Seeking new ways to define luxury

IN the morning coffee hours, before guests began making their way to the Louis Vuitton Foundation's Frank Gehry-designed headquarters for the last hurrah of the spring 2016 collections, the fashion world received notice on Wednesday of the latest big promotion in the rarefied, high-pressure ranks of the global luxury market. Demna Gvasalia was appointed artistic director of Balenciaga, filling the position vacated by Alexander Wang last week. He will present his first collection in March.

So it was that yet another designer has been tasked with figuring out how to keep US$2,000 handbags and US$3,000 dresses relevant in a world of consumers who are increasingly enamoured with sweatpants, rare sneakers and high-tech gadgetry. This is the question - both practical and existential - that has simmered as designers have spent the past nine days debuting their spring collections.

They have proposed an array of answers: Elevate the banal. Buy designer track pants! Reinvent a sweatshirt. Spin it around and now it's a hoodie! Get customers drunk on undiluted beauty. You are an ancient Huguenot princess enrobed in ruffles! Take us on a futuristic dream. You are your own avatar in a virtual reality video game!