Why does luxury brand Balenciaga sell a $2,000 purse modeled after a $1 blue Ikea shopping bag? What’s behind the craze for seemingly distressed and worn-out Gucci sneakers? What is Sarah Jessica Parker doing rummaging through the dusty clothes in Rome’s Via Sannio flea market? Why is Cracco, a Michelin star–winning Italian chef, using commercial potato chips in his dishes?
The Mystery of the $2,000 Ikea Shopping Bag
Why does luxury brand Balenciaga sell a $2,000 purse modeled after a $1 blue Ikea shopping bag?What’s behind the craze for seemingly distressed and worn-out Gucci sneakers? We tend to think of status symbols starting at the top tiers of society (among the glitterati and trend setters of high society) and then trickling down to the rest of society. But a new trend seems to contradict this pattern. Instead of adopting a new luxury product or embracing fresh high-end tastes, an increasing number of prestigious brands and celebrities are adopting lower-end fashions and items (e.g., duct-taped shoes, plastic shopping bags, street food). Intrigued by these puzzling examples, we decided to adopt a signaling perspective (that is, to understand how consumers use products and brands to signal who they are) to try to make sense of this phenomenon. Instead of trickling-down, we propose that these peculiar status signals travel in a different direction, trickling-round from the bottom straight to the top, bypassing the middle. Duct-taped sneakers or potato chips are downscale, but it is not as though they were omnipresent in mainstream stores or in middle-tier restaurants before luxury brands or Chef Cracco adopted them. Thus, instead of percolating through the middle, some signals seem to leapfrog directly from low to high. As traditional luxury goods, such as the iconic Louis Vuitton monogram bags or Chanel number 5, have become more widespread and attainable than in the past, the wealthy need alternative ways to signal their prestige and power. In this context, elites can experiment with lowbrow culture and downscale tastes without fear of losing status, while middle class individuals, whose position is more tenuous, stick to clear-cut status symbols.