Joanna Uzunova sources rare items from Hermès and Chanel for extremely wealthy buyers. She was one of many — including editors and content creators and Oprah — to descend on Chanel’s Paris boutique this week when new creative director Matthieu Blazy’s first ready-to-wear collection hit the sales floor. She spent around 70,000 euros on items for clients who can’t be bothered to jostle for shoes and bags that must be pre-ordered and are made in extremely limited quantities (more limited, she believed, from previous launch events). 

“We serve ultra-high-net-worth individuals. These people don't have the desire, let alone the time, to play these games,” she said. “They don't care about going into a boutique and being made to wait for two hours to be seen, and then be told that they don't have X, Y, Z in this size. They're not interested.”

She said her business, Luxe Buyers Club, has seen “crazy growth” in recent years, as luxury brands have rushed to become the next Hermès — the only brand that seems to consistently defy the luxury downturn — by creating gamified shopping experiences. Brands like Chanel gin up buzz around certain launches by making hot items (like its new $11,000 shopper bag and $6,800 blazer from look 1) scarce. They also seem intent on cultivating customers who will not only spend reliably each season, but also, clients I interviewed felt, fall into line. If they don’t comply, these clients believed, they risked losing invites to events such as dinners, fashion shows, and pre-launch shopping events.

But as the brand undergoes a shift in aesthetic under Blazy, many are questioning how much longer they’ll be willing to continue to play such games.