As we all know, rich people don't try to look rich. Real money has nothing to prove and no one to impress. It's comfortable. Wear what you like. There may have been a time when people at the top of the wealth pyramid had a unique appearance. Now he wears trainers and his $750 shorts in the boardroom. prefix Dinner at Masa.
That's what we're told, anyway. At best, it's only half true. Tech millionaires, Hollywood moguls, Martha's Vineyard waterfront bluebloods, double-barreled English gentlemen, oligarchs, and various cousins of King Salman. They have their own moments of insecurity and the image they are trying to project. The status game never ends with complete victory.
Dressing down is a status move, more or less obvious at this point. Who will be fooled by “stealth wealth”? What garment conveys the presence of money more clearly than a vicuña wrap coat or a Loro Piana open walk? A top hat and a monocle? Give yourself a (very expensive) break. “Quiet Luxury” is a Kabuki performance for the well-heeled and indifferent.
The idea of quiet luxury is true because it emphasizes the importance of signals that only some people can read: small nods to people like you, or, more to the point, people you aspire to be. It's importance. For the signal to work, it must be faint enough and change as it becomes readable over a wide area.
Sometimes there is no signal at all, and even experts can only guess. Paolo Martorano, a New York-based bespoke seamstress, remembers a customer who came to a trunk show in Palm Beach wearing a tank top and basketball shorts. He ordered $250,000 worth of clothing.
“It's pretty hard to tell” who actually has money to spend, he says. The opposite may also be true. Customers come in with custom-made suits, but he only buys one, or he only buys two, because “they only have one of his and they wear it until they die.” Previously, serious customers only shopped on weekdays. Martorano now does a lot of his business on weekends.
Once a reliable class symbol in the British Isles, the accent is no different than who in Gloucestershire has a redecorated rural mountain or a private jet to transport a pair of 17th-century Imari porcelain vases home. Timothy Langston says that it is no longer useful for assessing whether Antique dealer in London. The same goes for clothes. “Dress standards have really come down in recent years. These days you rarely see people wearing suits, let alone ties and jackets,” he says.
Spencer Hebron, a Bergdorf Goodman salesman who once worked on figures at the high-end New York store, remembers how different things used to be. “When I first started working at Barneys in the 1980s, it was all about fashion. You might be wearing Comme des Garçons or Dana Karan from head to toe. That's not the case anymore. Now people don't care. They don’t mix it up.”
In fact, it has now become hopelessly indecent to dress in a way that overtly indicates elite status. asks the British stylist who dresses celebrities and executives on promotional tours. It's not difficult to look rich. Don't you want to be like you, story-like, creative and interesting? ”
But people do want to look rich, and the signals are there to read that. People who choose to dress up, and have the money to really dress up, don't wear one item that is better than another (a rough formula is that shoes cost 3 times less than a suit). 1, the price of the shirt is 1/8th).
Jonathan Sigmon, owner of New York tailor Alan Flusser Custom, says that when his most affluent clients walk through the door, “Most of the time they're wearing old chinos or Sperrys, and they're ambitious people.'' You may be wearing beautiful clothes, but it could cost you your entire season's purchase budget, for example, handmade trousers and an old Shetland sweater. , he points out, those with money can more easily combine high-end and low-budget.
“Some women are wearing Chanel boots, old jeans and The Row T-shirts,” Hebron says. “But my watch is an 18K gold Rolex and my bag is a Lady Dior.”
Although the specific signals of wealth change, the pattern repeats itself in its diversity. One of them is owning the best thing, yet acting indifferent to it in a carefully choreographed way (“Oh, that old thing?”). Similarly, mixing high and low prices is also a classic technique, as is displaying noticeable wear on expensive items.in The talented Mr. Ripleytattered Gucci loafers, and a casually wrinkled bespoke jacket cut to look like it was made in Rome, make Jude Law convincing in his role as the dilettante American shipping heir. It helped a lot to do that.
If too many people recognize your property, you're playing the game wrong. All but a few people care about what brand they wear. Before closing her ultra-luxury boutique in the Hamptons last month, Tina Raakkonen told the New York Times: . . My client is no longer motivated to improve. They don't want a logo or anything like that. It's over. ” There is also a “desire” here. A very dirty word. It is believed that the truly wealthy are unattainable or unattainable.
When assessing a man's wealth, we traditionally focus on watches and shoes. This remains true. But as HTSI contributing editor Nick Foulkes explains, when it comes to watches, it's easy to try too hard. The Patek Philippe Nautilus, while lovely as it is, is “a bit obvious now. It has become a victim of its own success.” In contrast, an antique Patek 1518 will make you a true connoisseur. However, the simple stainless steel Rolex Oyster Perpetual shows more confidence. And if you dress really well, a cheap Casio can have even more flex, something billionaires and presidents have long relied on.
Today's rich men wear loafers even with suits. Even on high-end shoes, shoelaces are associated with work. Loafers convey the independence of being able to take off your shoes at any time. Ideally, it will match the ruddy complexion of a person who has time to exercise.
Wealthy women say they look at the quality of fabrics and grooming when evaluating other women's wealth. The hair is thick, shiny, and subtly colored (half hair with bleach highlights is a budget perk). The skin is oily and well-nourished. A professional blowout is a given (it's not uncommon for wealthy women to bring a hair and makeup team with them). Plastic surgery is usually performed. Cheekbone and eyebrow lift with Botox, fillers, and half facelift.
Just like men's watches, women's jewelry speaks for itself. “This is her diamond in a rare color that no one else can get,” or “not demi-fine, but very chic gold,” says the longtime jewelry editor of British Vogue and podcast host Carol Woolton says. Other times, it may be a Cartier or Her JAR, but it may not be available to everyone who enters the store. “That shows you're on a higher level.”
The same logic applies to handbags. Hermès collectors recognize bags that are only available to elite customers. Conversely, the absence of a handbag may imply that a driver or personal assistant is nearby.
These days, Langston, an antiques dealer, relies on invisible clues: “a certain aura” and conversation. “A lot of times they don't say much, they don't reveal much. But they have a certain kind of confidence that millionaires have.”
Letter in response to this article:
Fragrance gives plutocracy an unmistakable aura / Marian Gladstone, Leicester, Leicestershire, UK
