Luxury Fashion Is For Broke People

the rich don't dress like you think they do they aren't buying Gucci belts St laon bags or Versace robes the middle classes take a look at these three bags two are from Walmart and one is from Louis Vuitton can you tell which one is the luxury brand sure it's easy when the LV logo is plastered all over it but I lied one of those other bags isn't from Walmart it's actually a Birkin worth over $30,000 mainstream luxury fashion brands have trained us to believe that branding is everything when in reality most high-end products are really

only status symbols for those that can't afford it real luxury hides in plain sight if youve seen the show succession you're probably aware of how one character's featuress $625 cashmir hat help popularize conversations regarding stealth well while famous movie stars are often pictured in the regular designer brands that you've heard of like Gucci and Balenciaga many times they're paid to advertise it the truly Rich that aren't constantly in the spotlight have an entirely different kind of wardrobe one based around minimalism quality and fit for example those plain gray t-shirts that Mark Zuckerberg wears they are

$400 custom made from Brunello Cinelli yet to most people it looks like it could be from Target in fact when the truly Rich do wear traditional luxury Brands such as pra and Valentino they have access to exclusive designs that hide their branding when most people think of luxury items they're often reminded of brands that have strong advertising and a recognizable logo or design whether that be a Rolex watch a Lamborghini sports car or Gucci flipflops they're all easily identifiable as luxurious while billions of advertising dollars have been spent to ingrain that message into your mind

often they aren't the Pinnacle of quality by any means they are simply highly regarded as a status symbol like many other animals on Earth we place value on status symbols as they can project value upon ourselves male peacocks use their colorful feathers to attract a mate Penguins collect Pebbles to prove their worth and US humans purchase douchy luxury goods it's all the same status symbols merely attempt to prove that their owner is valuable the reason we don't see the ultra rich like Jeff Bezos dripped out and Gucci is because we all know he's Rich he

doesn't need to prove it however when you see your neighbor or coworker wearing a new designer outfit you immediately begin to wonder about how they are able to afford it turns out a lot of the time they can't why you wear huh why do you dress like that like like that what's you wearing you look poor in places with great income inequality those people with lower incomes live under significant social stress their lower position in the social hierarchy is more obvious and More consequential in response some people purchase the kinds of goods that create the

impression that they have money to spare even when they don't researchers examined Google search Trends across the US and found that people in states with relatively High income inequality were more likely to search for luxury Brands than those in other states you can actually map this correlation and you can see searches for luxurious Brands like Ralph Lauren or items like fur vest have the same breakdown as did the map of income inequality despite what we think that common luxury items are only purchased by the rich it's actually the lower and middle class consumers that account

for nearly half of the luxury goods Market globally people like to criticize those that overspend yet they don't realize why people do it in the first place for example overpriced Air Jordan sneakers are popular amongst young African-American men including those from poor neighborhoods despite the fact that purchasing them might cause more financial stress for many it's considered a necessity critics of spending above your means on luxury items often fail to recognize the underlying effect that these luxury goods can have for some their status in society is insecure many people who are low-income can't afford to

appear like they are low income it's hard to attract a romantic partner if you look like a broke loser and good luck getting a good job if you show up at an interview looking like someone who's never had a good job before the most obvious proof that these luxury items act as a necessary status symbol for the middle class is the sheer number of counterfeits that exist from New York's Canal Street to China's Alley Express you'll find no shortage of logo riddled items their quality is usually subpar at vest yet its demand continues to grow

the more extreme income inequality becomes the more pressure people feel to create the impression that they are succeeding when the co pandemic shut down nearly everything it caused many middleclass folks to lose their jobs and place significant financial strain on the entire world you'd think luxury spending would crash during a time of Global Financial uncertainty yet the exact opposite happened Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton lvmh for short is a French conglomerate that owns many Brands such as Tiffany and Dior oddly enough the last few years has been an incredible growth period for lbmh it's Mark cap

at one point crossed over half a trillion dollars and Bernard Arno CEO of lvmh became the richest person alive with a net worth over $200 billion there's not a singular reason why this happened but experts point to a few key findings that help tell the story for one studies continue to prove that income inequality causes both the rich to consume more luxury goods as they can afford to but also that poor individuals similarily consume more as a means to present themselves successful governments across the world also gave out stimulus checks during this period and many

people used it to buy luxury items perhaps it's because they didn't know what else to use it for but studies show it's indicative of a cultural shift regarding how we view luxury a study from Bane found that jenzy consumers are starting to buy luxury items some 3 to 5 years earlier than Millennials at 15 years old versus around 18 to 20 gone are the days where luxury items were exclusively for the rich now it's merely a savings goal for younger generations to eventually purchase these items by now pay later platforms like afterpay and luxury resale

sites like the real real offer even more ways for those financially insecure to partake in this illusion people have babies with no money all the time and if you're so worried about it why don't you stop buying designer clothes huh I buy everything on eBay it doesn't count when you're wearing Marc Jacobs from Minneapolis as younger gener Generations increase their consumption of luxury goods these products lose their value as a means to Signal wealth even in the Simpsons what was supposed to be a cartoon about a lower middle class family has now done a collaboration

with Balenciaga it's clear that mainstream luxury fashion brands had begun shifting away from targeting the rich and instead towards advertising to the middle class to rationalize their expensive price relative to Quality these luxury brands are careful to thread the needle between grow grow and scarcity many companies do limited production runs or even destroy their excess inventory to create scarcity luxury fashion items have some of the highest margins across all Industries and they keep it that way through projecting a false sense of exclusivity the idea that luxury has been diluted by the middle class has resurfaced

many discussions regarding two so-called factions of well old money and new money old money would be someone like a member of the Walton family who famously founded Walmart and new money would be someone like your uncle who apparently made Millions buying Bitcoin being old money suggests a kind of generational familiarity to wealth that doesn't require someone to show it off compared to new money was suggest someone didn't grow up rich and has a need or desire to project their new found wealth this tension between old money and new money has existed forever perhaps most famously

explored in F Scot Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby so social media especially since the show's succession seems to have really obsessed over the idea that old money is classy and new money is trashy especially when it comes to how they dress in the show when luxury items were worn they weren't from Brands you probably ever heard of and besides looking well fit and of high quality they weren't anything unique they are ridiculously expensive but only other rich people would know the show clearly suggests that old money has quiet luxury and new money left subtlety and everyone's

laughing up their sleeves about your date what why why because she's brought a ludicrously capacious bag what what's even in there huh when we think of mainstream luxury Brands the first thing that comes to mind is often clothing that has its logo plastered all over it but most fashion brands such as Ralph Loren or Gucci typically also have a secondary sub brand or style that lacks any obvious signs of branding but also being higher quality and more expensive it's kind of like how Tech subscriptions have evolved you can use the cheaper version with ads or

pay for premium and get a higher quality adree experience funny enough an entire fashion subculture has now emerged that tries to emulate the old money aesthetic on a budget which really just seems to be fashion designs like this companies like Zara and H&M have capitalized on this trend and although to some extent this is just another way of projecting a false sense of status at least it can be far less expensive and not nearly as obnoxious it goes without saying that not everyone that purchases flashy luxury items are insecure posers some just really like the

brand and that's perfectly fine advertising and social media has effectively allowed Brands to communicate unique identities around their products and there's enough variety for everyone to find something they like there isn't anything inherently wrong with saving up to purchase a luxury item often people do it as a gift to themselves to celebrate an achievement the problem arises when these are used as a tool to project status especially during times of economic hardship while owning a home has become Out Of Reach for many in the middle class luxury consumption for the same demographic continues to go

up while some may say it's our own fault as our priorities have shifted perhaps regular folks have merely given up on what used to be attainable and these luxury brands have done a better job of capitalizing on our insecurities so the next time you find yourself wanting to splurge on a luxury brand question the reason you have that desire in the first place is it because you actually really like it and think it provides a lot of value per dollar or is it something more who are you really buying it for yourself or so that

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