Notice how everything is luxurious and premium these days? I'm overgeneralising, but a significant number of brands, products and services aspire to reach this high-end land by jumping on a bullet train of rising prices. The polyester dress displayed in a boutique the size of a closet in Zagreb city centre is waiting to be sold for more than €500. All over the Croatian coast there are hospitality facilities selling "luxurious stays" while their furniture is as plain as their breakfast. Restaurants are serving "haute cuisine" while the only thing that's high is the Metro supermarket shelf from which their ingredients are taken.

The economic situation that's making our regular grocery shopping a dreadful experience isn't only about inflation, but about a cultural shift in how we perceive value. Just as the working/middle class is slowly vanishing, the same is happening with moderately priced brands, or simply "good quality" brands. What's noticeable is the rise of either budget brands or fake-luxury brands. The latter are simply mediocre products dressed in a delusional exclusive gown.

In both my professional and private consumer experience, I've encountered many business owners confidently claiming their brands are "luxurious," "premium," "exclusive," or—worst of all—"the best." When asked how they support these claims, the answer is almost always the same: "Because we are.” Maybe some truly are, but lack clarity about their actual exclusivity. Mostly, though, they've disguised themselves with high prices and found naive customers who lack better options in limited markets.

This reminded me of Croatia Airlines. On a flight from Split to Zagreb, when the steward thanked us for flying with them, an impatient lady sitting next to me yelled back in a deep smoker voice: "We don't have any other option!” This summer, when I tried to swap my unused ticket for another flight, I called their customer support with basic questions about dates and charges. After my second question, the call center representative told me she didn't want to answer my questions—which is precisely her job. Their Google search current slogan promises to “blend modernity and tradition for your best journey." It was the best, indeed.

The real luxury exists of course, but its image is diluted and damaged by a pandemic of empty exclusivity. Whether true luxury is attainable to any of us or not, it's important to be able to recognise it—maybe not because we want to pay for it, but because we don't want to pay for what it isn’t. True luxury emerges from constraints that genuinely cannot be overcome with aggressive marketing, or uneducated debt-friendly customers.

This is where perfume ingredients become unexpectedly wise teachers. Each holds a lesson about what makes something irreplaceably valuable. Over the coming weeks, I'll explore six ingredients and the luxury principles framework in a series of articles blending business insight with perfumery curiosities. In this series, Ambergris will teach us about authentic scarcity, Orris root about importance of time investment, Rose oil will give us a stunning perspective on mastery & craftsmanship… and others about the luxury pillars that can't be faked. This isn’t a perfume education, but as a gentle reality check for anyone wondering whether their brand claims might be a bit too overpromising. Some might realise they are trotting steadily towards being a true luxury brand, while others might realise that "high quality" might be more honest and a more successful position, than hollow luxury claims.

The Principles of Luxury Intro

Gen B podcast: Psychotherapist for the brands