We all know that rich people don’t try to look rich. Real money has nothing to prove and no one to impress. Very comfortable. It wears whatever it likes. There may have been a time when the top of the wealth pyramid had a unique appearance.Sneakers and shorts now cost $750 in conference rooms Fixed price Dinner at Massa.
Anyway, we’re told. At best, this is only half true. Tech billionaire, Hollywood tycoon, Martha’s Vineyard seaside aristocrat, two-pronged British aristocrat, oligarch, various cousins of King Salman. They have their moments of insecurity and the persona they are careful to project. Status games never end in complete victory.
It is more or less obvious that dressing modestly is a sign of status. Who is fooled by “hidden wealth”? Is there anything that says money better than a vicuña wrap coat or a pair of Loro Piana Open Walks? Top hat and monocle? Give us a (very expensive) break. “Quiet luxury” is a kabuki show of moneyed comfort and indifference.
What’s right about the idea of quiet luxury is the importance of signals that only certain people can read, a nod to someone like you, or, more likely, to someone you want to be. To do their job, the signals must be subtle enough and change when they become too clear.
Sometimes there is no signal at all, and even experts can only guess. Paolo Martorano, a custom tailor in New York, remembers a customer arriving at a bag show in Palm Beach wearing a tank top and basketball shorts. He ordered clothes worth a quarter of a million dollars.
“It’s hard to tell” who has real money to spend, he said. Sometimes it’s the opposite: Customers come in with custom-made suits, but “they only own one and wear it to death” and only buy one or two items. Serious customers used to shop only on weekdays; now, they shop only on weekdays. Now, Martorano does a lot of business on the weekends.
Accent, once a reliable marker of class in the British Isles, is no longer used to assess who has a country house in Gloucestershire that needs redecorating, or who has a private jet to transport home a pair of 17th-century Imari porcelain vases . Antiques dealer in London. Neither are the clothes. “Dress standards have really declined over the years – it’s rare to see anyone wearing a suit now, let alone a tie and jacket,” he said.
Spencer Hebron, a sales associate at Bergdorf Goodman who once worked among a who’s who of high-end New York stores, remembers how different things used to be. “In the 1980s, when I first started working at Barneys, fashion was everything. Someone would be wearing head-to-toe Comme des Garçons or Donna Karan. That’s not the case anymore. People don’t care now; they mix it up. stand up.”
In fact, today’s clothing that overly exposes elite status is really vulgar in the extreme. A British stylist who dresses celebrities and corporate executives for campaigns asks: “Why look rich? It’s not hard to look rich. Don’t you want to look like yourself, like a story, look like Is it creative and looks interesting?”
However, people do want to look wealthy, and the signals are there to be interpreted. A person who chooses to dress up and has the money to really dress up will not wear any piece of clothing that outshines the rest (a rough formula is that shoes cost one-third the price of a suit and eight-tenths the price of a shirt one).
Jonathan Sigmon, owner of Alan Flusser Custom, a New York tailor shop, said that when the wealthiest customers walk through the door, “They tend to be wearing old chinos and Sperrys, and an aspirational guy They might be wearing something nice, but it might take up their purchasing budget for the entire season.” He points out that wealthy people can more easily mix high and low-brow clothing, such as a pair of handmade trousers and an old Shetland sweater.
“I have women come in and maybe they’re wearing Chanel boots, an old pair of jeans and a T-shirt from The Row,” Hebron said. “But the watch is made of 18k Rolex gold, and it comes with a Lady Dior bag.”
Specific signals of wealth will change, but patterns will repeat themselves within that change. One of them is having the best stuff while showing indifference in a calculated way (“Oh, that old thing?”). Likewise, mixing high and low is a classic technique—as is showing visible wear on an expensive item.exist The Talented Mr. Ripleytattered Gucci loafers and haphazardly pleated tailored jackets cut to look like they were made in Rome were largely what made Jude Law’s appearance as an amateur American shipping heir so convincing.
If too many people recognize your property, you’re playing the wrong game. All but a few should want to know what brand you are wearing.Before Tiina Laakkonen closed her ultra-high-end boutique in the Hamptons last month, she told the New York Times: “The aspirational world of retail has been taken over by the big luxury brands . word. The real rich are unattainable, or rather, not seen.
When assessing a person’s wealth, people traditionally look at watches and shoes. This is still true. However, as HTSI contributing editor Nick Foulkes explains, when it comes to watches, it’s easy to try too hard. As cute as the Patek Philippe Nautilus is, “it’s a bit obvious now; it has become a victim of its own success.” In comparison, the antique Patek Philippe 1518 watch will make you a true connoisseur, while the simple stainless steel Rolex Oyster Perpetual watch shows more confidence. And, with really good clothes, a cheaper Casio might allow for greater flexibility—something billionaires and presidents have long relied on.
Nowadays, rich men wear loafers even if they wear suits. Laces, even on high-end shoes, hint at work. Loafers convey the freedom to take off your shoes at any time. Ideally, they match the rosy complexion of someone who has time to exercise.
Wealthy women said they looked at fabric quality and appearance when assessing the wealth of other women. Thick, shiny hair with subtle color (half a head of bleach is a budget giveaway). Skin is well oiled and nourished; career blowouts are a given (it’s not uncommon for rich girls to rock their hair and makeup teams together). Typically, there are plastic surgeries – Botox, cheekbone and eyebrow lifting with fillers, semi-facelift.
Like men’s watches, women’s jewelry can make a statement. “It’s a rare colored diamond that no one else can get,” says Carol Woolton, British Vogue’s longtime jewelry editor and podcast host, or “gold that’s very chic, not semi-fine.” . It could also be a piece that is obviously Cartier or JAR, but not something that anyone who walks into the store can buy. “This shows that your level is very high.”
The same logic applies to handbags – Hermès collectors will approve of a bag that is only available to top customers. Conversely, the absence of a handbag may mean that a driver or personal assistant is wandering nearby.
Today, antiques dealer Langston relies on non-visual cues — “a certain aura” and dialogue. “They usually don’t say much, they don’t reveal much. But they just have something – a confidence that rich people have.”
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