Living It Up: America's Love Affair with Luxury (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780743245067)

Luxury isn't just for the rich, says James B. Twitchell. Today you don't need a six-figure income to wear pashmina, drink a limited-edition coffee at Starbucks, or drive a Mercedes home to collapse on the couch in front of a flat-screen plasma TV. In Living It Up, sharp-eyed consumer anthropologist Twitchell takes a witty and insightful look at luxury -- what it is, who defines it, and why we can't seem to get enough of it.
In recent years, says Twitchell, luxury spending has grown much faster than overall spending -- and it continues to grow despite the economic recession. Luxury has become such a powerful marketing force that it cuts across every layer of society, spawning a magazine devoted to spas, cashmere bedspreads on sale at Kmart, and a dazzling array of bottled waters.
Twitchell says that the democratization of luxury has had a unifying effect on culture. Luxury items tell a story that we want to identify with, and more people than ever aspire to the story of Ralph Lauren's Polo or Patek Philippe. Shopping itself is no longer a chore but a transcendent experience in which we shop not so much for goods as for an identity.
Sharply observed and wickedly funny, Living It Up is a revealing and entertaining examination of why we are all part of the cult of luxur

Author: James B. Twitchell
ISBN-10: 0743245067
ISBN-13: 9780743245067
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Language: English
Published: 07/02/2003
Pages: 320
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.77lbs
Size: 8.44h x 5.54w x 0.78d

Review Citation(s):
Business Week 06/30/2003 pg. 22
Atlantic Monthly 12/01/2003 pg. 126