Low interest rates, a buoyant economy, consumers with fat wallets, celebrity emulation - all factors contributing to a burgeoning UK luxury goods market valued at £100bn a year. And, in turn, the luxury magazine market is booming too.
As Dominique Moseley, magazine director at the Financial Times, who is responsible for the high-end, 14-year-old title How To Spend It, puts it: "The world is becoming richer and luxury goods brands are benefiting. It is unsurprising, then, that media owners are looking to cash in on premium brands' increasing advertising spends."
Accordingly, The Times is launching a quarterly 64-page luxury supplement in November called Luxx; and last Sunday, Telegraph Media Group launched a biannual 110-page luxury title, ST Fashion.
Dan Pimm, press director at Universal McCann, says: "The luxury market is buoyant and news-papers want to get in on the act. If you look at Vogue and GQ and the size of their issues at the moment, you can see a lot of spend."
Vogue publishing director Stephen Quinn quantifies this: "Vogue will attract a record 2,190 ad pages this year, with revenue up close on 10%."
Aside from the big players, independent publisher Visual Talent, the firm behind the launch of bimonthly style guide Wonderland, is tapping into the growing luxury market with biannual 244-page Man About Town.
Nigel Breckon, head of non- broadcast at luxury brand media agency TeamUK Media, reckons the newspaper launches are overdue. "They've left How To Spend It to have the majority share of that market," he says.
Universal McCann's Pimm elaborates: "Premium advertisers are reluctant to sit with newspapers' normal supplements," he says. "So, newspaper groups are offering something with a high-end finish, editorial that's got an audience that appeals to luxury advertisers."
Vogue's Quinn agrees: "The quality papers are desperate for a share of the market. "Their national rates are too high and the wastage among readers who can't afford to purchase expensive products is too great a deterrent to luxury brand advertisers."
Peter Thomson, managing director of M2M, contests the idea that newspaper groups are late to the game. "They've been waiting for the right time, you could argue," he says. "In essence, these things are expensive to produce. It takes a lot of time in terms of research, and is not going to be viable until they see an advert-ising market to support it."
However, he sounds a note of caution. "There is room for one or two more, but the market is getting close to saturation," he says.
Yet Carat press buyer Justin Barns thinks further proliferation is a boon to clients. "Fashion brands pay premium rates to appear in a prime position," he says. "They are competitive about running order. So with more magazines, there are more opportunities for brands to appear in more prominent positions."
The FT's Moseley agrees: "The most important thing is making sure the advertising works for a luxury goods brand so they spend more money. All it comes down to in the marketplace is what you bring to the table. If it is an affluent audience and a product that is well produced, then there is room for growth."
With global financial markets wavering, however, the danger for new and old players alike is that the luxury goods market may not be able to maintain its high levels of media spend, and so sustain this increasingly crowded sector.