Negative Finances and the Luxury Crisis: Is It a Matter of Good Manners?

The luxury crisis can be seen on the negative balance sheets. However, there’s a sociological issue that might seem distant, yet it affects our daily lives and those who conduct themselves properly.

Gucci, Kering, LVMH: Negative Numbers but Little Weakness

Gucci’s negative performance is dragging down the other Kering brands. One year later, even LVMH showed a drop: a 1% contraction. It had been a while since LVMH presented a negative figure—though analysts expected it. The figure doesn’t indicate real suffering for the group. Other reports revealed that dividends for Arnault family members reach nearly a billion euros.

This slight decline doesn’t point to LVMH’s internal struggles but rather to a crisis engulfing the entire luxury sector, even impacting its very definition. Today, luxury is the sector accused of something petty, if not disgraceful: consumerism.

The Luxury Crisis, the Primary Question: Brand Equity, America, and China

The luxury crisis begins with a question: what sense does it make to produce synthetic, neon-colored clothing, sold perhaps for brand equity? We live in a time when global temperatures have risen to alarming levels. America faces the possibility of a reactionary president’s second term, against the hope and utopia of the first woman with African-American features. China injects less money into the market: are the Chinese buying less? Or is this a natural slowdown for a nation that remains opaque regarding human rights in its production chain? Let’s not forget how even a timid anti-money laundering law in China once led to a 20% drop for European brands that relied heavily on Asian markets.

Admiration for the Millionaire Is Gone – So Is Envy

Today, when faced with a millionaire, we no longer admire. Not even envy, which might once have been the first emotion triggered by a millionaire. Today, wealth displays evoke embarrassment. Regret and irritation. We wonder why the millionaires before us – whom we bow to in respect for their achievements (perhaps those of their fathers) – don’t want to share that success with the community they live in. Once, such thoughts were labeled communism, condemned as blasphemy. Today, it’s a matter of good manners.

The Definition of Luxury Today

Working not just to earn, but to create objective and communal value. This is the definition of luxury today, in 2024. Luxury that doesn’t align with this definition will continue to face crisis and further financial contraction. Each commercial endeavor, every communication, and every commission must convey a precise message of positive intent.

Work doesn’t elevate man’s dignity; it defines it. Franca Sozzani, who knows a bit about luxury, said: “I think it’s wonderful to leave a mark, even though the most beautiful trace you leave is with your children. But if you leave it beyond your family, then you become part of history.”

Don’t listen to those who present digital entrepreneurs with painted faces as educational role models. It seems their example holds value because their earnings are visible to others. Proper people don’t flaunt themselves (and neither do most millionaires).

Luxury Ostentation: Meta Is Built on Envy

Those who have led luxury into crisis are precisely those who flaunt it. When they share their experiences on a platform, it’s to show others how lucky they are—spending December in the Maldives, dining in Versailles, attending an Armani show in Engadin. They’re lucky to have more money to spend than we do. They also have more toned muscles than ours, sparking more sexual excitement than the person in our bed ever could.

Meta is founded on envy. Privileges once belonging to Hollywood stars, Swedish royalty, or Texan oil barons now belong to our neighbors. Yes, we knew they had a bigger bathroom than ours, but not that much bigger.

Changing Habits and the Art of Good Manners

All habits must change—and millionaires should be the first to teach us. Take the subway. Endure a few degrees of summer heat. Skip a few weekends by plane or car to read an extra book—yes, let’s all read more. Homes full of objects, packed with furniture, are no longer homes for proper people. Cleaning a house cluttered with knick-knacks takes time. Ambra Angiolini perfectly sums it up: “We must be willing to give up screwing to avoid being screwed.”

We need to buy less but better. Owning many things is no longer, if it ever was, a sign of good manners. Before buying, ask yourself where the item you’re about to purchase comes from, who worked on it, where, and how—it’s enough to consider these basic questions without too much detail, and you’ll often find that this alone will make you put it down. Giorgio Armani continues to repeat what sounds paradoxical coming from someone in his profession: “We teach our clients to buy less.” Offering clothes that are worth more, cost more, are made better, and last longer.

Flowers are no longer given as gifts—trees are. Every small gesture has value: not just parks and gardens, but terraces, balconies, entire buildings covered in plants like the Bosco Verticale (which can be criticized for its energy sustainability, but not for the message it conveys), all contribute to mitigating temperatures. It’s a scientific fact that can’t be ignored, but it’s also a logic understood by children: where there are plants, the soil heats up less than cement or bare ground. Not only should millionaires’ homes look like explosions of greenery, but so should the streets and the entire neighborhood where this millionaire resides. If the neighborhood is already more than pleasant, let’s expand it. A single embrace can bring the world closer together.

Intellectuals and Architects – Alberto Mondadori’s Villa, the Medusa, in Camaiore: Luxury in Architecture

Intellectuals aren’t capable of seeing what will happen in three years—that’s something entrepreneurs can do. Intellectuals don’t have a vision for the future, but they do have the ability to see what’s happening now. They don’t anticipate the times but are able to grasp what’s happening in the present and accelerate it. Intellectuals are curious by profession; they’re people who have turned curiosity first into a job, then into an art. When intellectuals write, they know that above all, they must be honest with themselves—and only afterward, with their readers. Why mention this? Because if you ever find these intellectuals, make sure they become your friends—there’s nothing more useful.

In these images, you’ll see a villa commissioned by Alberto Mondadori to my grandfather, architect Alberto Mazzoni, in the 1950s. The house is called the Medusa—the title of a book series. It’s located in Camaiore, in the province of Lucca, and is now owned by lawyer Umberto Nicodano. The inspiration wasn’t a trend, but an intellectual reference: Frank Lloyd Wright’s organic architecture (the master passed away in 1959). These images are digital backstage shots—taken during a shoot with analog film, which will be published in the next issue of Lampoon. Our magazine nurtures architectural research focusing on the central years of the 20th century—when architecture was more of an intellectual matter than ever.

Back then, luxury in architecture meant a commission without budget restrictions. This is where today’s luxury in crisis differs: once, luxury encouraged experimentation and risk-taking, while today it seeks to boost sales. Once, luxury was driven by business owners who could afford to take risks—today, it’s driven by managers who answer to financial charts, mere employees at risk of termination letters.

Luxury, Transparency, Traceability – Ethical Entrepreneurship and Italy

Luxury, in its positive sense, can only exist and thrive today if it carries with it a social and civic message. Transparency and traceability—which recent events have called into question for both a major Italian company and an even larger French one. Fair remuneration for those who produce, support for craftsmanship, choices of natural materials, circularity, rejection of plastic—these and similar values are the components of today’s luxury.

Today, luxury can only be produced by ethical entrepreneurship that no longer places profit as the primary goal, but the sharing of income. Today, luxury can only be narrated by information that doesn’t prioritize dissemination, but authority. This concept of luxury is the positive asset that supports and drives the mass economy—and has nothing to do with the arrogant displays produced by human misery we see behind the wheels of flashy cars. They are the first culprits of any luxury crisis.

Carlo Mazzoni