“quiet luxury”, a new fad of the ultra-rich – L’Express

Since the broadcast of the last season of the HBO series, the concept has become the obsession of social networks – on TikTok, for example, the hashtag exceeds 350 million occurrences -, but also of the catwalks. When fashion week Milanese, in September, pieces with straight lines and muted colors stole the light from more ostentatious creations. Anxious to copy the fashion shows, ready-to-wear brands like Uniqlo have been offering a style inspired by the discretion of the richest since the start of the school year. As always with fashion, this trend is not just a whim: it is also a sign of the times.

The concept itself is enough to raise eyebrows. What’s new about wanting to dress with quality when you can afford it? At first glance, not much. “When the fashion industry is looking for a new concept, it will seize two words with opposite meanings – here “quiet”, the all-purpose, and “luxury”, linked to ostentatiousness – and combine them , notes Julien Féré, doctor in information and communication sciences, author of The underside of trends, when the ephemeral moves the world forward. This allows us to create a new imagination, which brands can then decline.” Think of “rock chic”, for example, or its “geek chic” variation. “A neologism creates a new trend, and vice versa, continues Julien Brother. It’s always more effective to coin a new word than to say ‘preppy is coming back’.”

When your name is Kendall Jenner, Gigi Hadid or even Zoe Kravitz, we now prefer to wear clothes from The Row – the company of the Olsen twins, former soap opera heroines recycled into fashion. With this brand, a sleeveless black wool vest costs, for example, $1,450. Flip-flops from the same brand? 925 dollars. Hermès, a regular of the genre, sells its “‘H’ pattern” jogging pants for 1,150 euros, or its long-sleeved cashmere sweater for 1,600 euros. To the untrained eye, these clothes look like any piece found in a ready-to-wear store. But for those who know, they become highly desirable.

In sociology, this phenomenon has a name: the Veblen effect, or snobbery effect. In his work Leisure class theory, published in 1899, sociologist Thorstein Veblen analyzes luxury goods that enable social distinction. He notes that, when a product is perceived as expensive, it enters a category: that of goods belonging to a high social class. “This is what we call conspicuous consumption: people will desire things whose very high price constitutes all the value, like designer clothes,” explains semiotician Luca Marchetti, lecturer at the Institute French fashion.

It is better, when you are ultra-rich, to wear a white t-shirt in soft leather from the Milanese brand Bottega Venetta (2,200 euros) than a similar model in jersey from Kiabi (3 euros). “This garment is not really ostentatious, points out the specialist. There is no really visible logo, color or aggressive fur. The aim is clearly not to be divisive and not to impose its richness on the eyes. of the world”. When Bill Gates chooses to appear on camera wearing an inoffensive cardigan, or Gwyneth Paltrow arrives in a courtroom in a white turtleneck, the choice is well thought out. “In today’s tense social context, displaying one’s wealth is frowned upon,” he continues.

Exit the external signs of wealth, hello “stealth wealth” or “stealth wealth”. “With each period of crisis, the signs of belonging to the upper class tend to become more discreet,” continues Luca Marchetti. “In the 1970s, minimalism was born after the oil crisis.” Amid the extravagances of hippie fashion and its colorful colors, Calvin Klein offered clothes with clean lines, with shades of gray or black. With the stock market crash of 1929, the embroidery and extravagances of the Roaring Twenties had been replaced by the neutral tones and fitted hairstyles of the 1930s. In the 1980s, John Forsythe and Linda Evans starred in Dynasty ultra-rich ones in bow ties and colorful taffeta dresses. Today, the billionaires of Succession only wear dark suits and white turtlenecks. “The idea is to appear harmless, to blend into the crowd so as not to put yourself in danger,” analyzes Luca Marchetti.

The effect is guaranteed, as more and more young people, particularly on Tiktok, seek to adopt the trend to “be in it” too. Trendy today, nothing indicates, however, that it lasts with the general public: on the catwalks of fashion week in Paris, at the beginning of October, Balmain, Marni and Schiaparelli opted for clothes in bright colors, saturated with artificial flowers. A deluge of shapes and patterns that pushed the New York Times to be titled on the “revenge of maximalism”.