Radha Chadha and Paul Husband: Radha and I were developing a VIP customer program for Hongkong Land, the largest luxury retail real estate manager in Hong Kong, and were surprised to learn how much money was being spent on luxury accessories, ready-to-wear and jewelry. We hypothesized that this behavior was being repeated in many countries in the Asia region and thought it would make an interesting study. As we investigated further by speaking with luxury brand managers we realized that the Asian luxury market had become the world's largest without many people noticing and decided it would be interesting to tell the story. (Paul Husband)

I moved to Hong Kong about 10 years ago-and in the initial years I worked at an advertising agency here. There were things I saw that I just couldn't understand: my secretary had a Gucci bag. My junior manager would come back from lunch carrying a Prada shopping bag. One of them went on a shopping holiday abroad. And I was like: how can do it at their salary level? (Radha Chadha)

Radha Chadha and Paul Husband: Huge, intense and growing... 94 percent of women in their 20's own a Louis Vuitton bag. Big brands like Gucci and Hermes have more stores in Hong Kong than they have in New York or Paris. In China, the rich spend with no sense of proportion, while even junior executives will blow up an entire month's salary on a bag, even if it means eating cup noodles for awhile. India, where luxury brands entered just three to four years ago, has three-month waiting lists for hot items. It's as if a "luxe-plosion" is rocking Asia, carrying in its sweep not just the wealthy and well-heeled as one might expect, but people from all walks of life, all income segments, all religious beliefs. (Radha Chadha)

Asia is already the world's largest luxury market and China is widely expected to overtake Japan as the largest country market by 2013-2014. All markets are showing strong growth with the exception of Thailand where the recent coup has dampened local and tourist spending and Taiwan where talk of independence from China is also worrying shoppers and dampening spending. India is the most talked about market as it is the last great emerging market and most brands will be opening their first stores in the country this year and next. The first luxury retail centre, Emporio in Delhi, opens in the first quarter of 2008 and this is the catalyst for most brands entry into the market. (Paul Husband)

Radha Chadha and Paul Husband: Louis Vuitton and Gucci are likely the most dominant in terms of sales performance amongst fashion and accessory brands across the region. Rolex and Cartier in the watch and jewelry sector... The top luxury brands in Asia are generally the same as those world-wide and the top 10 list would include Chanel, Prada, Dior, Hermes, Giorgio Armani as well as the brands mentioned earlier. (Paul Husband)

The word for luxury brands in Chinese is "ming pai" which translates in to "famous brands". And that's exactly what the Asian consumer is after: big famous brands that are well recognized by others. To understand the luxury phenomenon here, you have to understand why Asians are buying luxury brands in the first place. In a nutshell, the answer is: in today's Asia, you are what you wear. The massive economic and social transformation of Asia in recent decades has dismantled centuries-old ways of defining your place in society. In its place, a new luxury-brand-based class order is taking over, where your place in society is marked by your Chanel suit or your Rolex watch. (Radha Chadha)

Radha Chadha and Paul Husband: "Super-elitization" of luxury. Democratization of luxury has been the buzzword of the last couple decades, which was all about reaching out to more consumers, more markets, younger segments-thereby providing access to luxury to the masses. That's what has led to the cult of the luxury brand. The next big trend is the exact opposite of this. I call it the "super-elitization" of luxury whereby the very wealthy want to distance themselves from the masses through very expensive, unique products. They are looking for bespoke items. They are looking for extremely high artisanal value, exotic materials, superb craftsmanship. They are looking for one-of-a-kind experiences. (Radha Chadha)

If we think of the luxury sector as a whole, one of the next big trends is the conspicuous donation to charity where people know the donor has given away a large sum. It began with Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffet and bestows a status beyond a product you can keep. Some luxury retailers have picked up on this trend and are trying to adapt it to create conspicuous consumption behavior using the same principles. (Paul Husband)