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In Paul Bloom's article "The Lure of Luxury", he examines the motivations behind the purchasing of luxury products. He argues that three primary factors drive this behavior: sensory appreciation, signaling theory, and historical value. These concepts clarify why people are willing to spend a lot of money for luxury goods exceed their need.

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The first reason Bloom suggests that people buy luxury goods is Sensory Appreciation. Luxury goods can provide consumers with emotional pleasure. He expands on Virginia Postrel's thesis in "The Substance of Style", arguing that people buy luxury goods because they are attracted by the quality of the luxury items. At the same time, Bloom uses the example of Afghanistan to support Postrel's point. After the defeat of the Taliban, women there could buy and wear colorful burkas and paint their nails.

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Some economists and sociologists believe that the purchase of luxury goods is to convey some signals, such as taste, status, wealth, class etc. Bloom uses the example of a $30,000 Rolex to illustrate this point.

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Bloom introduces the importance of historical values, which he believes play an important but often overlooked role in our association with luxury goods. President Kennedy’s golf clubs, which brought an incredible amount at auction, are a prime example of how an item’s previous ownership may greatly increase its worth.

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"An appreciation of beauty explains certain accessible and universal consumer pleasures—Postrel begins her book in Kabul after the Taliban fell, describing how the women there reveled in their freedom to possess burkas of different colors and to paint their nails." (Bloom 4)

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From this quote, we can see that clothes attract a lot of people to make luxury purchases, because people's love and appreciation is also an important part, not just the superficial kind of show off factor. In the luxury industry, people are attracted to the craftsmanship and design of these clothes. Bloom believes that people buy these luxuries because of beauty and pleasure.

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"A crimson burka? Aesthetics. A $30,000 watch? Signaling. Aristotle Onassis’s choice to upholster the bar stools in his yacht with whale foreskin? Definitely signaling." (Bloom 3)

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The reason why people buy luxury goods is not only because their craftsmanship is good, but also because they want to prove their status and class wealth through luxury goods. A $30,000 watch is a status symbol. In fact, the function of this Rolex is no different from the function of a $50 watch. But it is because this watch gives people a sense of class difference, so people like to buy the Rolex. But Bloom is not entirely convinced by this view, and he still puts more emphasis on the historical value of luxury goods. He believes that the historical value of luxury goods is the most important, so why people pay so much money to buy luxury goods.

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"In a 1996 auction, President John F. Kennedy’s golf clubs sold for $772,500, and a tape measure from the Kennedy household sold for $48,875."(Bloom 6)

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In this quote, it refer to this pair of golf clubs that President Kennedy used. The value of this set of clubs is much higher than the value of the golf clubs themselves. But a lot of people still want to buy this club because of the historical value of this golf club. President Kenny as the president of the United States, he used things that may represent luck or even a faith for someone. Therefore, people buy luxury goods not only to show their status, but perhaps more importantly, they pay more attention to the story behind the item and the uniqueness of the item.

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Bloom, Paul. The Lure of Luxury. Boston Review, 22 Oct. 2015, https://www.bostonreview.net/forum/paul-bloom-lure-luxury/ Accessed 21 Feb. 2025.