Industries devoted to helping people look and feel good—fashion, jewelry, and beauty—offer affordable options for the masses but always preserve brands and products for those with greater means. We generally call these higher-end items “luxury.” But is cost really what sets luxury apart?

Jeffrey Shaw’s recent book, Sell to the Rich: The Insider’s Handbook to Selling Luxury, prompted me to reconsider what luxury actually means. Shaw, who spent 40 years photographing the rich and famous, gained an intimate understanding of how luxury operates beyond the label. He writes, “The very essence of luxury is built on unwavering dedication to quality, service, exclusivity, and an exceptional experience. And in times of uncertainty, people look for products and services that will last.”

By this measure, philosophy itself is a kind of luxury. It is an enduring pursuit, deeply committed to quality, wisdom, and lived experience. It, too, has gradations: popular philosophy often simplifies ideas for mass appeal, while the highest-quality thinking remains inaccessible to most. But when encountered in its fullness, philosophy is transformative. It cultivates judgment, imagination, and ethical insight. So why wouldn’t beauty brands—especially those concerned with identity, ritual, and meaning—turn to philosophy?

In fact, Cyrille Vigneron, Chairman of Cartier, once remarked, “The leader of a maison like Cartier has to come from philosophical, artistic, aesthetic, and sociological roots.” This mindset has served Cartier well, helping to shape it into more than a brand—into a cultural institution. Additionally, Barbara Stegemann, founder of The 7 Virtues Perfume, wrote a book detailing the seven virtues from Stoic philosophy that inspired the brand and fragrances. From Plato to Elaine Scarry, philosophers have long explored how beauty influences human life, values, and behavior. The beauty industry stands to gain from these ideas, not just as abstract theory but as practical tools for creative direction, brand narrative, and ethical grounding.

Plato saw beauty as a bridge between truth and goodness, something that elevates the soul. In his dialogue Symposium, he describes beauty as a kind of ladder: We begin by admiring physical beauty, but if we’re attentive, it can lead us toward higher forms—like character, wisdom, and ultimately the eternal form of beauty itself. Beauty, for Plato, is never an endpoint. It is a force of transformation. True luxury behaves similarly. It is not just about price or prestige but about excellence, care, and enduring meaning.

This same sensibility defines beauty brands that focus on craft, ritual, and depth. Consider Aesop, whose emphasis on architecture, philosophy, and storytelling has made it an unlikely cult luxury brand. Its stores are designed as spaces for reflection. Its products are described not with gimmicks but with quiet confidence. Beauty, in this case, does not shout for attention; it creates the conditions for attention to flourish.

Scarry builds on Plato’s legacy in her book On Beauty and Being Just, writing, “Beauty brings copies of itself into being.” Beauty does not just sit passively; it radiates, multiplies, and inspires. It shapes how we see the world and how we act within it. Beautiful environments tend to foster care, while ugliness can dull our moral imagination. If beauty inspires attention, then brands should consider how their aesthetics—and their values—shape what people care about.

Too often, we overlook this. Consider the most common jobs in America. According to Visual Capitalist, from 1998 to 2024, the top occupations have remained nearly unchanged: retail salesperson, cashier, and fast-food worker. These roles are deeply tied to a culture of fast consumption and disposability. In a society addicted to speed, convenience, and volume, it’s no surprise we’ve devalued quality in favor of quantity. Could a renewed focus on beauty—understood philosophically—help shift this cultural current? Could beauty brands, instead of simply reflecting culture, begin to reshape it by emphasizing quality, ethics, and intentional design?

This brings us to another layer of luxury: meaning. Philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer argued that beauty is dialogic; it invites interpretation and participation. We don’t merely consume a beautiful object—we engage with it, live with it, and understand ourselves differently through it. Beauty, in this view, is not a fixed essence but a conversation between object, maker, and beholder.

Luxury beauty brands often act in this way, whether consciously or not. Take Augustinus Bader, for example. Built around regenerative skincare science, the brand emphasizes cellular repair, longevity, and ritual over quick-fix solutions. This echoes a philosophical understanding of beauty as becoming, not just appearing. Or consider Furtuna Skin, which blends biodynamic farming, Sicilian landscapes, and ancestral knowledge into its formulations. These brands don’t just sell products; they cultivate meaning, presence, and care.

Philosophy can help illuminate why this matters. It gives language to the difference between novelty and depth, between trends and truths. It shows how beauty becomes a site for identity, ritual, and even ethical action. In a marketplace overrun with sameness, brands that invite thoughtful engagement and moral imagination will endure.

So what does it mean to treat philosophy as a luxury in business? It means resisting the urge to chase only what’s viral or efficient. Philosophers challenge assumptions, reveal hidden biases, and help reframe what matters. They don’t deliver “correct” answers, but they do cultivate better questions—and better questions can unlock better strategies. Philosophy adds substance to storytelling, depth to design, and clarity to brand identity. It is not about jargon. It is about insight.

This is not theoretical. It is already happening in small but powerful ways. Skincare brand KraveBeauty, for instance, openly challenges industry norms with its Slow Down Skincare campaign, urging consumers to buy less and think more. The brand pairs transparency with education, helping customers cultivate better judgment, not just chase results. That’s philosophical. That’s luxury.

Many founders and brand leaders are already engaged in philosophical thinking—about values, vision, and impact—without calling it that. But what if that engagement became intentional? What if philosophy was not just in the background of your brand’s culture but embedded in how you design, lead, and communicate?

You may not think of your company as a luxury brand. Maybe you’re not—yet. But what if you began thinking and acting like one? Not by inflating pricing or courting elitism but by committing to excellence, purpose, and longevity. Not every company needs to emulate Chanel, but every company can benefit from the kind of clarity and care that Chanel invests in every aspect of its identity, from typography to product to visual narrative.

Trends will come and go. Algorithms will change. But philosophy, like true luxury, endures.

In a world saturated with options, opinions, and obstacles, the rarest and most valuable things are clarity, thoughtfulness, and vision. Philosophy might be the most underutilized luxury in business today—not because it’s inaccessible, but because its power has been overlooked.

For beauty brands ready to move beyond the superficial and into the sublime, the next evolution isn’t more content or louder claims. It is thinking more deeply—about beauty, ethics, and human experience. That’s not an indulgence. That’s the future of luxury.