Desire moves before the numbers.

Rafael Carlesso is a luxury strategist and analyst. He reads where desire is built or lost, from image to price. The financial results only prove it.

Analysis, writing and talks on how luxury brands build desire, lose it and renew it.

"Discipline is a finite lever. Desire is the renewable one."

As quoted by Reuters, July 2026

PRESS

Quoted twice by Reuters on LVMH, with both citations republished across five continents and seven languages. Interviewed by Valor Econômico (Brazil), quoted by Fibre2Fashion (India). Cited three times by LinkedIn News.

Reuters, July 2026. On LVMH's second-quarter results. "Discipline is a finite lever. Desire is the renewable one." Read on Reuters →

Reuters, May 2026. On LVMH's sale of Marc Jacobs. "LVMH is telling the market it will no longer subsidise the segment that has lost pricing trust with the aspirational consumer." Read on Reuters →

Valor Econômico (Brazil), August 2026. Interviewed on the luxury first half. "Too early to call it recovery. What came back was discipline, not desire." Read on Valor →

Fibre2Fashion (India), September 2026. On Chanel's China strategy. "When a market stops rewarding public display, the private room becomes the product." Read on Fibre2Fashion →

Full press record →

PUBLISHED ARTICLES

What LVMH buys, and what it lets go

CPP-Luxury, October 2026

INTELLIGENCE BRIEFS

  • Hermès - H1 2026 Financial Results Analysis

    Hermès Pays for 2030 in Basis Points

  • Zegna H1 2026 Results Analysis

    Zegna Group: One Brand Carries The Group

  • LVMH H1 2026 Results July

    LVMH: The Margin Held. Desire Did Not.

THE AI DESIRE INDEX

The houses the machines desire.

A public ranking of 180 luxury houses by what AI systems say about them, read through three lenses: Taste, Gravity and Authority. Revised monthly.

Close-up portrait of a young man with brown hair, a beard, wearing a white shirt and dark suit jacket, against a dark background. Rafael Leonardo Carlesso.

About

Rafael's eye was trained twice: as an architect, in beauty and built image, and as managing partner of a premium real estate company, carrying brand, pricing and P&L under commercial risk. He works from Milan, for a sector that is global by definition.

TALKS

The Piece That Stays

The keynote shows what makes luxury clients choose a brand again. For conferences, leadership teams and business schools, in English and Portuguese.

Talks, press and editorial commissions: rafael@rafaelcarlesso.com