Apple is diving into the luxury market for the first time ever with the exorbitantly expensive gold Apple Watch Edition. The pricey new timepiece has been met with criticism from Apple fans and haters a like, but according to Condé Nast, Apple is now a powerful player in the luxury industry and wants Jony Ive and Marc Newson to tell them all about it.
Jony Ive and Marc Newson will open the first ever Conde Nast Luxury Conference in Florence Italy in April 2015. The design duo will appear with event host, Vogue International editor Suzy Menkes, to discuss “21st century definition of luxury and their collaborative work to date.”
“Apple is now a powerful part of the luxury industry,” Menkes said today. “The iPhone, iPad, and the forthcoming Apple Watch are in direct competition with handbags, timepieces and high-end accessories. I want Jony Ive to tell the conference delegates where 21st century luxury is headed.”
Apple’s pair of famous designers will be joined by execs from top fashion brands, such as Hermes CEO Axel Dumas, Tory Burch, Chloé’s president and creative director, Geoffroy de la Bourdonnaye and Clare Waight Keller, and Beluti CEO Antoine Arnault. The event will be held on April 22nd and 23rd at the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, but with tickets going for $4,1000 (plus a $900 VAT), getting in won’t be cheap.
Buster Hein is a freelance writer who lives in Phoenix, Arizona. Twitter: @bst3r.
7 responses to “Tickets for Jony Ive’s ’21st-century luxury’ talk cost $4,100”
I wonder has all that wealth has finally gone to their heads. The priced for the rich watch and the one port ‘buy a bunch of ugly adapters’ MacBook seem to me to be finally tipping Apple over the edge form practical to design just for design sake. It’s a bit like the obsession with thickness, Apple obsessing to the point of trying to change language to ‘thinness’. Design for its own ends can be fine, it just seems Apple as a fashion accessory making company for the privileged is a strange road to go down. Perhaps born form the out of touch reality too much money end of the spectrum? Just my 2c.
Not everyone has to go for the Edition version of the Apple Watch, there is a Sport starting at $349 and price ranges going up from that so there’s something for everyone. If you happen to have the money or if 10K plus is pocket change to you then the Edition is an option, Apple is simply providing choice for all customers.
WTF apple? Have fun trying keep your ecosystem afloat when you only cater to 1% of the worlds population. Can you say $500 apps?
Well, there was that $1K app not that long ago, if I remember correctly. Probably a test balloon.
Do you see them “only” catering to the 1%? I don’t. Why not pick some low handing fruit whenever they can…
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