Throwing light on the heights of brand fascination

05 August 2013 - 03:30 By Simon Shear
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Khanyi Dhlomo in her shop, Luminance, for which the National Empowerment Fund loaned her R34-million
Khanyi Dhlomo in her shop, Luminance, for which the National Empowerment Fund loaned her R34-million
Image: SIMPHIWE NKWALI

The Luminance hype machine had Johannesburg's fashion lovers in a frenzy over all the brands they could now theoretically buy. Never "clothes", occasionally "fashion", and always "brands".

Why not take this fascination with acquisition and wealth to its logical conclusion and buy equity in fashion houses? Stock certificates can be flaunted at dinner parties for maximum impact.

Sadly, a visit to Khanyi Dhlomo's new luxury boutique in Hyde Park offered no easy rewards for cynicism. The selection is very good and well arrayed. A flash inspection revealed a generous selection of Comme des Garçons fragrances, which is indisputably a good thing, an exquisitely garish Balenciaga leather jacket, and a fun, pleasantly undemanding Marc Jacobs dress. That dress, a steal at R52000, cannot be recommended, as there were four of them, and for people who want to dress like other people, there is Mr Price.

There's also an enclave for refreshments, where some shelves comprise the homeware section. There are separate sections for bags, shoes and accessories. It's a grand department store in miniature, like a Qatari princess's dollhouse.

The Luminance website lists among its brands Oscar de la Renta Children, Chloé Kids and Baby Dior. This feels like an arbitrary place to stop. No Donna Karan Dachshund? Spanx for your Manx? (Is there anything more déclassé than a tubby cat?) At least middle-class parents no longer have to enculturate their children with boring classical music. We have finally reached the era in which sophistication is acquired through good tailoring and learning very young to stomach raw fish.

Free markets encourage us to sublimate our lust for power into endless cycles of consumption. This can be a relief in an uncertain democracy. At the height of one young politician's influence, the magnitude of his indecency was tied to the circumference of his Breitling.

We can be reassured that small-time government flunkies aspire to a new BMW rather than a seat on the regional branch of an un-South African activities committee. But while these diversions can protect ordinary people, they tend also to inoculate authority from meaningful dissent. The Twitter commentariat has pointed out, fairly enough, that the natural adjunct of the democratisation of wealth is the democratisation of the right to flaunt your wealth.

The risk is that we start to believe that shopping is a substantial, rather than a dimly symbolic political act.

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