The Hublot boutique in the IFC Mall, Hong Kong
Jean-Claude Biver was celebrated as the saviour of the luxury mechanical watch industry when it was threatened 40 years ago with virtual annihilation by the rise of battery-powered watches. Now head of watches at the world?s biggest luxury group, he explains how the melding of high and low culture is the best chance of the industry?s survival for the next decades.
Jean Claude Biver
The promotion of luxury goods using so-called low culture is a relatively new development. Nobody could have imagined this in the past. Fifty years ago, nobody would have believed that football could be an appropriate arena for luxury. And in some parts of the world it remains so; for example, in China, sport is still not considered a part of luxury. It is only recently, under the initiative of President Xi Jinping, that entrepreneurs are being encouraged to invest in sport. This change towards the popularisation of luxury culture is not just in my sector, that of watches, it is across the luxury industry in general. Years ago, who would ever have conceived of jeans selling for more than $100" We have seen it in fashion, which is taking a lot of inspiration from the street, and in music. Look at rappers, with music coming from the street. Today, we really have a mash-up: luxury went down to the street, and street goes up to luxury. It?s like a shaker. Everything was previously stratified into classes but now they are being all mixed up and ever...