Young people, the new luxury consumers
Since antiquity, humans have wanted to show themselves. The Sun King did this by building the Palace of Versailles in particular. Today, young people are also creating their empire, but virtually. Social networks like Instagram are real extensions of their personalities. Users share what they like, their passions. The desire to be “cool” and “fashionable” dominates. The insatiable quest for subscribers and likes acts as a driving force and opens to them, or not, the doors of the restricted circle of influencers.
Social networks influence and encourage purchases
The personality of young people is still developing, so they are more easily influenced by these personalities. Rappers, actors, reality TV starlets or simple fashionistas, these influencers act as role models for them. Better, examples to follow. Because, through these social networks, we literally enter their daily lives. You can have this feeling of closeness that escaped previous generations, then informed mainly by the paparazzi.
Influencers publicly share their dream vacations between paradisiacal beaches and private jets, show off their villas, their big cars and are dressed in the most prestigious brands. Young people, therefore, fascinated by these images, dream of being able to have the same way of life as their icons. They then ask themselves: how to feel closer to them? They start by buying the products that these personalities highlight in their “posts” and “stories”.
Some influencers even do what are called “paid partnerships”. Others simply share their passions, without receiving money from brands. Chiara Ferragni, famous Italian influencer who has 18.4 million subscribers on her Instagram account, swims “between these two waters”. His community has access, seven days a week, to his entire life. Indeed, her subscribers can see her both on the red carpet of the Cannes Film Festival and at home, with tears in her eyes, reading the support emails that her subscribers send her.
Chiara appeals to luxury brands and perhaps this “authenticity” plays an important role here. Looking at her photos, it is not uncommon to see her wearing Chanel, Hermès, Fendi or Louis Vuitton. Yet these shots are not always stamped "paid partnerships". Indeed, Chiara shares her passion for fashion with her subscribers. And brands are part of it. The latter, for their part, benefit from a visibility comparable to that of a television program. Chiara's fame is also increased there. And she even went even further by creating her own brand in 2010 and advertising it herself on her social networks. The circle is complete.
Luxury takes advantage of the noise of hip-hop
Luxury brands have understood the power of social networks and that is why they are adapting their marketing or communication strategy to these new media . The Kering group, which owns Gucci, understood this very well and managed to gather a community of almost 40 million subscribers on Instagram. Most brands, which seemed somewhere inaccessible, are now opening their backstage to as many people as possible.
But the influence doesn't stop at a screen. Several rappers refer to these luxury brands in their songs. Drake by Versace, Lil Pump by Gucci, Future by Hermès and Migos refer to the Patek Philippe watch brand. Speaking of Swiss watches, another obsession of rappers is to personalize them so that they can be worn covered, for example, with diamonds. As if they weren't luxurious enough already.
The LVMH group, which owns Louis Vuitton, by appointing Virgil Abloh artistic director of the men's section, shows its desire to get even closer to young people because Abloh is known to be the one who has managed to reconcile streetwear and street fashion – and luxury. A revolution within these luxury industries, but do they not then run the risk of losing their exclusive brand identities?
Mario Savarese, 18 years old: I am studying at Collège Rousseau in Geneva with a specific economics and law option, I am passionate about photography and the world of entrepreneurship.
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