I used to write about fashion, and the reason I took it seriously was because it was how people signalled their beliefs about power every morning when they got dressed. Luxury goods are just one very narrow dimension. The only question is what you perceive to represent power, and who you intend to signal that to.<p>Linux was a great example, where originally you could signal your technical skill by just having it installed at home. Today the equivalent would probably be having a functional language on your CV. It's a costly signal in that you need to make a non-trivial investment in learning it to be able to claim it. It also says that what you perceive to be power is esoteric knowledge with intelligence, and you are looking for people who meet that level. Signals are also tells.<p>What fashion companies did is recognized powerful people, and watched how they signalled to one another, and then sold that to everyone else, while flattering the powerful ones enough to adopt them. Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger made billions on that.<p>Luxury goods like say, a handbag or a BMW 3-Series, are things you can pay enough for to show that you have money, or in the latter case, credit. If you think money and credit represents power, you will signal that to other people who think the same. Some people think an Ivy education or an advanced degree is power, which it can be in political and finance circles, but not in say, car racing or sailing circles.<p>Facebook really was the original online luxury good, as it showed you believed in ivy schools, fame, technology, and gossip, but now it's the same as a hollowed out haute couture fashion house owned by a conglomerate that makes its money selling perfume in big box drug stores and airports.<p>Apple is a luxury company that sells tech, as their real product is privacy and a unified brand experience, and not selling users to advertisers like almost every other platform out there. I think they have risk under Cook's vision as he's just not sexy enough to carry the brand much further. You can see it with his whole push with old celebrities and wholesomeness, I think the lack of eros makes them vulnerable.<p>Twitter seems to be trying to upgrade its brand to a luxury product, with the opportunity to be a channel for infinite minor status upgrades beyond the blue check. If you can persuade hundreds of millions of people to put up with the character limit and whole culture of the place, it's like the indignity of economy class in airlines, where people will pay stupid amounts of money for small mercies.<p>Signalling is a rich enough metaphor to capture dynamics in pretty much any human endeavour. Such an interesting area.