Exploring Hong Kong is one of the most sensory explosive activities available to an human being. Since my job hasn’t started yet I’ve taken the opportunity, before I get tied up, to soak up as much of the city as possible via my favourite mode of transport, the feet. To be honest you can’t walk too far before you melt in a bucket of sweat and you’ll most probably find yourself walking briskly between the entrances of shops, just to catch the remnants of the air con blasting out the door that feels like rush of pure air sent from heaven. During our many trips back a forth around the small inland section of Kowloon, we started passing the real heavies in the retail and fashion world. Gucci floated past, Dolce and Gabbana, Prada, each one wafting out a rush of cold air like they were competing with each other. Who ever has the coolest air con, is the most high class and in fashion retail outlet. It’s when we reached Louis Vuitton that I noticed it was the only store that had a queue outside it, with a bouncer, dressed in smart black suit with the obligatory black ear piece, letting people into the store. It was a strict one in, one out policy. One peak through the heavy glass doors revealed a ram packed shop floor, mostly local Hong Kong Chinese, inspecting bags, trying them on, pointing at different styles all in a minimalist store cabinet with large glass dividers, cutting off the people from the merchandise itself. I turned to my friend and ask, “Why is there a queue outside Louis Vuitton?”. He simply turned around, waited a while and replied, “Well, it’s in fashion isn’t it, it’s trendy….”
Personally I don’t see what all the fuss about Louis Vuitton bags are about, and the brand itself doesn’t appeal to me, so how come in a land where you can pick visually exact replicas, do the people crave the brand? Well if anything the copying of the bags and their subsequent popularity on all the street markets of all the major cities in the world has majorly increased interest in the brand itself, so the official shop fronts are treated almost as museums. And Louis Vuitton knows this. Obviously, you would cry, it’s a marketing trick to create a sight for other people walking by, like a form of free advertising. You see the queue, therefore you are interested in seeing what it’s all about, thats it, thats all they want to do at the end of the day. Yet, why do people end up queuing for hours, and fill up the store, just to look at the bags in the flesh? I wonder if this mass popularity might not destroy the meaning of the Vuitton brand, almost de-valuing it, or dare I say it, bringing it down to the level of lowly, unfashionable retailers. I’m being sarcastic of course, but how long can Vuitton remain a symbol of status to people if the popularity of the brand and sales of cheap copies increase? I’ll be interested to see how it’s brand association changes from what it is and was.