CoCo Chanel’s Definition Of Luxury (Steal This)

CoCo Chanel defined luxury like this:

Luxury is a necessity that begins where necessity ends. 

If you want to make luxury, make sure you’re on the right side of the necessity line. 

And if you want to make premium, know where the luxury line is and see how close you can get. 

And if you want to make average or mediocre (no shame!), be sure you aren’t competing with premium. 

Lastly, if you want to make a commodity, stay away from even the mediocre and focus on pure, basic necessity.

All products and services exist somewhere on these continuums. It’s useful to think about the extremes even if we don’t occupy them (!!!) to narrow in on what we do. 

Bonus: sometimes you look back at something you wrote several years ago and think, “I was kinda onto something here.” Here’s an old essay on “Choice.” Oh, and that Chanel quote comes from the Acquired LVMH podcast episode highlighted here.