What happens to luxury when everything becomes instant? As the industry enters a new era shaped by technology, transparency, and cultural fatigue, its traditional markers no longer hold the same power. Speaking at the Vogue Ukraine Conference: Forces of Fashion 2025, Carlota Rodben explored how meaning, emotion, and restraint are replacing excess and novelty. In this interview, she reflects on the role of human judgment in an AI-driven world, the blurred line between sustainability and branding, and why contemporary luxury is increasingly defined not by ownership, but by feeling.
— You often speak about "the future of luxury" as a shift from ownership to experience. But as AI blurs the boundaries of originality and taste, what will luxury mean in a world where images, designs, and products can be generated instantly?
Luxury will be defined by knowing when to stop. AI can generate endlessly — infinite variations, infinite outcomes. But only humans can sense when something is complete, when it is emotionally finished. That moment of discernment is what transforms creation into meaning.
In this new landscape, curation becomes the ultimate luxury. The ability to choose, to edit, to pause — to say "this one" among millions of possibilities. Curation gives form to chaos and meaning to abundance. The future of luxury is not about speed or volume. It is about depth. About sensitivity. About creating with intention by balancing technology with intuition. True luxury will belong to those who create with judgment, emotion, and purpose — who understand that progress isn’t defined by acceleration, but by completion.
— Sustainability has become a new status symbol. Has it also turned into a branding performance? What separates real innovation from eco-aesthetics?
Sustainability became desirable once it became visible. But visibility is not the same as impact. Much of what we see today is aesthetic sustainability — green imagery, natural tones, recycled language. Few brands are genuinely transforming how they source, produce, and distribute.
Real innovation begins when sustainability moves from storytelling to systems. It shows up in materials, supply chains, product longevity, and business models — not campaign visuals. Even small shifts matter. Producing less but better. Designing with intention rather than chasing constant novelty. Those choices, repeated consistently, move the industry forward. Real change doesn’t come from perfection; it comes from coherence — aligning what a brand says with what it actually does. The most sustainable act might simply be creating less, but creating better. Luxury has always been about what lasts. The next frontier isn’t making sustainability desirable — it’s making desirability itself sustainable.
— You’ve worked at the intersection of fashion and technology long before it became a trend. Which innovation do you believe will truly recode the fashion system?
The next real transformation won’t come from digital fashion or virtual worlds, but from sentient textiles. We’re entering an era where materials can sense, adapt, and respond. Clothing will do more than express identity — it will interact with the body and its environment. Imagine textiles that monitor biomarkers, adapt to temperature, filter pollution, or protect from UV exposure. Garments that respond emotionally or environmentally. Fashion has always reflected culture. Now, it will begin to participate in it. These innovations will change what we expect from clothing. True luxury will no longer be about what we wear, but how what we wear supports us, connects us, and responds to the world we live in.
— Luxury has long relied on desire and aspiration. What happens when a generation raised on access and transparency no longer wants to aspire — only to belong?
Desire is shifting. This generation is driven less by having and more by being. They don’t aspire to inaccessible worlds — they want alignment, meaning, and authenticity. For luxury, this changes everything. The question is no longer how many people a brand can reach, but how deeply it can connect. The most aspirational brands today are those that make people feel seen, included, and emotionally engaged. Desire is moving from ownership to participation, from distance to closeness, from status to meaning. Brands that understand this won’t lose their aura — they’ll gain relevance. The future of luxury will be defined by how it makes people feel, not by what it allows them to own.
— If you were to build the ultimate fashion brand of the 2030s, what would it leave behind?
First, I wouldn’t build a fashion brand — there are already too many. But if I did, it would leave behind noise. The obsession with constant drops, micro-trends, and overproduction has made fashion louder but emptier. So, it wouldn’t chase seasons, algorithms, or virality. It would create fewer collections, with higher quality and prices that reflect time, craft, and emotion. Brands like Phoebe Philo and The Row already point in this direction: wardrobes built around enduring pieces with occasional, meaningful statements.
Materials wouldn’t just be luxurious — they would be good for the body and skin. Clothing would exist to enhance experience, not just appearance. It would also reject the illusion of perfection. This generation wants honesty, not flawless facades. A brand that shows its evolution — even its contradictions — feels more human. And finally, it would abandon distance. The future of luxury is about closeness, transparency, and intention. The ultimate luxury brand of the 2030s won’t aim to impress — it will aim to express. It will move from scale to significance.
— As digital couture and AI models grow, what remains truly human in creation?
The feeling behind the form. Technology can replicate precision and surface emotion, but it can’t replicate intention. It can’t feel the weight of fabric, the pulse of a story, or the instinctive moment when something feels finished. Even with models and muses, technology can clone faces and movement — but it can’t recreate presence. The tension of a pose. The vulnerability of a glance. The energy of being alive in a moment. Creation isn’t about control. It’s about intuition, doubt, and surrender — things machines can’t simulate. Perfection is impressive. Imperfection is magnetic. It has soul. In a digital future, the human fingerprint becomes the ultimate mark of authenticity. Machines can create form. Only humans can create meaning.
— In a future where data predicts desire before we feel it, how does emotion and storytelling evolve?
Emotion will become the last luxury. Data can predict preference, but it can’t generate feeling. It can optimize narratives, but it can’t replace emotional truth. What moves people today isn’t perfection — it’s honesty. Showing process. Showing flaws. Showing the human hand behind creation. Storytelling will become more important, not less. Brands that thrive will allow vulnerability, evolution, and emotion to exist without scripting them. In a world shaped by data, the most powerful stories will be the ones that remind us we are human. We’re no longer in the luxury business. We’re in the business of becoming.
— What’s one uncomfortable truth about luxury that most people avoid discussing?
The system itself is no longer coherent. Supply chains lack transparency. Quality has declined dramatically over the past two decades, even as prices continue to rise. Since 2019, luxury prices have increased by more than 50 percent, with over 80 percent of recent growth driven by pricing — not innovation.
Luxury has become industrialized and ubiquitous. Exclusivity has been replaced by visibility. The client has changed, but many brands haven’t. This new generation is informed, conscious, and unforgiving. They expect transparency, meaning, and integrity — not illusion. The industry has little time left to hesitate. It must rebuild trust, rethink systems, and reconnect with the emotional and material values that once defined luxury.
— If progress is no longer about acceleration, what comes next for luxury?
Luxury is being redefined. We are moving away from distance, perfection, and accumulation — toward coherence, care, and connection. From noise to nuance. From endless novelty to lasting meaning. Technology will keep accelerating creation, but the future belongs to those who know when to stop. Sustainability will become a system rather than a slogan. Innovation will be measured by sense, not speed. This is not the decline of luxury, but its rebirth, and it's deeply human.