Introduction

Research about luxury constantly reinvents the concept of luxury and what it is and what it is about. So is the moral perception about luxury, particularly as old-fashioned definitions do not hold anymore, such as the distinction of necessity goods and luxury goods, or the economic definition of increased demand depending on income rise. More sociological definitions link luxury to different societal “codes” and communication to form identity. Luxury thus contributes to social distinction in postmodern societies – and therefore goes back to the landmark theory of luxury from Thorstein Veblen (1899) on conspicuous consumption in his “theory of the leisure class.”