Writers play key role in writing about luxury

SPEAKING FROM THE HEART: Speaker Farhan Shah (right) shares with the audience how ‘luxury’ may offer many meanings to different audiences. PHOTO: SHAUNA LEA TUPAZ

What is the first thought that enters your mind when the word ‘luxury’ is mentioned? While some will associate luxury with well-known brands, the term may extend beyond consumers’ common expectations, said speakers at a panel session at the 2018 All In! Young Writers Festival.

“Luxury is an emotion,” said Farhan Shah, the editor of men’s lifestyle magazine AUGUSTMAN (Singapore). This may certainly be true for some consumers as the thought of owning a branded bag may elicit excitement or other feelings.

Television host Angelique N Teo, who also spoke at the Luxury Writing: Of Brands and Writing panel session, felt luxury could be “very subjective” among different people and could be “an experience or a thing that may not necessarily be very expensive”.

“Luxury is also about getting more free time to yourself,” she said.

Both Angelique and Farhan were among a crowd of 600 over delegates, speakers and partners who attended this year’s All In!. Held at Scape between March 16 and 18, the three-day Festival marked the event’s 10th anniversary.

As luxury could also mean rare and authentic experiences that one cannot get anywhere else, Angelique felt that writers play an important role to transport the reader and create vivid images. “It’s about bringing your readers to the here and now, the goal is to be descriptive and accurate,” she said.

Springer Nature editor Alex Campbell, the panel discussion’s moderator, wondered about the role press releases and editorials play in writing about luxury.

While Farhan said his responsibility is to his reader and a writer should always place the reader at the centre of a piece, Angelique felt experiencing a product or a place may provide insights that a press release may not be able to say.

Angelique offered a piece of advice to aspiring writers. “Whatever you write about, passion is the key,” she said. “You need to be passionate and extremely knowledgeable about your topic, whatever that may be.”

This news story was written by Shauna Lea Tupaz, a Diploma in Mass Communication student at Republic Polytechnic