Wonderful and insightful piece, as always. As a luxury insights professional, I wrote about this topic nearly 10 years ago (it was a different era! fascinating to see how it endures but is expressed in new ways as culture evolves). At the time, I was inspired by what remains one of my favorite quotes of all time: "The chicest thing is when you don't exist on Google" - Phoebe Philo. How prescient she was, unsurprisingly. I think one of the key pillars of the "quiet luxury" brands is that they mirror this characteristic/ value of their customers: they themselves do no shout and they expect the brands they choose to allow into their own lives to do the same.
I didn't watch Succession, but participated in the discourse about its fashion by reading blogs and recaps. One quote I found interesting from (I believe) the costume designer was the lack of coats on the Roy family, because "when you are going from car to the jetway, right to your private plane and back into your car, you don't need one." Fascinating!
I have to say that I don't see Telfar as IYKYK, because of the large logo. Maybe 'once you know, you know'? I also think there's a discussion to be had of Telfar being classified as luxury/holding its value XX percent, as I often see in articles. Telfar's whole vibe is that it's a moderate price point, accessible to just about everyone. There is scarcity in certain colors/collabs, and it's only available through Telfar vs other retailers. But I'm not sure that's enough to qualify as luxury (I own the mini Telefax/UGG collab and love it, btw).
Good point re: the logo. I think it's IYKYK in the sense of like, if you don't know how to get the bag you won't be able to get it. Maybe that's less true now -- it looks like you can just buy a circle bag in black online.
This was a great article, and made me think of two things:
1.) Pepple who need external validation (getting likes on Instagram, strangers telling them they love their Bottega bag,) versus having inherent internal validation (liking something because you like it, and it makes you feel good.). Something that is “IYKYK” is still feeding external validation. It would take a confident, self-assured consumer to want fashion privacy, to want to not be perceived. The rise of narcissistic personality disorder in individualistuc societies , (creating people who must have external validation, because they have no way to prop themselves up internally) been studied since the 1960s — but I hadn’t thought until now about how I might impact fashion. Quiet luxury is still a desire to be perceived as rich, just in an IYKYK way, instead of with logos and bling. I think it will be a rare consumer who has the internal temperament to want fashion privacy, but I agree that it will be a high level of luxury.
2.) I always recommend William Gibson‘s book Pattern Recognition to people who like to think about fashion. He’s a legendary writer of intelligent literary science fiction, but this one is just fiction, fashion, real-world tech, and introspection.
The protagonist is a marketing and branding consultant, with very particular taste in fashion, and she is asked to research the origins of a film that is being released anonymously in clips on the Internet. Written in 2003, he predicts the rise of influencers and astroturfing. But it’s the third book in that trilogy that is literally about a secret brand of denim which is why your article reminded me of it. From a Vice interview with the author:
“VICE: It's interesting also that in Zero History there are these amazing sections where you talk about the pop up stores that appear in covert ways to sell Gabriel Hounds denim. There is great attention to detail in the way the characters find out that jeans are going to be on sale, they go to the location, they wait… as if on a pilgrimage. There's something that seems almost religious or spiritual in your description of these moments, something about the spirit of the work that goes into making something real. Something about being able to touch real things that people made with their hands.
WG: I don't know exactly what to call it. It's like a backfire, not the kind when your exhaust blows out but the kind firefighters light in the face of some huge conflagration and the only way they can stop the conflagration is to build their own little fire in its path, and there is a kind of defiance in doing that. And going, watching for the pop up store on the internet and going out, standing in line and getting the real thing that isn't ever going to be advertised. In some sense it's a defiance of the system – that those artifacts even exist. People do it out of some stubbornness that I find admirable”
Hey, me too! Actually – – I liked it so much my 5year old daughter’s daughter’s middle name is Cayce.
She was the first character I really related to, and aspired to be, despite my being more of a fashion maximalist than minimalist. She was calm in an emergency, had the agency to move about the world as she wanted, she knew her own words without needing to brag about it, and she was fearless in the face of the mafia, all of which I thought would be excellent qualities in a namesake. 😊
Amazing! I first read PR in university which led me to my profession quite frankly! I also got on the Pilates reformer trend early because of Cayce (: Love to see a like-mind!
Oh how lovely! I think I read it one year out of university, and it was definitely the reason I started a lifelong love of reformer pilates. Love to meet a like-mind as well!
I'm not sure designer items sans logo equals privacy, but rather continues to support the notion of stealth wealth. For me, "privacy" is something that the uber rich has always demanded and largely received: private shopping trips, secluded backdoor entrances, closing a whole store to shop, etc. It will be interesting to see if brands adapt this approach for say, private shopping parties, or other exclusive events where the not-uber-rich can aspire to a level of privacy. Again, thinking about the "long tail" there are more aspirational customers in the world than uber rich. It just depends on how brands want to engage them.
I think brands are already doing a lot of clientele-ing with the ultra-rich (shopping parties, etc.) and will continue to do so! I suspect we'll read about it in the trades before WSJ and so forth run their trend pieces.
With quiet luxury, stealth wealth, IYKYK mentality there is also something about not needing to use your power/influence to be a billboard for something or someone else.
It's so interesting what you wrote about the ultimate luxury being privacy. Can we link all this to the tendency of some brands to focus on their highest spending clients and offering them not special events, but an exclusive experience involving privacy by making their services more personal to their VVIPs.
Amy how wonderful that you had time in Vermont & in nature to break some of the loops & reflect.. & lucky for those of us who benefit from your words.., thank you!!
With global food security becoming a bigger conversation, there may be an uptick in appreciation towards agriculture reflected in fashion. Examples of conversations include (bear with me) modern ag > organic ag, innovations to increase crop yield in view of the negative impacts of climate change, will there be enough food with the expected population increase of 2050?, etc.
Art has always helped us through good and bad times by providing us with something powerful. In view of global food security, it will be the arts that connects us globally. Fashion always seems to step up to the plate.
I am in love with Bevza and everything wheat they have. It makes me appreciate the farmers who do the thankless, backbreaking work for our survival. That wheat choker is on my want list.
It’s interesting that all of this (the discretion, the privacy, the lack of labels, etc) seems to be a throwback of sorts to a demographic that seems about to go extinct: the American WASP. It’s coming back, but in a different form.
Yes, waspiness and old money on tiktok are kinda the same, no? It seems like cognitive dissonance to see people rail against generational wealth and things like that and then go on social media and idolize #oldmoneyaesthetic but maybe it just comes back to a deep desire many of us have to do less work.
Wonderful and insightful piece, as always. As a luxury insights professional, I wrote about this topic nearly 10 years ago (it was a different era! fascinating to see how it endures but is expressed in new ways as culture evolves). At the time, I was inspired by what remains one of my favorite quotes of all time: "The chicest thing is when you don't exist on Google" - Phoebe Philo. How prescient she was, unsurprisingly. I think one of the key pillars of the "quiet luxury" brands is that they mirror this characteristic/ value of their customers: they themselves do no shout and they expect the brands they choose to allow into their own lives to do the same.
Thank you for sharing that quote. It's so funny that she said that then and now she couldn't be more google-able!
I didn't watch Succession, but participated in the discourse about its fashion by reading blogs and recaps. One quote I found interesting from (I believe) the costume designer was the lack of coats on the Roy family, because "when you are going from car to the jetway, right to your private plane and back into your car, you don't need one." Fascinating!
I have to say that I don't see Telfar as IYKYK, because of the large logo. Maybe 'once you know, you know'? I also think there's a discussion to be had of Telfar being classified as luxury/holding its value XX percent, as I often see in articles. Telfar's whole vibe is that it's a moderate price point, accessible to just about everyone. There is scarcity in certain colors/collabs, and it's only available through Telfar vs other retailers. But I'm not sure that's enough to qualify as luxury (I own the mini Telefax/UGG collab and love it, btw).
Good point re: the logo. I think it's IYKYK in the sense of like, if you don't know how to get the bag you won't be able to get it. Maybe that's less true now -- it looks like you can just buy a circle bag in black online.
This was a great article, and made me think of two things:
1.) Pepple who need external validation (getting likes on Instagram, strangers telling them they love their Bottega bag,) versus having inherent internal validation (liking something because you like it, and it makes you feel good.). Something that is “IYKYK” is still feeding external validation. It would take a confident, self-assured consumer to want fashion privacy, to want to not be perceived. The rise of narcissistic personality disorder in individualistuc societies , (creating people who must have external validation, because they have no way to prop themselves up internally) been studied since the 1960s — but I hadn’t thought until now about how I might impact fashion. Quiet luxury is still a desire to be perceived as rich, just in an IYKYK way, instead of with logos and bling. I think it will be a rare consumer who has the internal temperament to want fashion privacy, but I agree that it will be a high level of luxury.
2.) I always recommend William Gibson‘s book Pattern Recognition to people who like to think about fashion. He’s a legendary writer of intelligent literary science fiction, but this one is just fiction, fashion, real-world tech, and introspection.
The protagonist is a marketing and branding consultant, with very particular taste in fashion, and she is asked to research the origins of a film that is being released anonymously in clips on the Internet. Written in 2003, he predicts the rise of influencers and astroturfing. But it’s the third book in that trilogy that is literally about a secret brand of denim which is why your article reminded me of it. From a Vice interview with the author:
“VICE: It's interesting also that in Zero History there are these amazing sections where you talk about the pop up stores that appear in covert ways to sell Gabriel Hounds denim. There is great attention to detail in the way the characters find out that jeans are going to be on sale, they go to the location, they wait… as if on a pilgrimage. There's something that seems almost religious or spiritual in your description of these moments, something about the spirit of the work that goes into making something real. Something about being able to touch real things that people made with their hands.
WG: I don't know exactly what to call it. It's like a backfire, not the kind when your exhaust blows out but the kind firefighters light in the face of some huge conflagration and the only way they can stop the conflagration is to build their own little fire in its path, and there is a kind of defiance in doing that. And going, watching for the pop up store on the internet and going out, standing in line and getting the real thing that isn't ever going to be advertised. In some sense it's a defiance of the system – that those artifacts even exist. People do it out of some stubbornness that I find admirable”
Thank you for this comment and the book rec!!! I haven't read it but will.
Pattern Recognition is my favorite book of all time! I re-read it every few years. Gibson is a visionary and his writing still rings true to this day.
Hey, me too! Actually – – I liked it so much my 5year old daughter’s daughter’s middle name is Cayce.
She was the first character I really related to, and aspired to be, despite my being more of a fashion maximalist than minimalist. She was calm in an emergency, had the agency to move about the world as she wanted, she knew her own words without needing to brag about it, and she was fearless in the face of the mafia, all of which I thought would be excellent qualities in a namesake. 😊
Amazing! I first read PR in university which led me to my profession quite frankly! I also got on the Pilates reformer trend early because of Cayce (: Love to see a like-mind!
Oh how lovely! I think I read it one year out of university, and it was definitely the reason I started a lifelong love of reformer pilates. Love to meet a like-mind as well!
I'm not sure designer items sans logo equals privacy, but rather continues to support the notion of stealth wealth. For me, "privacy" is something that the uber rich has always demanded and largely received: private shopping trips, secluded backdoor entrances, closing a whole store to shop, etc. It will be interesting to see if brands adapt this approach for say, private shopping parties, or other exclusive events where the not-uber-rich can aspire to a level of privacy. Again, thinking about the "long tail" there are more aspirational customers in the world than uber rich. It just depends on how brands want to engage them.
I think brands are already doing a lot of clientele-ing with the ultra-rich (shopping parties, etc.) and will continue to do so! I suspect we'll read about it in the trades before WSJ and so forth run their trend pieces.
Agreed. But if they are smart, they will find ways to expand these experiences to reach aspirational customers even if on a smaller scale.
With quiet luxury, stealth wealth, IYKYK mentality there is also something about not needing to use your power/influence to be a billboard for something or someone else.
Yes!
God, I can’t tell you how much I agree with this. THANK YOU.
(And Happy New Year to you and all the Back Row gang.) 🥂🥂🥂🥂xo
HNY to you too, and thank you!
It's so interesting what you wrote about the ultimate luxury being privacy. Can we link all this to the tendency of some brands to focus on their highest spending clients and offering them not special events, but an exclusive experience involving privacy by making their services more personal to their VVIPs.
Amy how wonderful that you had time in Vermont & in nature to break some of the loops & reflect.. & lucky for those of us who benefit from your words.., thank you!!
Yes, it was a nice mental break! Thank you!
With global food security becoming a bigger conversation, there may be an uptick in appreciation towards agriculture reflected in fashion. Examples of conversations include (bear with me) modern ag > organic ag, innovations to increase crop yield in view of the negative impacts of climate change, will there be enough food with the expected population increase of 2050?, etc.
Art has always helped us through good and bad times by providing us with something powerful. In view of global food security, it will be the arts that connects us globally. Fashion always seems to step up to the plate.
I am in love with Bevza and everything wheat they have. It makes me appreciate the farmers who do the thankless, backbreaking work for our survival. That wheat choker is on my want list.
Thank you for commenting and damn, yes -- that is a great necklace.
It’s interesting that all of this (the discretion, the privacy, the lack of labels, etc) seems to be a throwback of sorts to a demographic that seems about to go extinct: the American WASP. It’s coming back, but in a different form.
Yes, waspiness and old money on tiktok are kinda the same, no? It seems like cognitive dissonance to see people rail against generational wealth and things like that and then go on social media and idolize #oldmoneyaesthetic but maybe it just comes back to a deep desire many of us have to do less work.