A Beginner's Guide To Quiet Luxury

Channel Succession vibes without the billion-dollar bank statement.

Whether you're talking to a fashion columnist, connoisseur of high culture or just your Succession-obsessed mate, all of the people in the know right now are obsessed with talking about one very simple two-word phrase: 'quiet luxury'—sometimes otherwise known as stealth wealth. In fact, quiet luxury is being talked about so much in the wake of yet another much-talked about season of the HBO dynastic drama, we've already come full-circle to think-pieces calling for an end to all the talk about quiet luxury. But despite, as The Cut put it, Quiet Luxury now becoming very loud, boiled down to the basics, it's the subtle art of looking rich by doing very little, very well.

Writing in Elle, Harry Archer described the aesthetic as “new-age minimalism”. Vogue went one step further, laying out its natural boundaries: "it’s less austere than minimalism but more polished than ‘normcore,’”. However you want to put it, it boils down to a few fittingly simple, yet golden rules. Eschew logos and pretentious branding, and wear normal-looking clothes that are made well.

via Getty Images

2023 has already delivered a multitude of iconic quiet luxury moments that suggest the trend has begun to influence how elites all over the world are choosing to dress. Gwyneth Paltrow's wardrobe for her much-publicised ski-assault trial was perhaps the crowning moment of the movement to date, with the actress stepping into the New York courtroom in a variety of understated, yet overtly luxurious power pieces: key among them an overcoat by The Row, which would set the average punter back in excess of $3,000.

Shows like Succession and Billions have also made the notion of quiet luxury a desirable one for men as well. The former has drawn notoriety for the cost of its costuming despite the majority of its characters dressing, to the naked eye at least, like your average Barangaroo finance bro. This is largely thanks to a big injection of brands that thrive on timeless pieces that put an emphasis on material and craftsmanship to subtly set themselves apart, Loro Piana and Brunello Cucinelli chief among them.

Succession's Kendall Roy (Jeremy Strong), HBO

The good thing, for the non-billionaires out there who want to embrace this kind of ideal, is that it actually puts an emphasis on many of the trends that, if adopted en masse, could help usher in a more sustainable future for fashion. Quiet luxury rejects trend-led seasonality, it rejects fast fashion and, perhaps most importantly, it rejects poorly-made clothes that feel custom-made for a quick trip to landfill. It embraces seeing clothes as a long-term investment, emphasising buying less, buying better, and wearing the shit out of what you have, confident in the knowledge that it'll remain sturdy and stylish for years to come. And contrary to popular belief, you don't have to spend thousands to attain the look.