The Artification of Luxury: How Art Can Affect Perceived …
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provide a powerful aesthetic and moral endorsement, art can strengthen luxury symbolical authority and offer new segmentation criteria beyond price (such as cultural
and humanistic sensitivity), establishing a dialogue with a new, creative and postmaterialistic élite populated by those “extraordinary people” who are destined to
shape the future. The involvement of art, therefore, not only guarantees the loyalty
of the happy few, but also defuses the moral criticisms related to luxury consumption
by taking it to a higher and unquestionable level of meaning. Moreover, associating
luxury with art may also help discouraging new potential competitors from entering
the luxury market. Indeed, competitors may have difficulty decoding and imitating
this source of competitive advantage, since the art–business collaborations are usually complex to define, highly specific and tacit [43]. Kastner [44] identified three
benefits stemming from the associations between art and luxury brands. Firstly, this
association “entrenches in the consumer’s mind the perceptions of originality, ingenuity and inventiveness” (p. 45) and enshrines the aesthetic sensitivity of the brand.
Secondly, it enriches brand content and invigorates the aspirational storytelling typical of luxury brands. Thirdly, the art–luxury association elevates luxury brands above
the purely commercial dimension.
As reported by Kastner [44], the relationship between art and luxury experienced
relevant evolutions over the twentieth century. In the 1930s, the surrealist painters
Salvador Dalì and Jean Cocteau partnered with the Italian fashion designer Elsa
Schiaparelli in order to bring their creativity in her clothing designs [45], while the
Italian shoe manufacturer Ferragamo launched an advertising campaign realized in
collaboration with the futurist painter Lucio Venna [46]. In the 1960s, Yves Saint
Laurent launched its haute couture collection taking explicit inspiration from Piet
Mondrian’s artworks [47]. In the 1980s, longer-term forms of collaboration were
introduced, such as the creation of the art museum Foundation Cartier in Paris [48].
Finally, the huge commercial success of the high-profile artistic collaborations initiated by Louis Vuitton’s artistic director Marco Jacobs in the late 1990s made this
phenomenon definitely popular among luxury brands.
Today, artification—defined as the process in which “something that is not
regarded as art in the traditional sense of the word is changed into something art-like
or into something that takes influences from artistic ways of thinking and acting”
[49]—involves several short-term and long-term elements of luxury brand management. Chailan [43] has provided an overview of the main long-term activities that
luxury brands undertake to link themselves with art. Taking into consideration both
the intensity of the engagement and the time perspective of the relationship, the
author has identified four types of links: artistic mentoring, artistic collaboration,
foundations and patronage. Given their long-term nature, all these strategies fall
outside the ordinary management of luxury brands and thus represent exceptional
activities which require both managerial and financial extra-efforts. But also the most
ordinary elements of the luxury marketing mix—such as retailing, merchandising
and advertising—are actively involved in the process of artification. In this respect,
as highlighted by Joy et al. [50] through an ethnographic study about consumers’
experience in Louis Vuitton flagship stores, luxury retailing is rapidly changing by
turning stores into hybrid institutions embodying elements of both museums and art
69
provide a powerful aesthetic and moral endorsement, art can strengthen luxury symbolical authority and offer new segmentation criteria beyond price (such as cultural
and humanistic sensitivity), establishing a dialogue with a new, creative and postmaterialistic élite populated by those “extraordinary people” who are destined to
shape the future. The involvement of art, therefore, not only guarantees the loyalty
of the happy few, but also defuses the moral criticisms related to luxury consumption
by taking it to a higher and unquestionable level of meaning. Moreover, associating
luxury with art may also help discouraging new potential competitors from entering
the luxury market. Indeed, competitors may have difficulty decoding and imitating
this source of competitive advantage, since the art–business collaborations are usually complex to define, highly specific and tacit [43]. Kastner [44] identified three
benefits stemming from the associations between art and luxury brands. Firstly, this
association “entrenches in the consumer’s mind the perceptions of originality, ingenuity and inventiveness” (p. 45) and enshrines the aesthetic sensitivity of the brand.
Secondly, it enriches brand content and invigorates the aspirational storytelling typical of luxury brands. Thirdly, the art–luxury association elevates luxury brands above
the purely commercial dimension.
As reported by Kastner [44], the relationship between art and luxury experienced
relevant evolutions over the twentieth century. In the 1930s, the surrealist painters
Salvador Dalì and Jean Cocteau partnered with the Italian fashion designer Elsa
Schiaparelli in order to bring their creativity in her clothing designs [45], while the
Italian shoe manufacturer Ferragamo launched an advertising campaign realized in
collaboration with the futurist painter Lucio Venna [46]. In the 1960s, Yves Saint
Laurent launched its haute couture collection taking explicit inspiration from Piet
Mondrian’s artworks [47]. In the 1980s, longer-term forms of collaboration were
introduced, such as the creation of the art museum Foundation Cartier in Paris [48].
Finally, the huge commercial success of the high-profile artistic collaborations initiated by Louis Vuitton’s artistic director Marco Jacobs in the late 1990s made this
phenomenon definitely popular among luxury brands.
Today, artification—defined as the process in which “something that is not
regarded as art in the traditional sense of the word is changed into something art-like
or into something that takes influences from artistic ways of thinking and acting”
[49]—involves several short-term and long-term elements of luxury brand management. Chailan [43] has provided an overview of the main long-term activities that
luxury brands undertake to link themselves with art. Taking into consideration both
the intensity of the engagement and the time perspective of the relationship, the
author has identified four types of links: artistic mentoring, artistic collaboration,
foundations and patronage. Given their long-term nature, all these strategies fall
outside the ordinary management of luxury brands and thus represent exceptional
activities which require both managerial and financial extra-efforts. But also the most
ordinary elements of the luxury marketing mix—such as retailing, merchandising
and advertising—are actively involved in the process of artification. In this respect,
as highlighted by Joy et al. [50] through an ethnographic study about consumers’
experience in Louis Vuitton flagship stores, luxury retailing is rapidly changing by
turning stores into hybrid institutions embodying elements of both museums and art