Gucci Group makes "Home" run - Luxury Cult

Gucci Group makes "Home" run

Radha Chadha - Monday, June 08, 2009 9:32 PM

Grand Prismatic 

If Al Gore’s film “An Inconvenient Truth” was a shrill alarm bell, Yann Arthus-Bertrand’s “Home” is a lilting visual symphony.  If Gore uses reason – shocking facts, figures, pictures – to convince us of the desperate state of our planet, the French photographer Arthus-Bertrand seduces you with the sheer beauty of our shared “home”.  Stirring, surreal, sci-fi-ish, its like a series of abstract artworks unfolding, the entire film shot solely from the sky.  Is this a new genre of art: Eco-art?  And will these stunning eco-scapes of the earth hemorrhaging persuade our over-consuming minds to change?

 “Home” premiered all over the world on 5 June, World Environment Day, screened in over 50 countries – I saw it at the French Embassy in New Delhi – as also on YouTube, TV and DVD.  All for free.

And that’s where the luxury connection comes in.  PPR, the parent company of Gucci Group has sponsored the film.  That is very commendable, indeed.

 Watch a trailer of "Home" here.

Watch the entire film here.  (You may as well get yourself a glass of wine and some popcorn, this is going to take 90 minutes.)

There’s a series of products designed by Gucci Group brands - Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Sergio Rossi (check out the heel of the Eco Pump, it is really cool) Alexander McQueen, Boucheron - to coincide with the event...see a selection on the Wallpaper site.

But the film raises a fundamental question that the luxury industry – and all of us – need to think about.  This is a business that functions on the twin logic of seasonal obsolescence and over-consumption - where you are encouraged to discard "last season" products (as any self-respecting fashionista will tell you) in favor of what's in this season.  You might have a wardrobe chock-a-block with "stuff" but with each new season you head out to buy "more stuff".  So how does an industry that wants you to consume "more" square off with an earth that wants you to consume "less"?

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2 Comment

From Sameer

June 9, 2009 12:15 AM
Cool! Have put the movie on my Netflix list. Yes, luxury, as many other high consumption fields, may be looking for reinterpretation, for a new value model. I have always wondered why we need a new cellphone model every few months and a new car every year, which still turns out to be buggy, ugly, and not an improvement over the last iteration. Luxury products have generally not suffered from such complaints. But if all consumption is to be slowed down, and the true costs attributed to product development, disposal, and environmental mitigation, does that mean luxury products will get even more expensive? Will tangible value-setting parameters like skill, quality, and customization make a comeback as compared to buzz and hype?

From Gucci Group makes "Home" run - Luxury Cult

June 9, 2009 3:59 AM

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