From artistry to political economy, philosophers of Ancient Greece already discussed the meanings and ramifications of the idea of luxury (Berry, 1994). Over the last several decades, the luxury industry has morphed into a global market, one of the most valuable sectors in France, and an important sector in Europe. Nevertheless, based on aesthetic values of artistic directors, this sector has been difficult to map network effects, to quantify relevant signals, and understand optimal strategies. For many years, economists, theorists and scholars have been passionate about the pricing of luxury goods based on scarcity (Smith, 1776), on the mechanism of value according to wealthy buyers (Ricardo, 1817) (Marshall, 1890), on the social aspect of consuming luxury goods (Veblen, 1899), and on the psychological effects such as the scarcity principle, formalized in the "Commodity theory" (Brock, 1968). The economic theory of "Design Innovation and Fashion cycles" (Pesendorfer, 1995) and the response "Fashion Cycles in Economics" (Coelho et al., 2004) brings those observations to the economic field by quantifying the complex buyer interactions and the importance of branding, over the quality of raw materials, or craftsmanship. Similarly, in the socioeconomic sphere, Jean Baudrillard explained that in postindustrial societies "Sign value" (Baudrillard, 1968) has surpassed the other economic values based on production cost, and pure market value. To understand the value of luxury goods from a consumer perspective in 2024, "the Distinction" (Bourdieu, 1979), the sociology research on the cartography of social structure to understand logic of taste are no longer relevant due to the complexity of modern consumer paths, with the power of network effects with social media platforms (Rohlfs, 1974), the digital identity at the age of hyperreality (Baurdillard, 1981), and the luxury goods, as an asset class for investment strategy.

Like it or not, artificial intelligence (AI) is going to take over the luxury industry, and some brands are already using AI in some of their new digital marketing campaigns. Brands need to anticipate this revolution and adapt their strategies as soon as possible, because the industry will crown winners and losers as quickly as the technology grows. But AI is not simply a yellow brick road to financial success. There will be some key challenges for companies wanting to use AI, specifically ones that threaten the way they've been doing business for decades. CHALLENGE #1 – Artificial intelligence could be an "emotion killer" Emotions play an essential role in luxury buying.