Living It Up: Our Love Affair with Luxury
by Twitchell, James B
- Used
- Very Good
- Hardcover
- Condition
- Very Good
- ISBN 10
- 0231124961
- ISBN 13
- 9780231124966
- Seller
-
Seattle, Washington, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Synopsis
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 luxury.
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Details
- Bookseller
- ThriftBooks (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- G0231124961I4N00
- Title
- Living It Up: Our Love Affair with Luxury
- Author
- Twitchell, James B
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Very Good
- Quantity Available
- 1
- ISBN 10
- 0231124961
- ISBN 13
- 9780231124966
- Publisher
- Columbia University Press
- Place of Publication
- Jackson, Tennessee, U.s.a.
- Date Published
- 2002
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- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...