Deluxe

How Luxury Lost Its Luster

By: Dana Thomas

Narrated by: Dana Thomas

Once luxury was available only to the rarefied and aristocratic world of old money and royalty. It offered a history of tradition, superior quality, and a pampered buying experience. Today, however, luxury is simply a product packaged and sold by multibillion-dollar global corporations focused on growth, visibility, brand awareness, advertising, and, above all, profits.

Award-winning journalist Dana Thomas digs deep into the dark side of the luxury industry to uncover all the secrets that Prada, Gucci, and Burberry don’t want us to know. Deluxe is an uncompromising look behind the glossy façade that will enthrall anyone interested in fashion, finance, or culture.

©2007 Dana Thomas (P)2019 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Terrible narration, good info

This was almost unlistenable due to the narration. The information contained in the book is interesting and useful, but I had to finish by reading a physical copy.

Great information

A wonderful look in the world of disgusting fashion it gives everything I can to give you the best information you can possibly have

Interesting material, terrible narration

I largely enjoyed the material and the presentation of ideas. What I found extremely off-putting was the author's narration: stilted pauses in the middle of sentences, mispronounced words and garbled diction all greatly diminished my enjoyment of this audiobook.

Insightful, enjoyable, tragic in some ways

I read this book when it first came out and really enjoyed it. Dana Thomas' insight into the luxury market (of which there is little authentic luxury left) is thorough and well-researched. On a recent road trip, I decided to download the audio version and 'read' it again. This book came out before the author's book "Fashionopolis" . . . another excellent book.

I enjoyed how the author organized the book and was sorry to see it come to an end. The only criticism I have is the author should have reconsidered being the narrator. Too many times she stopped in the middle of a sentence as though she was unsure what she was reading. Did she not prepare to read her own book? It just made the audiobook version come off as a bit amatuerish.

High and low quality in the fashion industry

This book specifically has to do with the fashion industry, and if that is at all an interest to you, I would recommend this book. It is a history of why things have changed, for which she ultimately attributes to finances. What is specifically absent is information regarding luxury goods outside of fashion, although one can assume the examples the author gives can be extrapolated to a wide variety of goods. It would have also been nice to have consulted an economist, or financial expert to include their opinion on the topic.

Where the book struggles is the narration...anytime an author narrates their own book this is a red flag, and for good reason. Outside of autobiography's I almost wish Audible would ban authors from doing this. It would be akin to an author of a novel who has no acting experience demanding that they play the lead role in a movie adaption of their book instead of an A-list celebrity. Simply put, as an author you can't outperform a professional voice actor. Let them do what they're good at (voice acting), and you do what you're good at (writing the book). As for specifics, there are long gaps inbetween sentences that detract from the listening experience and break the immersion. If you try to increase the playback speed, she is hard to understand because it's not her rate of speech that is slow.