And now, super luxury!

The Spectator

With Lamborghini’s showroom opening soon in Mumbai, is there any doubt that things are hotting up in the super luxury bracket? There’s some serious money in the air — and it’s speaking loud and clear. For instance, it’s not enough to own a Louis Vuitton these days ( I counted seven at my salon one evening) — at fifty thousand a pop that’s ordinary. Antiques, limited editions and one-offs are what the high-rollers will be sporting on their backs and wrists to separate themselves from the hoi polloi.

With the economy spiraling upwards it’s almost scary to watch how people’s lifestyles and spending power are going through the roof.

Almost every one I know has just bought their second home — or is spending some serious money redecorating their old one. Architects and decorators I’ve spoken to say they’ve never been so busy; ditto manufacturers of home décor and lifestyle accessories.

Not a day passes without some major luxury brand opening its dukan in Mumbai with the requisite wine and cheese or champagne and canapés bash. So ubiquitous are these openings that an enterprising businessmen says he’s going to provide a thousand people bone china, silver and crystal dinner and drinks service free to preferred clients! “Anywhere they need to throw a party we’ll just send our boys and truck across,” he said looking a little disdainfully at the ordinary wine glass in his hand at one such luxury brand opening.

Also the appetite for international cuisines appears to be a bottomless pit. Indians are quaffing wines in hitherto unimaginable quantities, and sipping single malts and cognacs and puffing on very large and expensive cigars like it was going out of style.

It’s not unheard of these days to run up dinner tabs of twenty grand for two couples on a night out, and half that amount is almost de rigueur for a certain set in Mumbai. Catering to this insatiable hunger for exotic and ever new foods and drinks — tables at parties are groaning with every kind of expensive, exotic gourmet luxury goodie that can be ingested.

Nowhere has this bid for super luxury become more apparent than in the beauty and spa business. Today, getting a world class Thai Indonesian Swedish massage in your own neighborhood at a well-appointed spa has stopped being regarded as a luxury but in fact a necessity. Women who until now thought themselves pampered for getting their manicures and blow dries, now consider those the bare essentials on the road to wellness. No doubt about it, it’s a great time to live in Mumbai. If you’re a millionaire that is!

s_malavika@dnaindia.net