Sufficient Desire: The Discourse of Sustainable Luxury

Abstract

Luxury and sustainable fashion goods are like any consumer product; they are material culture, laden with meaning beyond their utility. The value of a fashion good-whether luxurious, sustainable, or both-is largely symbolic rather than economic (Crane & Bovone in Poetics 34: 319-333, 2006), though the economic value allows for a greater distinction between levels of goods. Consumers utilize these embedded values to make their personal values visible to themselves and others. Utilizing discourse analysis, we offer here an explication of the separate yet interlacing domains of 'luxury' and 'sustainability.' This is an attempt to locate, if only briefly, the shifting domains of these oft-employed concepts. Stella McCartney, Eileen Fisher, and Brunello Cucinelli served as case studies for this analysis due to their general ascension as preeminent sustainable luxury fashion brands. Central to this success has been their ability to use discursive practices that effectively communicate their company ethos. Whether that ethos is then connected to their product is questionable and will be explored here.