Luxury in Pakistan: Future of Luxury not so bright
Mistral House from Lalique
As I sit at the George V café on Champs Elysees in Paris reading the latest news updates on dawn.com from my PDA phone I cannot help but ponder on the future of Pakistan more specifically the future of luxury in Pakistan.
Luxury is the hidden desire amongst all of us to do better, to work harder, to earn more so we can enjoy the feeling of wearing a pair of sneakers from Louis Vuitton or admire the magnificent craftsmanship of the Antinea Vase by Lalique that is the constant reminder that yes, I worked hard to get here.
People often define luxury by its economic text book definition where they state that luxury is an indulgence, luxury is expensive; luxury isn’t required.
I say luxury is the key to our success.
If we were to live in a communist society where everything was distributed equally, where luxury is a word that does not exist what would be our incentive to work hard? To innovate? We would be no different than zombies.
What if the student in Pakistan who is in University studying to obtain his bachelors degree was to suddenly realize that no matter how hard he works he will still wear the same black trousers and white shirt for the rest of his life and work the same mundane job because that’s what he is trained for. Without luxury our entire economic system would collapse. Luxury and I repeat; is the very essence of what makes us work hard. The 12 years in school, 4 years in university and a further 2 years doing your masters is all so we can achieve that childhood dream of flying first class, wearing the top brands and decorating our homes with items that dazzle the visitor, because if we stop dreaming we might as well stop living.
With the tough economic situation Pakistan is in and the ping-pong war being played out in the North now spreading out to Baluchistan its even more imperative that the business society of Pakistan continues to promote luxury as it truly an important component in the salvation of Pakistan.