CREATIVE DIRECTOR (ART) – UK & EU BASED, AVAILABLE GLOBALLY
Why luxury loves imperfection
& why we are all here for it
With the surge of democratisation amongst luxury goods and the luxury industry, it is no surprise that more often on every collection and season after season we witness an appeal from brands towards imperfection. Specifically in luxury fashion, imperfection is being adopted not as a failure - but as a language.
Not just a flaw, but a calculated rejection.
A signifier that communicates emotional depth, cultural intelligence and aesthetic confidence.
Socially we bear too many negative connotations towards the word “imperfection” when this doesn’t necessarily mean lack of perfection or pursuing unintentional decisions.
It is nevertheless a pursuit to abandon pristine finishes - and honour coded vulnerability.
Luxury is using imperfection to subvert expectations, to turn “flaws” into ways to define identity, status or unique taste.
The appeal for imperfection pulls from the Japanese aesthetic and philosophical concept of wabi-sabi; it translates to the understated beauty and elegance in effortless simplicity (wabi) and the appreciation for the passage of time (sabi).
It values the subtle, emotional and cultural essence of things and it has been adopted by brands to reflect the quiet, slow and symbolic side of luxury.
It isn’t about unpleasant or random imperfection, but about finding emotional beauty even in the unfinished or raw.
Similarly in Western avantgarde, particularly from the 80s onwards, fashion brands such as Margiela, Demeulemeester, Lang or Vivienne Westwood brought a radical, rebellious approach to imperfection.
Imperfection here is presented as a form of cultural defiance and as a way to challenge the established, bourgeois polish that the industry had carried through centuries.
A very intended decision to make luxury appear unmade and raw.
A very deliberate imperfection that made you feel, not just long for.
These concepts define key shifts in the luxury perception towards imperfection - from exclusivity to emotional resonance, from polished to vulnerable and raw, and from acquiring to feeling.
So why now can we find it so often? And see brands like Loewe, Miumiu, Acne Studios, Eckhaus Latta, Merit or Balenciaga embracing it launch after launch.
Perfection is all we knew and aimed for, for years.
Everything became too smooth, too staged and too flawless - and naturally we started to read it as cold, distant and artificial.
In parallel, we have had the surge of AI generated content - which regardless of how impressive or resourceful it may be, the human eye can still instinctively tell when something is too symmetrical or perfect.
As a result, luxury brands, which traditionally market through aspiration and connection, have had to adapt.
Brands in the luxury sector have had to shift their perception and representation towards perfection and embrace a counter-performance realness.
Still curated, but conceived to evoke their most primary values and personality. They are no longer chasing flawlessness but embracing individuality, narrative and humanity.
The road towards imperfection isn’t an easy one to drive on for all brands. Luxury’s appeal towards imperfection can easily become a “simulation of realness” if not done correctly. A staging of reality that feels more real than reality as it taps into our longing for truth and originality.
If not considered through a holistic approach, luxury brands will be stuck creating hyperreal simulations of rawness. Perfect representations of imperfection that will become yet another trend, and temporary. Only those open and able to weave imperfection into their identity, not only seasonal visuals or messaging, will create lasting emotional spaces beyond performance.
We are shifting our perception of value towards authenticity and rawness. We no longer value just price, name or polished finishes - but stories that make us feel something. We crave brands that feel human, intimate and emotionally aware.
Anyone can copy clean, minimal or premium visuals.
Luxury embracing imperfection is a memorable distinction point driving a “new” market of trust and taste. A turn towards emotion and individuality. And that’s what will always stick with audiences.
