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Re: The rise of the non-label & quiet luxury
By Meg | January 24, 2008
In light of the recent discussion on signalling wealth, I found this post at Fashion Tribes particularly interesting. One of the major trends predicted is “luxury that whispers”, clothing and accessories that are still luxurious in their quality and details, but that don’t scream “made of money” quite so much in these tough economic times.
I wonder how true this prediction will be. After all, many people do use luxury brands to signal wealth. Will they still be buy luxury goods if they only whisper that message?
Or, does this say something important about the state of the middle class? It’s no secret that many middle-classers use luxury items to send the message that they make more than they do (while many truly wealthy people feel no need to advertise their bank accounts). That may be coming to an abrupt halt, though, as this post from the NY Times explains. It’s entitled Thinking twice about that $400 handbag. Maybe luxury brands will be catering more to the firmly wealthy as they loose the middle class market.
Then again, I’ve never cared much for bags or clothes plastered with a brand name — even when they don’t scream “I spent big bucks to advertise for a brand I can hardly afford”, or worse, “FAKE!!!”
Tags: Fashion, Impressions, Spending Money, Style
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January 24th, 2008 at 3:04 am
Quality will almost always be more expensive. And something only rich people can afford.
Besides, when one wears simple, well made clothing devoid of any labels, it automatically looks as though one has money. And correct me if I’m wrong, but I see many old (and some not so old) ladies do that. It looks classy.
I aspire to look like that. I don’t wear labels and I am choosey about what fabrics I wear, when I can afford to do so.
January 24th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
Welcome Tarah! I agree with you completely about wearing simple clothing and being choosey about fabrics! It definitely looks classy.
Quality is relative and I wouldn’t say that you have to be rich to afford quality. However, it does usually cost more.
For example, my Longchamp bag cost a lot more than the bags I bought at Walmart. Guess which bags I ended up giving away after a few uses because they were already showing a lot of wear? However, I did get the Longchamp bag without being what I’d consider rich, and it’s definitely a great quality bag.
January 24th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
Yes, I agree with Tarah….. that’s for sure!!
January 24th, 2008 at 4:08 pm
I am guilty of a few designer handbags but I was lucky enough to have a boyfriend that bought them for me! I think about 25 times before I would spend that kind of money on a bag (even though I LOVE handbags!)
I definitely have some labels but you know I don’t think there is too much harm in having a few “staples” of designer jeans or some great dress that really made you FEEL good!
January 25th, 2008 at 5:26 am
Hi Meg. Great blog you have. I’ll be a regular, I promise!
I have a bag that I bought in 2004 from a well-known South African chain store - dirt cheap. It still looks great! And it looks as though I spent a lot of money on it.
Another bag - bought from the South African Nine West - is looking horrendous. And Saffers equate Nine West with quality. Not so.
And I agree with Cara. When you can afford to, splash out. Why else do we work so damn hard?!
January 25th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
Welcome, Cara!
You do sound lucky! I love handbags, too. My husband gave me my Longchamp bag as a gift. Sometimes I can’t justify a purchase so I drop some hints his way. The only problem is that it’s all our money anyway — but that way the money he does spend on gifts goes to stuff I really like.
I don’t see a problem with designer labels and I don’t see a problem with not having designer labels. Like you, I agree that things should make you feel good.
January 25th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
Hi Tarah,
Thanks!
Quality is a hard thing to pin down, isn’t it?
I love your last line because the truth is, most of us could make do with a lot less than what we make if we didn’t care about stuff like what we wear. But you’re right, if you can afford it and are saving responsibly, why not?
January 27th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
[…] rise of the non-label and ‘quiet luxury’ Welcome news from Fashion Tribes (via All About Appearances): the uninspired trend of flaunting brands may have peaked. Trends forecasters signal logo fatigue […]