This Minimalist Brand Represents The New Meaning Of Luxury

These days, the idea of "luxury" is getting a makeover — the term no longer refers to designer bags and lush fur coats alone. In fact, a newly launched brand has seemingly summed up the direction the high-end market is going — and it has us wanting to save up for some grown-up wardrobe staples. Arjé, the luxury-essentials brainchild of Bessie Afnaim Corral and Oliver Corral, formerly of Donna Karan's Urban Zen line, is aiming to fix some of the problems the industry is currently facing.

"It was born out of our combined visions to create a unique and relevant luxury brand whilst trying to offer something new to the rhythm of fashion," the founders tell Refinery29. "Having worked together for over seven years before launching Arjé, we used to spend hours challenging each other on the problems of the fashion industry. We would try to understand what we felt was missing and why the system was 'broken' and how and why fashion has not adapted to the dynamic speed of our present life. We talked to everyone in our network and it took us years of thinking and doing to nurture and develop the foundation of our brand."

Considering "see now, buy now" has been one of the buzziest commercial concepts of the last few years, Arjé's structure may not seem surprising. But, it is bold to fully commit to this type of timeline: The brand will release four extremely focused collections per year that'll become available as soon as they're debuted.

"When we show a collection to the world, the collection is already fully produced," they add. "We only design and produce what we believe in and believe we can sell. The buyers, the press, and the consumer have the same access to each collection and no one has to wait six months (the typical cycle) to buy a new collection in store; It is available immediately."

All industry talk aside, the product speaks for itself. The clothes (which include everything from knits and shirts to blazers and trench coats) are designed to be lived in, and the collections are referred to as "chapters" that can build on each other, allowing customers' wardrobes to grow as the brand does. And, that's the kind of luxury we can all get excited about — no flashy logos or in-your-face embellishments needed.