What makes a Luxury Brand in 2025?
Introducing The Luxury MBA: Master the Art of Iconic Brand Building
Your six-week journey to uncover timeless principles to master the art of crafting a brand that captivates, inspires, and endures in an ever-changing world.
In this edition, we’re diving into the essentials of what makes a luxury brand, how the industry has shifted, and what you can do to ensure you’re building your iconic brand with a solid foundation.
NOTE: This is a taster of what’s to come for Premium Subscribers so be sure to head over to Substack to subscribe to the premium editions.
In this Edition:
- What Makes a Brand Luxury in 2025?
- Behind the Brand: Loro Piana, Chanel, and Ferragamo
- The Framework: Define Your Unique Luxury DNA (inc. AI Prompts for Premium subscribers on Substack)
- Introducing Luxury OS: the Mindset Shifts required to build a timeless luxury brand.
- Behind the Scenes: Building a luxury brand with Carolynne Alexander
Week 1: What Makes a Brand Luxury in 2025?
Redefining Luxury for 2025: Craftsmanship, Rarity, and Emotional Connection in the Modern Era.
Luxury is not about logos, price tags, or adding more features—it’s about an uncompromising commitment to rarity, self-expression, craftsmanship, and emotional resonance. In 2025, true luxury brands will transcend fleeting TikTok trends to deliver depth (something we all crave right now), creating a connection so strong it feels like belonging to an exclusive world that you have created and invited them into.
Modern luxury is evolving, and today, we’ll uncover how you can redefine your brand to resonate with these deeper values—because exclusivity isn’t about exclusion; it’s about inclusion for the discerning few who truly get it.
Behind the Brand: Loro Piana, Chanel, and Ferragamo
Loro Piana: The Quiet Power of Understated Luxury
Loro Piana epitomises the art of subtlety and obsession. With fibres so rare they rival gold (hello, vicuña and baby cashmere), they craft products that whisper luxury to those who value quality over clout.
And not just cashmere—baby cashmere. Only 30 grams of the baby-fine fibre are produced per animal, eventually woven into a scarf or sweater. With the price, craft, and rarity, it makes sense for them to create timeless designs instead of following surface trends. They know their customer desires something that can be worn again and again without tiring of it.
Loro Piana is a prime example of the Neo Luxury Era we are moving into.
How to Apply This to Your Brand:
- Lead with Quality: Customers will pay a premium for perfection. Prioritise your materials, processes, or service over mass appeal. If it takes longer to produce a product, let them know—and explain why. Holding your standards shows you understand their desire for perfection.
- Keep It Quiet: Loud isn’t always luxurious. Build intrigue with minimal branding and let your product speak for itself. Avoid adding more features and benefits—focus on less. Premium products sell on figures and data, whereas luxury sells because of an unrivalled experience.
- Tell the Origin Story: Loro Piana’s commitment to sourcing rare fibres adds a sense of discovery that makes their products irresistible. Share not just the story of how you came to do what you do but also your constant obsession with your craft. What are you obsessed about today? Let people know.
Key Takeaway: Luxury isn’t about logos or mass appeal—it’s about creating an intimate connection with the few who value quality, rarity, and timelessness.
Read more: Loro Piana Baby Cashmere
Chanel: Balancing Legacy and Innovation
Why Chanel Stands Out: Chanel masterfully blends its heritage with innovation, exploring the metaverse to engage younger, tech-savvy consumers. While rooted in its iconic legacy (e.g., Chanel No. 5 and tweed suits), the brand evolves by adopting cutting-edge technology and storytelling techniques. The history page on their website perfectly combines tech, history, and storytelling.
How to Apply This to Your Brand:
- Guard Your Heritage: Your history, ethos, values or unique strengths should remain unshaken. What are you known for? What’s the first thing people say about your brand? That is your heritage. Even if you’re a new brand, your position in people’s minds is your history.
A Brand is a Memory.
2. Innovate to Attract: From digital experiences to new materials, find ways to modernise your offering without compromising its essence. Embrace your curiosity—if AI doesn’t fit, say you’re a “human-only” brand. If AI helps create more innovation, celebrate it. There are no wrong answers, only what works for you.
Key Takeaway: Legacy brands remain relevant by honouring tradition while embracing modern trends like digital luxury.
Ask: How can I integrate innovation into my brand while staying true to its roots? Follow your curiosity.
Ferragamo: Sustainability Meets Craftsmanship
Why Ferragamo Stands Out: Ferragamo’s innovative eco-luxury footwear, crafted from sustainable materials like Orange Fibre (made from citrus by-products), perfectly fuses traditional Italian craftsmanship with environmental responsibility which consumers are now demanding more of.
Read more: Ferragamo Orange Fibre Collection
How to Apply This to Your Brand:
- True Luxury Isn’t Just Aesthetic: Sustainability can elevate your brand’s desirability by appealing to eco-conscious luxury buyers. If you’re not a product business, choose an eco-conscious hosting service for website or donate 1% of profits to a sustainability project. But do it because you care—people can tell the difference.
Ask: What story does my product’s material or process tell about its/my values?
Key Takeaway: Luxury craftsmanship should embrace quality and responsibility, showing that luxury can lead in environmental and ethical innovation.
The Framework: Define Your Unique Luxury DNA
Crafting a luxury brand starts with understanding its core DNA. Use this week’s framework and AI prompts to identify your unique pillars of rarity, craftsmanship, and emotional connection.
NOTE: There are the non-AI and the AI version available on Substack. Scroll down for the AI version prompt sequence (premium subscribers only).
- Rarity: What about your offering is difficult to replicate or find elsewhere?
- Craftsmanship: What aspects of your process or execution showcase meticulous attention to detail?
- Emotional Connection: How does your product make someone feel special, empowered, or transformed?
Rarity to Retain Exclusivity
“What about my offering is difficult to replicate or find elsewhere? What do we do that’s unique?”
Like Ferragamo’s exclusive use of Orange Fiber, consider what rare materials or processes your brand can embrace.
Example: Limited production runs, bespoke processes, or rare materials.
Craftsmanship:
“What aspects of my process or execution showcase meticulous attention to detail?”
Chanel’s focus on quality and detail across generations showcases how impeccable craftsmanship builds trust and loyalty.
Example: A signature technique, decades of expertise, or your unique story.
Emotional Connection:
Prompt: “How does my product make someone feel special, empowered, or transformed?”
Chanel and Ferragamo both tie their innovations (digital and sustainable, respectively) to powerful emotional narratives of progress, care, and leadership. Whereas the wearer of a Loro Piana jumper has the intimate experience of the feeling of sensual luxury.
Example: The intimate, personal feeling of experiencing Loro Piana—luxury that whispers, not shouts.
Deliverable: Write a one-sentence statement that captures your brand’s DNA. For example:
“Our brand delivers rarity through limited-edition designs, craftsmanship through hand-finished details, and emotional connection by empowering our customers to embrace their individuality.”
AI Prompts
If you have been using AI to help define and build you brand then you can use the following prompt sequence to help define your Luxury DNA.
Open a new chat and ensure that memory is turned on so it has reference to your previous chats. Also, if you have any branding guidelines, upload the files for AI to reference also.
Step 1: Establish Context
Prompt:
I’m building a luxury brand and want to define its DNA. Out of everything you know about [insert brand name], what are some unique qualities or characteristics that stand out?
Outcome: This primes the AI with general insights about the brand’s unique attributes. Users can provide more details to make the response tailored.
Step 2: Dive into Rarity
Let’s explore rarity in my brand. Based on the industry, materials, processes, or positioning, what could make my offering difficult to replicate or find elsewhere? Can you suggest ideas inspired by examples like Ferragamo’s Orange Fiber or limited-edition runs?
Follow-up Prompt (if stuck):
What is one aspect of my product or service that could benefit from exclusivity? How can rarity elevate my brand?
Outcome: Generates concrete ideas for how their brand could stand out through exclusivity.
Step 3: Uncover Craftsmanship
Prompt:
Now, let’s explore craftsmanship. Based on what you know about my product, service, or process, what aspects showcase meticulous attention to detail or exceptional quality? Are there unique techniques or stories that could highlight this craftsmanship?
Follow-up Prompt:
How might my craftsmanship create a lasting impression, similar to how Chanel focuses on generational quality?
Outcome: Identifies elements of the brand’s process or execution that elevate it through expertise, quality, or storytelling.
Step 4: Build Emotional Connection
Prompt:
Finally, let’s explore emotional connection. How does my product or service make someone feel special, empowered, or transformed? Could it evoke intimacy like Loro Piana, innovation like Chanel, or care like Ferragamo’s sustainability efforts?
Follow-up Prompt:
What emotional transformation does my brand promise, and how can that be tied to luxury?
Outcome: Pinpoints the emotional experience or transformation the brand offers, helping users articulate their connection to the customer.
Step 5: Refine the Statement
Prompt:
Based on the rarity, craftsmanship, and emotional connection we’ve explored, can you help me draft a one-sentence statement that captures my Luxury DNA? An example might be:‘Our brand delivers rarity through [X], craftsmanship through [Y], and emotional connection by [Z].’
Follow-up Prompt:
Can you suggest variations of this statement that sound even more elegant, aspirational, or luxurious?
Outcome: Creates a polished, aspirational statement summarising the brand’s essence.
Optional Enhancements
If you can’t get what you need, try these extra prompts:
How could my Luxury DNA align with modern trends like sustainability or technology?
Can you help me refine this statement to make it more concise or visually impactful for marketing purposes?
What storytelling examples could amplify my Luxury DNA in marketing campaigns?
Introducing Luxury OS: the Mindset Shifts required to build a timeless luxury brand.
Over the next six weeks, I’ll be sharing the mindset upgrades and mental models you need to make the vital decisions in building your iconic brand.
Mindset Shift
From: “Luxury is about high prices and flashy branding.”
To: “Luxury is about depth, substance, and mastery.”
Why This Matters: True luxury brands focus on intrinsic value—uncompromising quality, scarce materials, and a narrative that connects deeply with the customer. Adopting this mindset helps you think beyond the surface and craft a brand that feels genuinely luxurious.
Think about it like this – premium brands add more features, luxury brands enhance the value of the product. Eg. Premium car brands (and their buyers) want more for their money. Optional extras are where most car brands make their money. But luxury car brands go deeper into the craft. No one needs a starlight roof in their Rolls-Royce but wow, when you see one and experience it, you want one.
The Muse’s Notes – Behind the scenes of building a luxury brand
When I first started building my brand (to be released early 2025), I thought luxury meant more. More features, more things it can do, a bigger range of products. Over time, I realised it’s about essence. Luxury isn’t for everyone… and that’s the point!
→ If I was to create just ONE product (a hero product), what would it be like without thinking of cost to create, produce and take to market? What would a £1,000 version of my product be like? What would it feel like if I created a product for £10 and stocked in Costco? Play with the ideas and feel what is aligned to you.
Crafting a truly aspirational brand means rejecting mediocrity at every turn and doing the work on myself to create a category defining brand. I have to be bold enough to say, ‘This is who we are, and it’s not for everyone.’ That kind of clarity attracts your ideal customer and creates a brand that lasts.
This week, as you reflect on your brand’s DNA, I challenge you to ask: What can you strip away? What values define your essence? That’s where luxury lives.
What’s Next?
Next week, we’ll dive into the art of storytelling and how to create a magnetic narrative that resonates deeply with your audience.
To uncover where your brand currently stands and gain personalised insights, take the Luxury Report Quiz today. Let it guide you towards building a truly iconic brand that stands the test of time.
First published on Substack by Carolynne Alexander, Luxury Strategist.
