyeh is being reconfigured into a potentially life-saving accessory and then shipped off to buyers in Europe.
Across the globe – from the manufacturing facilities of the world’s biggest fashion brands to the ateliers of independent tailors and the kitchen tables that serve as a work space for the smallest of start-ups – a similar shift is taking place.
In Gaza City, tailor Nabil Saber Abu Ghabin is transforming checkered cloth into protective face masks. Courtesy EPA
In Gaza City, tailor Nabil Saber Abu Ghabin is transforming checkered cloth into protective face masks. Courtesy EPA
“Necessity is the mother of invention,” Plato famously wrote, and as the coronavirus pandemic has manifested itself in store closures, disrupted supply lines, dampened consumer demand and an accumulation of old stock, the fashion industry has had to go in search of new revenue streams.
Early on in the pandemic, the face mask emerged as a symbol of our new reality. It was rendered in street art and became part of the collective consciousness – the one tangible thing that we could insert between ourselves and a diseased world.
In the absence of a drug or vaccine, the face mask has taken on almost talismanic qualities, offering a sense of control, however slight, in a situation that we have no control over.
“For the past six months, there has been a play-by-play of Covid-19 around the world, and people might just be starting to realise the emotional and psychological trauma they may have endured as a result of around-the-clock news coverage of the pandemic,” notes Dr Saliha Afridi, clinical psychologist and managing director of Lighthouse Arabia in Dubai.
"People might just be starting to realise the emotional and psychological trauma they may have endured as a result of around-the-clock news coverage of the pandemic."
“So, in addition to people feeling like they are following precautionary measures, they will also be getting psychological safety from the face mask. The mask will serve as a transitional object for them to feel safe to go back out into the world again.”
Maitha Demithan’s artworks on Sheikh Zayed Road, Dubai. Chris Whiteoak / The National
Maitha Demithan’s artworks on Sheikh Zayed Road, Dubai. Chris Whiteoak / The National
Almost overnight, they became a must-have, in the most literal sense: a potentially life-saving accessory that was also, in many countries around the world, including the UAE, government mandated.
Kim Kardashian promptly launched her non-medical Skims version in a palette of nudes, and they sold out within hours. Bane-inspired masks became an Etsy bestseller. Disney introduced reusable masks, emblazoned with our favourite Pixar, Star Wars and Marvel characters, including Hulk, Minnie and Mickey Mouse. Off-White’s $95 (Dh348) Arrow Logo Face Mask become one of the most coveted items on the Internet, and also promptly sold out, fetching up to three times its original price on resale sites.
It is worth noting that brands such as Off-White and Bape had a head start. Because of their popularity with consumers in Asia, where the accessory has been commonplace since the outbreak of Sars in 2003, both brands had been making fashion-friendly masks long before Covid-19 hit.
While the World Health Organisation was initially reticent about advocating the wearing of masks in public – because of limited evidence confirming their ability to protect wearers from Covid-19, but also to avoid a global run on masks, leading to a shortage of the medical grade versions much-needed by health workers – on Friday, June 5, the health body officially revised its advice.
It is now urging people to wear masks in situations where physical distancing may be hard: on public transport, in grocery stores, at work, at social gatherings and in closed settings, including schools.
Nonetheless, WHO has been quick to highlight that masks cannot be relied upon in isolation. “A mask alone cannot protect you from Covid-19. It must be combined with protective measures, including maintaining at least one metre distance from others and washing your hands frequently.”
Thereis the worry that masks give wearers an unrealistic sense of security, making them less likely to adhere to other safety measures. “There’ve been some concerns they could have a negative effect – they might give people a false sense of security,” confirms Dr Andrew Freedman, an infectious diseases specialist at the School of Medicine at Cardiff University in the UK. “They might think if they wear a mask, they don’t have to keep their distance.”
10 per cent of proceeds from each Aina Dubai mask go to charity. Courtesy Aina Dubai
10 per cent of proceeds from each Aina Dubai mask go to charity. Courtesy Aina Dubai
There are also ethical considerations around whether fashion brands should be capitalising on the fears wrought by a health crisis – and whether something that is meant to protect against a deadly disease should be reduced to a fashion statement.
It might feel opportunistic, but it is also a simple case of supply and demand. The longer we wear face masks, the more likely that we are going to be looking for options that are more comfortable, more personalised and more expressive.
With environmental concerns about the waste generated by disposable masks, reusable options also present an attractive alternative. And since front-line health workers are more in need of the medical-grade versions than we are on our sporadic trips to the supermarket, it makes sense to invest in a comfortable, non-medical, washable face mask, while also showing support to a young designer trying to stay afloat.
One such designer is Sidrah Zahid, founder of Aina Dubai, a home-grown fashion brand specialising in products featuring witty phrases and embroidery. She has now applied those signatures to a line of cotton face masks featuring slogans such as “Halla walla”, “The new lipstick”, “Can’t touch this” and “Swag”. Customised options featuring initials or other messages can also be made to order.
“I realised quite early during the initial lockdown that masks were going to become a part of our daily lives and something we would be wearing every time we stepped out of the house,” Zahid explains. “I feel that medical masks aren’t really cost-effective and it isn’t feasible to keep buying boxes of them. Therefore, if a cotton, non-medical, reusable and good-looking mask can do the job, then why not?
Masks by Aina Dubai can be customised. Courtesy Aina Dubai
Masks by Aina Dubai can be customised. Courtesy Aina Dubai
“I did a lot of research before I decided to go ahead with the masks and found that pure cotton masks – the cotton being 200 thread count – that are at least two to three layers, are actually quite protective and are being used worldwide. As long as they are washed every day and used hygienically, with the right protocols, they can in fact keep you protected. Having said that, by no means do I claim that they are more protective than medical masks.”
Like many other brands that have launched face masks around the world, Zahid was eager to introduce a humanitarian element to the initiative. “I really wanted to do something to give back to the community and help the underprivileged during this difficult time. Therefore, I decided to donate 10 per cent of the proceeds from each mask sale to charity, for people in need of food and hygiene products in various parts of Dubai, who aren’t able to make ends meet.”
In Beirut, furniture brand Bokja is adopting a similar tact. Famous for pieces that revive and celebrate regional textiles, the company’s founders decided to use its craftspeople and bold fabrics to create reversible silk face masks for front-line workersat medical centres in Beirut. “Our intention was to brighten their days and show our gratitude for their risky work,” says a spokesperson for the brand.
The initiative has since been expanded so that Bokja now sells its one-of-a-kind masks to consumers, with proceeds donated directly to the nursing staff at designated medical centres.
Face masks by Bokja. Courtesy Bokja
Face masks by Bokja. Courtesy Bokja
While many of the face masks coming on to the market are non-medical, produced using multiple layers of fabric, predominantly cotton, others are taking the necessity-is-the-mother-of-invention-mantra one step further.
Usman Khalid, an entrepreneur from Dubai, has launched Viro Masks – washable and reusable masks that he claims will actively neutralise viruses, including Covid-19. The design was initially tested in an ISO 17025-accredited lab in the UAE, to support these claims. It uses nano silver particles, which are known to prevent DNA replication of bacteria and viruses, by attacking the structure and permeability of the cell membrane.
“Since the last Sars outbreak, technology has evolved and we have seen revolutionary nano technology that can be applied on textiles to neutralise viruses and bacteria,” says Khalid.
His HeiQ Viroblock has since been tested against Covid-19 by the Peter Doherty Institute for infection and immunity in Melbourne, Australia. The research project simulated the real-life interaction of small aerosol droplets contaminating clothing. A known concentration of Sars-CoV-2 virus was placed in contact with the sample fabric for 30 minutes. The fabric treated with HeiQ Viroblock NPJ03 had no infective viruses left after 30 minutes.
Just as many people across Asia continued to wear masks after the Sars crisis abated, it is likely that face masks such as Khalid’s will become commonplace across the globe moving forward. We have woken up to the invisible dangers of a deadly pandemic, and it is not something that is likely to leave our collective consciousness any time soon.
And even if it does, the as-yet-unresolved issue of climate change means that we can likely expect pollution levels to continue to rise in major cities across the globe. All those face masks we’ve accumulated will come in handy in that eventuality.
“Even apart from Covid-19, there are a quadrillion-quadrillion individual viruses in the world; enough to assign one million to every star in our universe –but only a fraction of these infect humans,” says Khalid.
“There’s the realisation that wearing a mask will not only protect others from you and should be worn as a civic duty, but it can actively protect the wearer against airborne viruses. Masks are here to stay for a long time. And our seasonal outbreaks of cold and other diseases will have very short lifespans.”
These sentiments are shared by Dr Afridi. “I believe people will continue to wear face masks. One, because they will be asked by their governments to do so for the next many months, and two, because it will make them feel safer as they navigate the new normal.”
Reversible silk face masks by Lebanon's Bokja. Courtesy Bokja
Reversible silk face masks by Lebanon's Bokja. Courtesy Bokja
'The collections will be reduced: less but better’
Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana offer their perspective on the future of fashion
What lies ahead for Dolce & Gabbana?
Stefano Gabbana: We have always looked to the future with positivity, resourcefulness and a desire to do, invent, create, then undo and put everything back together. And it’s not just about style or fashion. It is our life, and our greatest passion. Through our collections, we will never stop telling stories of love, authentic beauty and “made in Italy”.
Do you anticipate a greater focus on creativity in the fashion industry?
Domenico Dolce: Enhancing your creative and manual skills is something that brings you back to your nature, to the authenticity of being, something that allows you to rediscover an intimate and perhaps hidden part of yourself, not entirely expressed. For example, I am drawing a lot and preparing several sketches in this period; I feel happy and satisfied when I dedicate myself completely to this activity.
A Dolce & Gabbana mood board. Courtesy Dolce & Gabban
A Dolce & Gabbana mood board. Courtesy Dolce & Gabban
Is this the end of fashion seasons?
DD: The dream of fashion shows is fundamental for all of us in the field – stylists, buyers, journalists – we all need it. The collections will certainly be reduced: less but better. We are in Italy, we have a brand, “made in Italy”, which is synonymous throughout the world with quality and beauty, and which does not only mean fashion, but also history, culture, art and more.
SG: Fashion must reflect reality, and keep up with the desires of people who today, understandably, are even more changeable. It is difficult to make long-term predictions;we will do what we deem most appropriate considering that people, at this moment, have no great desire to buy, and this is something that must be respected.
The duo pride themselves on creating 'dreams made of wearable fabrics'. Courtesy Dolce & Gabbana
The duo pride themselves on creating 'dreams made of wearable fabrics'. Courtesy Dolce & Gabbana
Will perceptions of luxury change as a result of the current crisis?
DD: We believe that people will seek, even more than before, a beautiful story, a dress, or an accessory that is also a tale – dreams made of wearable fabrics. This is what we have been doing for 36 years now: telling [the tale] of our beautiful country, the Italian spirit, our roots, craftsmanship, which is nothing more than the love of “know-how”, and transmitting emotions and a passion for fashion.
Now it’s all about making the right choice. In the face of these tragedies of such a vast scale, each action may seem insignificant, but the truth is that even a very small gesture can have enormous significance. This is why we decided to start the donation project,Amore for Scientific Research, with . Humanitas University, whose excellence and humanity make it a very special entity.
How do you make customers feel special online?
DD: Our clients have always been our priority and particularly during this difficult period, we have tried to make them feel our deep closeness: we've kept in touch with all the means at our disposal, most of all through social media. For example, recently we released a pilot video, which explains to clients our clothes and accessories, simulating a real shopping experience, as it would happen inthe boutique.
SG: This will help us to figure out what are going to be the measures in our boutiques after the lockdown, where people will be forced to enter one or two at a time. Human touch will always be key for us, as well as a “one-to-one” shopping experience, which allows people to see our products with their own eyes. We believe this aspect of fashion should not be changed, but we can also explore and take advantage of the wide range of possibilities that online offers.
Is this the end of fashion seasons?
As designers speak out against the "worn-out ritual of seasonalities", Sarah Maisey asks whether the pandemic will bring about much-needed change in the fashion world
There was trouble in paradise long before Covid-19 swept its devastating path across the globe.
The fashion industry, worth a cool $2.5 trillion (Dh9.181tn) was already faltering under its own weight, locked into a schedule decades old and off-kilter with an expanding digital world. With relentless rounds of new drops, launches and shows, questions were already being raised over the sustainability of churning out up to 12 collections a year, and pushing designers and audiences to the point of exhaustion.
Belgian fashion designer Raf Simons after the presentation of Christian Dior's spring/summer 2016 ready-to-wear collection. Courtesy FRA
Belgian fashion designer Raf Simons after the presentation of Christian Dior's spring/summer 2016 ready-to-wear collection. Courtesy FRA
The first inkling that there was something wrong came in 2015, when designer Raf Simons abruptly left Dior. Despite citing “personal reasons”, after his first couture show for the brand in 2012, he had made it clear that his creative energy was finite. “I’ll stop if I have no ideas anymore,” he said. A mere two-and-a-half years later, he did precisely that, seemingly wrung dry by the onslaught of shows.
The experience of fashion shows, though wonderful, has felt increasingly outdated. Played out to small, elitist crowds, at a high cost and high carbon footprint, they have seemingly fallen out of step with today’s fast-moving world. The same, too, for the six-month time lag between fashion shows and clothes arriving in-store. While that gap was irrelevant in the pre-internet age, with the arrival of live streaming, where shows are broadcast to hundreds of thousands of fans as they happen, the delay has become an anachronism of a bygone age, impossible to reconcile with customers well versed in instant gratification.
Invented to entice customers into store all-year-round, the mid-season cruise (also called resort) and pre-fall collections have also become something of an albatross, ballooning in scale, and teaching customers to expect weekly drops of new products. A ploy to snare early customers has also backfired, resulting in rails filled with heavy coats in June and floaty summer dresses in January. The result? Piles of unsold stock, that only weeks after arriving are heavily marked down to make space for the next round of deliveries. With sales happening so frequently, customers have learnt to simply wait, knowing lusted-after pieces will soon be on discount, depriving stores and designers of much-needed full-price transactions. With too much stock, exhausted designers and increasingly indifferent customers, clearly something had to change.
And then along came Covid-19, which, in a few devastating weeks, shut down factories and supply lines, and shuttered stores, leaving warehouses filled with new season wares. But might the pandemic provide the pause the fashion industry has so desperately needed? An increasing number of designers seem to think so.
Giorgio Armani. Courtesy Getty
Giorgio Armani. Courtesy Getty
Only weeks after Covid-19 flexed its terrible power and shut down Italy, Giorgio Armani (incidentally, the first designer to grasp the full impact of the virus) penned an open letter criticising the unsustainable pace of the industry. “The decline of the fashion system as we knew it began when luxury adopted fast-fashion methods,” he railed.
“The top-of-the-range imitated the frenetic pace of endless deliveries, hoping to sell more,” the Italian designer wrote. “Luxury cannot and must not be rapid. It doesn’t make sense for my creations to stay in the shop three weeks before they become obsolete. I don’t work like that and I find it immoral.”
"Luxury cannot and must not be rapid. It doesn’t make sense for my creations to stay in the shop three weeks before they become obsolete. I don’t work like that and I find it immoral."
Then, in April, came the shocking news that Saint Laurent was withdrawing from Paris Fashion Week and would “not present its collections in any of the pre-set schedules” for 2020. It announced, in its statement, a desire to “take control of its pace and reshape it’s schedule. Now more than ever,” it continued, “the brand will lead its own rhythm.”
Saint Laurent has anounce its desire to “take control of its pace and reshape its schedule". Courtesy AFP
Saint Laurent has anounce its desire to “take control of its pace and reshape its schedule". Courtesy AFP
For such a major name to step outside of the system is unprecedented, and spoke volumes about the dissatisfaction permeating the fashion world.
When Natacha Ramsay-Levi, creative director at Chloe came out in April to declare that “the business model of the fashion system has to be rewired totally, because we are losing the creativity”, it underlined the seriousness of the issue. Pushed ever harder to hit sales targets, create “must-haves” and “It-bags”, the pressure on designers and their teams has become immense and unrelenting.
As the pandemic has continued to rage on, an increasing number of designers have spoken out against the status quo. Belgian designer Dries Van Noten headed a consortium of designers asking to “allow our industry to become more responsible for our impact on our customers, on the planet and on the fashion community, and bring back the magic and creativity that has made fashion such an important part of our world”.
Alessandro Michele, creative director, Gucci
Alessandro Michele, creative director, Gucci
In late May, Gucci, under creative director Alessandro Michele, announced it was leaving Milan Fashion Week and the “worn-out ritual of seasonalities”. In a long, poetic series of social media posts, the designer said he would be stepping away from what he described as the “stale, worn-out words” of cruise, pre-fall, summer and winter, and instead would offer only two, seasonless collections per year. Michele also tackled the thorny issue of waste and environmental damage, saying: “Our reckless actions have burned the house we live in. We conceived of ourselves as separated from nature, we felt cunning and almighty. We usurped nature, we dominated and wounded it.”
Yet some designers have always been mindful of the planet, and the impact that fashion has. Labels such as Stella McCartney and Vivienne Westwood have long focused on a slower, more mindful pace, centred on quality over trend. Ethical fashion activist, writer and researcher Sass Brown hopes that in the future, this will become the norm.
An image from the campaign for Stella McCartney's autumn/winter 2017 collection. Courtesy Stella McCartney
An image from the campaign for Stella McCartney's autumn/winter 2017 collection. Courtesy Stella McCartney
“Designers, particularly in the ethical space, have been producing slow fashion collections designed to last for some time now, in part as a reaction to the ever-growing number of fast-fashion drops and the multiple collections and diffusion lines from designer brands. Several big-name brands have vowed to abandon the seasonal model. I’m not sure everyone will abandon seasonal fashion, especially not fast fashion, but there will be a significant number.”
"I’m not sure everyone will abandon seasonal fashion, especially not fast fashion, but there will be a significant number.”
This view is echoed by both the British Fashion Council and the Council of American Fashion Designers, which urged the industry to produce less, but make it more meaningful. In a joint statement, they recommended “designers focus on no more than two main collections a year. A slower pace also offers an opportunity to reduce the stress levels of designers and their teams, which in turn will have a positive effect on the overall well-being of the industry.”
However, even if the industry decides on two collections a year, there is still the issue of how to unveil them. With social distancing likely to remain in place, the traditional fashion show is out of the question. So what options do designers have?
China may have already offered one solution. As the pandemic broke in March, Shanghai Fashion Week was forced to switch, almost overnight, to an all-digital format. A gamble, but it worked, and the 150 designers taking part garnered six million views on the first day of the virtual event. In May, the 22-year-old China Fashion Week followed suit.
So is this the way out of the fashion week quagmire? Cedric Charbit, chief executive of Balenciaga, thinks so. Balenciaga can seat 600 people at one of its fashion shows, a figure, he argues, that is dwarfed by the brand’s digital following. Eight thousand people can watch via YouTube, 60,000 via Instagram and an additional 300,000 via Twitter. Combined with replays, the brand’s total online audience hits close to 10 million viewers, suggesting that the focus of shows until now has been wrong. As Charbit maintains: “Our audience has to be reconsidered. One needs to understand: ‘Do we have guests or viewers?’”
At the end of April, The British Fashion Council announced it would be combining the separate men’s and women’s shows of London Fashion Week into one unified event, via its own digital platform, while Italian menswear label Ermenegildo Zegna announced it would be staging an event in July using something it dubbed “phygital”, meaning a physical space filled with digital technologies.
Perhaps inspired by the $2.82 million generated by Shanghai Fashion Week, in partnership with Tmall, Alibaba Group’s e-commerce platform, Facebook founder and owner Mark Zuckerberg has begun testing new shopping features that could link to virtual shows, allowing viewers to buy clothes directly as they see them.
“How we present our runway collections twice a year is now being reinvented,” notes Andrew Maag, chief executive of Dunhill. “Right now is real time. Normally we would [have presented] a runway show in Paris in late June. We are now rethinking the format and how to digitally capture the energy, the feel and essence of Mark Weston’s [creative director at Dunhill] newest collection for spring/summer 2020. It is a tremendous challenge that may have long-term impacts on how fashion shows are presented, but we are embracing it as we see potentially very positive opportunities arising from this change.”
With the traditional format seemingly now being rethought, no digital idea is off the table in terms of reaching a new audience. Marc Jacobs and Valentino have already released “capsule” looks on Nintendo’s Animal Crossing game. And given that a virtual concert performed by Travis Scott in the game Fortnite clocked up an astounding 12.3m views, this might signal the start of virtual pop-ups. An outlandish idea, perhaps, but also one that would appeal to a younger TikTok generation of customers.
Brown explains what the future of the fashion show might be, saying: “Fashion weeks and fashion shows have already been affected, with some brands showcasing their collections on avatars and digital catwalks. I’m sure some will choose to continue this now that they have been forced to explore this as an option. There will be a growing proliferation of online customer engagement, going well beyond websites and Instagram feeds.”
Overall, Brown predicts that we will witness a “slowing down of fashion generally, with smaller trans-seasonal collections, made to last.” With the focus shifting back to quality over newness, the coronavirus pandemic may yet make fashion a more thoughtful and caring space.
Dh435,000
… is the price of Louis Vuitton’s newly launched billiards table. Here’s what makes it the ultimate at-home indulgence
Louis Vuitton has unveiled its first billiards table, Le Billard. The made-to-order accessory features a red play surface, set against the brand’s signature Monogram motif, which has been synonymous with the luxury fashion house since it was envisaged by Louis Vuitton’s son Georges Vuitton in 1896.
The table also comes wrapped in the darker Monogram Eclipse or Damier Graphite motifs, as well as colourful versions in Epi leather that range from bold cyan and fuchsia to pistachio and caramel.
The table’s wooden body is sheathed in these luxurious leathers,with delicate corners crafted from naturally tanned cowhide and edges that are hand-painted. Hand-pressed metallic hardware is engraved with the maison’s logo.
The table comes with covetable accessories: billiard balls with numbers encircled by the floral patterning of the Monogram motif, a leather triangle and two cues also topped with Monogram leather.
It continues the maison’s tradition of creating whimsical gaming and sporting accessories, from playing cards and beach bats, to ping-pong sets, dumb-bells, golf kits and skipping ropes, all reimagined in LV’s signature style.
Last month, the brand launched a made-to-order foosball table, also wrapped in Monogram print, complete with hand-painted players and cowhide leather-coated handles.
Is space the ultimate luxury?
If so, asks Selina Denman, what do the high-end hotels, restaurants, offices and retail spaces of the future look like?
“This will affect human culture. It’ll change human habits,” says Jonathan Ashmore, founder of Anarchitect, a design and architecture practice with branches in Dubai and London.
Much has changed in the past six months, but the full ramifications of the coronavirus pandemic will take much longer to reveal themselves. From how we interact with each other to how we utilise shared spaces, it is possible that our new awareness of the threat of a global health crisis will influence our behaviour and thought patterns even after a vaccine for Covid-19 has been developed and distributed.
Will the design of high-end restaurants, hotels, luxury offices and retail outlets need to adapt as a result? And, given that maintaining a distance from each other has become the new norm, will space become the ultimate luxury?
Yes and no, says Ashmore. “The problem is, that’s not necessarily what people want. They don’t want to be dispersed and feel isolated.”
"People don’t want to be dispersed and feel isolated."
While the immediate response to the pandemic has been to limit the capacity of existing commercial spaces – from offices and malls to restaurants and hotels – this is neither economically viable in the long run, nor particularly appealing to consumers. For the most part, people want to feel safe, but do not want to have dinner in an empty, echoey restaurant.
“It’s more about human distribution in space,” says Ashmore. “Not so much isolation and segregation, but how do you harness space? How do you create a sense of intimacy, but also security?
“Luxury can compensate for these new parameters, because it can work with high-quality materials and beautiful lighting; it can look at the composition of space. The most luxurious spaces will be the ones that respond in the most holistic way, where it isn’t overt or obvious,” he continues.
Privacy and compartmentalisation will be important, but not only through the use of walls and partitions. Zones can be created through the subtle use of floor finishes and lighting, or staggered seating heights. Entry and exit points and the way people move through a space will need to be reconsidered. Creating a sense of volume by playing with height, or introducing outdoor space (or at least the perception of outdoor space) will make “people feel like they can breathe. This idea of not feeling suppressed is key".
Pallavi Dean, founder of Dubai design studio Roar, is predicting the death of the buffet and sharing concepts in dining settings, but this is only an acceleration of an existing trend, she says. In terms of design, she agrees that “subtle buffering” is the order of the day, rather than the huge Perspex-style partitions that some are predicting. “People don’t need to know they are being separated, but you’ll have clever design and clever circulation through a restaurant that will allow you to do this,” she says.
While users may not demand blatant sterility in all the spaces they visit, touchpoints will need to be designed to give people a sense of security. “So, for example, in restaurants, the toilets will have to be pretty much touchless,” says Dean. “Everything is going to be sensor-operated, it’s going to be contactless. You are going to move away from any doors leading to these functional spaces.”
There needs to be careful thought about how to reconfigure and reuse existing layouts. From both an environmental and economic standpoint, this is not the time to be tearing down existing structures to build new ones from scratch.
“An important aspect of all this is working with existing space – that’s where the interesting dynamic is going to be. I don’t think it’s going to be knock out and demolish and build new. That’s the antithesis of what this pandemic means,” says Ashmore. “Because this could be seen as a precursor to issues surrounding climate change.”
Perhaps the greatest shift in design thinking will come in the office arena. Now that employers know working from home actually works, the role and design of offices will need to evolve. Perhaps counter-intuitively at a time when people are going out of their way to distance themselves from each other, Dean is anticipating a rise in shared working spaces.
"What we are going to see is a sophisticated, sanitised version of the co-working space."
“First we were thinking the cubicle is back and co-working spaces are dead. But actually, what we are going to see is a sophisticated, sanitised version of the co-working space. The thing that will dictate this is not really health and safety concerns, but economics.”
All of the things that have been steadily value engineered out of office builds over recent years are set to make a comeback – whether it is antimicrobial surfaces and materials such as copper, or Hepa filters in air-conditioning units. “This stuff is expensive and it really ramps up the cost per square foot of fitting out an office,” says Dean. “As such, people are going have to share this space.”
That doesn’t mean packing more people in, though. It means being selective about who needs to be where, and when. “The first thing we asked ourselves when we started working from home was: ‘What do we need an office for? What are we missing?’” says Ashmore.
“And what was missing was that sense of creativity and social interaction. It’s something we need. Yes, you can be productive at home, yes you can facilitate remote working, and it can be more individually creative and comforting doing things in your own time. But I think what’s going to happen is we are going to have more, smaller hubs.
"I think everyone likes the idea of coming together two or three times a week to meet with their team, or meet with their superiors, or meet with their colleagues, and have a meaningful dialogue with them. It’s like going into a meeting with a proper agenda,” Ashmore says.
Securing that landmark address for your office headquarters and then using it as a symbol of your brand’s clout will quickly become passé. Instead, it will be about facilitating the actual needs of both your organisation and staff.
In terms of retail, luxury brands are already ahead of the game “when it comes to numbers of people, expanded physical distances and customer separation”, says Eric Carlson, founder of design firm Carbondale, which has created Dolce & Gabbana boutiques across the globe.
“For high-end boutiques, there is a doorman alleviating the need to touch the highly solicited door handle, gloved sales staff to present and polish-clean the leather goods, watches and jewellery products, and VIP rooms to create an additional degree of customer isolation,” he points out.
"There will be a return towards more intimate-scale spaces, the desire for ‘quality over quantity’ and a general reinforcement of exclusivity."
Nonetheless, the scale of some of these boutiques will need to be reassessed. In recent years, luxury retail store sizes have inflated to up to 2,000 square metres to accommodate burgeoning product ranges and customer numbers. “Because of the current situation, inevitably there will be an increased weariness for luxury shoppers to be over-exposed in these large environments,” says Carlson. “There will be a return towards more intimate-scale spaces, the desire for ‘quality over quantity’ and a general reinforcement of exclusivity,” he adds.
Either way, do expect “a conspicuous new staff member dedicated to constantly wiping down surfaces and products”.
As our homes become our offices, as well as a hub for education, relaxation and entertainment, and restaurants, hotels and shops are united in facing the same set of challenges, the boundaries between design disciplines are being broken down. “There’s a cross-pollination of different sectors that’s really coming into play,” says Dean.
“We’ll apply the learnings from all these different sectors: how can the buffering from restaurants be used in offices? How can the collaboration spaces in offices be used in education facilities? I think there will be a lot of hybrids and shared ideas.”
“With all of these conversations now, it’s definitely got to be a dialogue,” adds Ashmore. “No one person or one body has the answer. It’ll need to be an organic response that is flexible.”
Given the amount of time it takes to design and build them, Sonu Shivdasani, founder and chief executive of Soneva Hotels, thinks it is unlikely that the current pandemic will have a long-lasting effect on the actual design of hotels.
In fact, citing lowering mortality rates and the greater ability of health systems to cope with the virus, he is optimistic that we will have adapted to our new normal within a matter of months. “I believe that even without a vaccine, in a few months’ time, we will come to a stage where we are able to live with this,” he says.
"I suspect that travellers will become more health-focused, more aware of nature and more sensitive to the challenges of the planet."
All the same, he acknowledges that smaller, more boutique hotels will now be seen as more attractive to the travelling public, although this also represents an acceleration of an existing trend. “I do believe that smaller boutique hotels will be perceived as safer as they will be more intimate.
“I believe that individual smaller hotels are gaining in popularity, as luxury has become very institutional. Luxury is all about that which is rare. If certain aspects of luxury hotels are similar and commonplace, then they lose that rarity and that element of luxury. The nice thing about small boutique hotels is that they are individual and in some ways, one-of-a-kind," Shivdasani explains.
“This crisis that the world is going through has allowed many people the opportunity to pause and rethink their values and, importantly, their priorities. I suspect that travellers will become more health-focused, more aware of nature and more sensitive to the challenges of the planet.”
‘The museum of the future is mindful’
Following the reopening of Louvre Abu Dhabi, we invited the museum's director, Manuel Rabate, to reflect on lessons learnt as a result of the pandemic, and how these might shape the museum of the future
What are the key lessons learnt by Louvre Abu Dhabi as a result of Covid-19?
The first lesson is that it is painful to close your museum. We were in our third year – it was the year of consolidation, the year of maturity and stabilisation. We were thinking of Louvre Abu Dhabi 2.0, of our next steps. And then we were brutally struck where it hurts, exactly on our DNA.
Louvre Abu Dhabi is about connectedness, and about witnessing the value and beauty of the connection between humans, throughout history. So when a virus comes and attacks that very connectedness, forcing us to be removed, it is really attacking us. But when your identity is attacked, it means you understand even more strongly what it means. And for us, the key thing was to reconnect.
We really fought our ground. We had a good understanding of the multimedia and digital within our walls, but we made huge progress in outreach and in understanding how to interact and how to be accessible. The key learning is that digital experiences are here to stay.
A still from 'We Are Not Alone' by Soundwalk Collective. Courtesy the artists and Louvre Abu Dhabi
A still from 'We Are Not Alone' by Soundwalk Collective. Courtesy the artists and Louvre Abu Dhabi
How did you adapt your digital offering?
The digital [element] was already present – we are a museum of the 21st century, so digital was obvious. The application was there, but we always thought of it as a tool to help visitors. What was new and drastic was the tool instead of the visit. That mind shift – you can take it as a constraint or as an opportunity to explore new things.
During the closure, we created some very interesting experiences – our partnership with Anghami, for example. In a way, they curated, just like our own curators, a soundtrack inspired by what we are. I’m sure we will have a follow-up, which can definitely be a new way to discover the museum.
We Are Not Alone, [a cinematic podcast produced] with the Soundwalk Collective, was a crazy project from the start – using the Louvre Abu Dhabi structure as a trigger for a science-fiction story. These kinds of experiments are not disconnected from the museum. We can reinforce them now the museum has reopened.
But one of the most important things is that we have original and authentic artworks. The best experience, the pinnacle, is the physical, which can be prepared for, accompanied and then followed with the digital.
The physical experience is the pinnacle, but must be supplemented with the digital, says Rabate
The physical experience is the pinnacle, but must be supplemented with the digital, says Rabate
Will the pandemic have an effect on how curators approach their collections moving forward?
I don’t think it will drastically change the curation for Louvre Abu Dhabi because, as I said, we were already talking about connectedness. But perhaps visitors will see a bit more relevance to what we are saying.
Behind the objects, you have stories, and these stories are complex. What we see is the resilience of mankind.
We are telling a story of beautiful objects, but behind the objects, you have stories, and these stories are complex. What we see is the resilience of mankind. And we think we are, more than ever, a mindful museum. We think of the other; we respect the other; we are interested in what they have to say. This will be exacerbated, but we will not rewrite the narrative of Louvre Abu Dhabi.
Humanity has already faced challenges and the optimist in me says we have overcome them by coming together. We need to be safe but, within that, there is value in us working together. This is what you see in the galleries of Louvre Abu Dhabi, and this is what we believe in.
How is the museum planning to reconnect with its community?
A museum has to be in its territory. And this is something we introduced in the galleries when we specifically handpicked masterpieces and very important objects from the history of the UAE, the Gulf and the Arab world.
Thereis currently the opportunity for the community to reappropriate their museum. In a period in which discovering the world will be possible, but still complex, the best way to prepare yourself to discover the world is to go to Louvre Abu Dhabi, because you will see artworks from all civilisations; and you will see yourself, your identity, but also ‘the other’.
Louvre Abu Dhabi is open with social distancing measures in place. Courtesy Hufton + Crow
Louvre Abu Dhabi is open with social distancing measures in place. Courtesy Hufton + Crow
What, in your view, does the museum of the future look like?
Health and safety will be a key component of the museum of the future. Like any public space, we will have to demonstrate that, for this crisis and for the future. This is now a given. Just as we need to be accessible for people of determination – in the 21st century, if you are not completely accessible, you shouldn’t be open to the public. Similarly, the physical space has to be a safe space.
This is the first pillar. The second pillar will be this mix between the physical and the digital. Louvre Abu Dhabi is about the materiality of the artworks, but at the same time, our navigation in the world is through digital tools. This merger will have to happen. Not as a filter, but as an acceleration, a facilitation.
And the third element of the museum of the future is on the mindful side of things. It involves wellness, inclusivity and the social positivity that a museum has to create; it’s about the museum’s integration into the social fabric – with a capacity to heal, to develop and to educate.
We are aiming to develop some programmes for wellness and art therapy. When you talk about the community, understanding yourself better is a way to have a better society. Understanding myself is understanding the other.
"It was both insightful and emotional"
We capture members of the UAE’s creative community in their homes, as they reflect on lessons learnt in isolation and how their perceptions of luxury have changed as a result of the pandemic.
Photos by Antonie Robertson and Victor Besa
“I’ve learned things about myself that I didn’t know before."
Salama Khalfan, jewellery designer
For Khalfan, the lockdown facilitated a period of self discovery. “I’ve learned things about myself – and about my reactions to external factors that I cannot control – that I didn’t know before. It has also been insightful in terms of learning how to adapt and being reminded of what it's like to live a slower-paced life.” And it has invited her to reconsider her definition of luxury. “Luxury in my view is a sentiment, a feeling derived from an experience, whatever that experience may be.
“The earth has given us quite a lot of of signs that we need to slow things down.”
Bong Guerrero, co-founder, Fashion Forward Dubai
“I think we need to have luxury that is a bit more mindful and sustainable, and more thoughtful,” says Bong Guerrero. “I think luxury, even more so, will become more about the experience of absorbing something – whether it’s a product or travel or space. It boils down to the quality of the experience,” he adds.
“I’m really craving things like views and outdoor spaces.”
Pallavi Dean, interior designer
As the founder of design and architecture firm Roar, Dean is well versed in the ways space can affect wellbeing. But as she continues to spend more time indoors, even she is looking to enhance her home. “When we bought our home, I was very much focused on the interiors of the space.” Now, things like views, outdoor space and having dedicated zones within her open-plan home, have gained in importance.
“Luxury comes with having good people in your life – and journeys and adventures.”
Abdulla Elmaz, photographer
As movement restrictions were being put into place in Dubai, photographer Abdulla Elmaz was racing against the clock to shoot a campaign for Italian fashion house Valentino. While that project was completed in the nick of time, a planned exhibition of his work at Abu Dhabi's Manarat Al Saadiyat had to be postponed. Nonetheless, the coronavirus crisis has offered much-needed time to reflect, he says. “It gives you time to think, which is something none of us have had to do in a long time, because we have our routines, we go about our days, and that’s it. It’s been like a little retirement for me.”
“Luxury is wellbeing – your mental, physical and emotional wellbeing”
Hanan Sayed Worrell, author of 'Table Tales, the Global Nomad Cuisine of Abu Dhabi'
An engineer by profession, Hanan Sayed Worrell works on urban and cultural projects, but is also “a recipe hunter by passion” and the author of Table Tales, the Global Nomad Cuisine of Abu Dhabi. She likens the lockdown experience to a “game of musical chairs, where everything stops and you are right there, where you are.” But it offered an opportunity to reconnect with her home and spend more time with her family. “I hope to have a balanced life when we come out of this,” she says.
What is luxury in a post-Covid-19 world?
Will the pause that the pandemic has afforded mean our collective priorities will change, asks Selina Denman?
Luxury can mean many things to many people. It can be material or experiential, tangible or intangible – something as weighty as a gemstone or as flighty as time. It is cultural and contextual, but also deeply personal. And it is ever-changing.
There is a baseline definition, suggests Milton Pedraza, chief executive of The Luxury Institute in New York, and it includes things such as quality, design, craftsmanship and exclusivity. As a general rule, he maintains, luxury is “the best of something”. Whatever that something may be.
But every individual will also have a personal definition, shaped by their tastes, upbringing, environment and experiences. For Pedraza, this translates as: “Time and the ability to spend my time the way I want to. It’s almost equated with freedom. Freedom is a luxury to many people – maybe to all of us. The freedom to choose how to invest your time and get the richness out of it. That is probably the most personal definition of luxury I have.”
"The freedom to choose how to invest your time and get the richness out of it. That is probably the most personal definition of luxury I have.”
The idea of time being life’s greatest luxury is not new. Time is the one thing we cannot control and, in an age “of the glorification of busy”, it was the one thing we all thought we needed more of. But the pause presented by the pandemic has perhaps given us a chance to reconsider our relationship with time.
“I’ve always believed, from my side, that luxury is time. But it’s actually about what you do with that time,” says Jonathan Ashmore, founder of architecture and design firm Anarchitect. “Time is a state of mind. If you are busy and anxious and not mindful, then what’s the value of time?”
“Time is a state of mind. If you are busy and anxious and not mindful, then what’s the value of time?”
For Sonu Shivdasani, founder of Soneva Hotels, luxury is defined by rarity: “My view is that luxury is a philosophy; essentially that which is rare, that which is new but true; something that rings a chord in your heart when you touch or experience it.”
Certainly, in recent years, the idea of luxury has shifted from the material to the experiential. While an elusive Birkin bag or limited-edition Bentley are still much sought-after, it is the unique, memorable moments that we have truly come to treasure. And this often involves a paring back of all the adornments and demands of our increasingly connected and hectic daily lives.
“As urbanisation has continued, more and more people have yearned for that rare experience of space and privacy. And also just the simple things in life, such as the ability to dine out in the open air with one’s feet in the sand with the Moon hovering above, or that fresh salad that was plucked from the garden that morning, or just simply being able to walk barefoot for a week,” says Shivdasani, whose hotels are built around this very premise.
"As urbanisation has continued, more and more people have yearned for that rare experience of space and privacy."
But will perceptions of luxury be different in a post-Covid-19 world? Globally, we have had to confront the realities and repercussions of a wide-scale health pandemic. We had to forsake global travel for the confines of our homes, and substitute human interaction with screen time. Our designer clothes meant little when we couldn’t leave the house, and luxury cars were rendered useless when there was nowhere to drive them to.
Things that we once took for granted – the ability to see family or the freedom to move across borders – suddenly became precious and rare. But will this collective experience lead to a long-term shift in our priorities, as some have predicted?
“People were able to get some space and stillness to re-evaluate how they were spending their time and money, and the things they valued before the pandemic may not be the same things they value after. So yes, priorities will change,” says Dr Saliha Afridi, clinical psychologist and managing director of Lighthouse Arabia.
“Many people still worked from home and were busier than ever, but they enjoyed the stillness of being able to do everything from one room, one space, one computer, rather than driving from home and back, flying to other cities for meetings, or even walking from office to office. It was not as hectic.
“The simple life that most people have lived for the past few months has taught them that they do not need much of what they were spending their money on to be happy,” Afridi adds.
"We need to produce and consume less on a universal scale."
These are sentiments echoed by Bong Guerrero, co-founder and chief executive of Fashion Forward, who hopes that this changing mindset will have a knock-on effect on the fashion industry. “The healthcare crisis and resulting economic challenges could lead to a global realisation and consensus that we truly do not need so much of anything and everything. We need to produce and consume less on a universal scale, which would be a welcome realisation in the fashion sector.”
It is also possible that consumers will become more discerning about the brands they buy from. The coronavirus crisis has compounded a trend towards conscious consumerism, but widespread conversations about racism in the wake of the murder of George Floyd have also led many people to question the values of the corporations they support.
For Pedraza, luxury brands will increasingly need to show that they are ethical and socially responsible, based on three key pillars. “The first one is that you’re sustainable. You are really working to mitigate your negative impact on the environment and, in fact, you may have a positive impact.
“The second is that you are ethical with your associates, your customers and society. You are doing the right thing. You have moral clarity, not just economic clarity. And then I think the third one is that you contribute to causes that are important to you and / or your customers. You find causes – like maybe eradicating racism – and you don’t just throw money at it, you live that cause.
“For example, Gucci and Kering have been champions of women’s rights and anti-date rape, things that are not popular and that we don’t really want to look at directly. LVMH has done a lot of that, too. And they have the resources to do it. But do I think other brands could step up and be better citizens? Absolutely.”
For many people who were forced by the pandemic to retreat into the safety of their homes, having a space that offers comfort and security, and responds to a new set of daily needs, has become the ultimate luxury. “Your home is now working so much harder – it’s a gym, it’s an office, it’s a school,” says Pallavi Dean, founder of Dubai design firm Roar.
“There’s a typical rule of thumb that you spend a third of your income on where you live, either on rent or a mortgage. We think people are going to be spending more time at home, with more work from home and education from home. Therefore, that figure might creep up from 33 per cent to 40 or even 45 per cent,” she adds.
“I absolutely believe that the vulgar display will be frowned upon even more."
One thing seems certain however: material luxury will take a more muted turn in the wake of the pandemic. There is little space for maximalism, glitz and glam in the midst of a health crisis. “I absolutely believe that the vulgar display will be frowned upon even more,” notes Johann Rupert, chairman of Swiss watch behemoth Richemont, who also claims the current crisis is “not a pause; it’s a reset” for the luxury industry.
“The vulgar display has always been frowned upon,” agrees Pedraza. “Even in the era of cave men and women. I think that a lack of humility is something people dislike. To try to provoke jealousy and envy out of people is a fool’s game. I think people realise that.
“But it has never been less of a virtue than now. There are so many people dying – they are not just getting sick or losing their jobs – they are dying. So this is no time to be showing off.”
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