“Money talks, wealth whispers,” some say of the quiet-luxury movement, though others claim that aspiring to resemble CEOs, billionaires, and members of the old guard is elitist and rooted in patriarchy and white privilege.
Fashion blogger Bryan Yambao, who goes by the handle @BryanBoy, referenced those points in a recent Instagram post:
Working in fashion and going to some of the most toe-curling exclusive events in the past two decades allowed me to meet so many wealthy people of all stripes—millionaires, billionaires, children of billionaires, new money, old money, you name it. Couture clients. Couture collectors with so much old money but amusingly questionable taste. Women—and men—with obscene jewelry and wardrobes. And let me tell you in layman’s terms, there is no standardized way in the manner of how they dress. They’re equally as chic and as awfully tacky (or fabulously vulgar) as someone with lesser economic means.
This “quiet luxury” notion that people with “true” wealth only wear discreet, conformist UNIFORMS is nothing but absolute nonsense. Banal, rebranded. It’s not “luxury” per se, it’s an old aesthetic rooted in whiteness and deception—dressing in a uniform manner to control how people perceive them.
For most people, how we dress is simply how we feel most comfortable—be that loud, quiet, stealth or overt. But if minimal, stealth wealth is an aesthetic you feel drawn to, look to accessible brands like COS, Theory, Eileen Fisher, Everlane, or Frank & Oak for that understated, pulled-together vibe Succession’s Shiv does so well, without the four- (or five-) figure price tags. Or, wear loud-and-proud logos, clashing colors and the It bag of the moment all at once. Or don’t. Most of us probably fall somewhere in the middle, anyway.
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