Aloisa Ruf

Date of Award

2026

Document Type

Thesis - Open Access

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Art Business

First Advisor

Judith Prowda

Second Advisor

Lawrence Motz

Abstract

This thesis explores how food operates as a cultural, psychological, and strategic instrument within the global luxury industry. Drawing from art history, marketing theory, and sensory studies, it traces how societies across Europe, the Middle East, China, Japan, Russia, and the United States have long used food to express hierarchy, belonging, and emotion—from the banquets of seventeenth-century Versailles to the branded cafes and collaboration of the 2010s and 2020s. Through a comparative and interpretive methodology, the research connects historical visual traditions with contemporary brand strategies, examining case studies such as Gucci Osteria, Louis Vuitton’s Desert Iftar, Dior Café, Loewe’s “Tomato” campaign, and the Balenciaga × Erewhon collaboration. The findings reveal that food has become luxury industry’s most powerful advertising medium,  it transforms material consumption into emotional experiences. It merges appetite, memory, and identity into one multisensory language that transcends geography and social class. In the twenty-first century, the post-covid era, where exclusivity has shifted from possession to participation, dining and culinary storytelling have become key to sustaining brand loyalty. This thesis concludes that food functions as luxury’s universal language—a medium through which desire is made tangible, and through which the future of emotional branding, sustainability, and cultural empathy will unfold as this marketing trend grows.

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