Luxury in the Age of Technology

Luxury in the Age of Technology – On Line

In Collaboration with Politecnico di Milano

26, 27 & 28 May 2021

Click for Call for Papers

The 2021 ‘In Pursuit of Luxury’ conference continues to provide a platform to expand our understanding of luxury. As with our previous three conferences we look forward to welcoming contributions from various disciplines and practices, across the academic and commercial sectors, including automotive, architecture, engineering, fashion, product, digital design, retail, and hospitality. Our aim is to explore all of these subject areas through a critical lens, to encourage debate about changing notions of luxury.

The conference will take technology as its focal point, and will look to investigate how luxury is changing under the influence and impact of innovative and transformative technologies of production, distribution and experience. In addition, the conference will continue to explore how democratised (mass) luxury commodities ask us to reconsider our definitions of luxury, as well as the importance and ethics of embedding sustainable/circular practices of luxury, at the points of manufacturing, distribution and consumption. Finally, when we say ‘innovative’, what, exactly do we mean within the luxury context? 

The 2021 IPOL conference will be held in collaboration with FiP – Fashion in Process, research laboratory at Design Department – Politecnico di Milano / co-chaired by Associate Professor, Dr Chiara Colombi

Our key questions for IPOL 2021 are:

• How is the luxury market changing? 
• How is technology impacting on this change? 
• How are luxury corporations adopting technology? 
• How can innovation and technology play a strategic role in implementing a circular economic model? 
• What is innovation?
• Why innovate? 

Our four themes are:

Luxury and Technology

This theme addresses technologies which impact on luxury, in terms of adoption, data acquisition, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), and social media.

Luxury and Innovation

How does innovation affect/impact/alter our experience and understanding of what constitutes luxury, including changes to the retail environment (physical and online), new forms of communication, branding, manufacture, materials, and craftsmanship.

Democratised Luxury

Consideration of democratised luxury will include collaboration, supply chain, branding, the retail environment.

Luxury and the Circular Economy

Issues of social responsibility will inform this theme, including materials, distribution, manufacture, and the ethics and practices of sustainable luxury.