Studying luxury and conspicuous consumption in international settings presents unique challenges. Many aspects of luxury and conspicuous consumption cannot easily be put into words because they involve desires, aesthetics, and emotions, as well as taken-for-granted assumptions about social distinction and inequality. Drawing on Nicolai Eliseev’s artistic inquiry into luxury consumption in Russia, this article proposes arts-based inquiry as a suitable method for examining embodied and aesthetic knowing about luxury and conspicuous consumption, in particular in intercultural settings. The article illustrates these ideas through a series of sketches and a final artwork, by which Eliseev inquired into his experiences and tacit knowledge. The artwork incorporates a cut-up Louis Vuitton bag and references to luxury brands such as Cartier, Vertu, and Dom Perignon. The artistic form expresses the dividing effects and emotions of luxury consumption in Russian social and economic life. The article contributes to an understanding of aesthetic creation as both a method of inquiry and also a practice of resistance and innovation in relation to fashion discourses. Thus, it illustrates the potential of arts-based research methods in intercultural studies of luxury, and the social sciences more broadly.

研究国际环境中的奢侈品和炫耀性消费提出了独特的挑战。奢侈品和炫耀性消费的许多方面无法轻易用语言表达，因为它们涉及欲望、审美和情感，以及对社会差异和不平等的理所当然的假设。本文借鉴尼古拉·埃利谢耶夫对俄罗斯奢侈品消费的艺术探究，提出以艺术为基础的探究作为一种合适的方法，用于检查对奢侈品和炫耀性消费的具体和审美认知，尤其是在跨文化环境中。文章通过一系列草图和最终艺术作品阐释了这些想法，Eliseev 借此探究了他的经历和隐性知识。这件艺术品融合了一个切割的路易威登包，并参考了卡地亚、Vertu、和唐培里侬。艺术形式表现了奢侈品消费在俄罗斯社会经济生活中的分化效果和情感。这篇文章有助于理解审美创造既是一种探究方法，也是一种与时尚话语相关的抵抗和创新的实践。因此，它说明了基于艺术的研究方法在奢侈品的跨文化研究和更广泛的社会科学中的潜力。