The Old Money Aesthetic, or How To Dress Like A Colonizer
Picture this: it’s a breezy summers day, you’re on a boat. It’s your boat. You’re wearing simple high-quality linens and a pair of brand-new sandals so comfortable it feels like you’re walking on a cloud. You’re sipping a white wine – no, a martini – no, champagne. You’re sipping champagne and talking idly with friends about a carefree life. You discuss where you will summer this year, and how everyone’s ski trip was. You order another bottle of champagne as you plan a trip to Venice. No need to worry about booking a flight, surely you can just take the private plane. Life is good.
Imagine attaining such a life. Well, it’s never going to happen. Imagine at least looking like you have such a life! It’s also unlikely to happen, but at least you can try! Welcome to the TikTok fashion trend of the summer, the Old Money Aesthetic.
Old Money, Stealth Wealth or Quiet Luxury, seems to be the hottest aesthetic of the summer. Inspired by the likes of Succession and Sophia Richie, Old Money is all about looking effortless. Unlike New Money – where wealth is accrued by actual work and sweat (ew), Old Money is generational wealth. It’s effortless money that’s been passed down from generation to generation.
The aesthetic is simple -- neutral colours, clean lines, and high-quality basics. Minimal logos or brands. As the adage goes: money talks but wealth whispers. Think the opposite of the “ludicrously capacious bag,” from Succession. Thought to be a reaction to the “California Rich” aesthetic of the Kardashians, the Old Money aesthetic prides itself on simplicity. High fashion brands like Hermes and Chanel are much preferable to the new gaudy brands like Gucci and Louis Vuitton. Muses include Daisy Buchanan, Blair Waldorf, the characters of Succession (apart from Greg), and Sophia Richie. The hair is slicked back and clean, the make-up is simple, yet glowing. You are elegant, you are sophisticated. You are rich.
Given the current economic turmoil, it makes sense why people want to cosplay as the uber-wealthy. While we’re slaving away at our 9 - 5’s and coming home to our dingy rented apartments, it’s nice to at least pretend like our financial affairs aren’t in dire straits. Unlike the Yuppie aesthetic of the 80s, the Old Money girlies aren’t trying to dress for success, they’re dressing for leisure. An overworked and underpaid generation doesn’t want to dress for the office or the boardroom, they want to dress for leisure. If you can’t afford to show off all your brands, that’s fine, you can just say that wealth whispers. Besides haven’t you heard? It’s totally gauche and nouveau riche to show off labels these days. Old Money could also arguably be a trend towards sustainability. While micro trends seem to be coming and going in the blink of an eye, the Old Money aesthetic leans towards simplicity. Well-made basics that go with everything, and last longer than the bullet speed trend cycles.
If you dig a little deeper however, there’s something slightly more disturbing in the Old Money aesthetic. The Old Money muses all have luxurious blonde hair, with curls added in post with the Dyson Airwrap. Either that or it’s in a perfect slicked-back bun, without a hint of frizz. Their skin is glowing, lips are plump, yet make-up is minimal. No blow-up lips or massive fillers, if the Old Money girlie has had work, it’s subtle. Their figures are slim – a bit curvy, but not too much. No gauche Kardashian figures, the Old Money girlie is giving off- duty model. With straight slick hair and small delicate features, the Old Money girlie is almost exclusively white. There are no Old Money hairstyles for curly or coily hair – this is a look for white girls only.
If you give it a semblance of thought, of course it makes sense – white people are more likely to have generational wealth than people of colour.
Old Money inherently comes from exploitation – be it the slave-owning Vanderbilts, the Colonist Lowell Family, or the arms-trading Du Pont family, to own such generational wealth is inherently immoral. A more recent example is influencer and fashion girlie Lara Cosima. She recently posted a video of her getting ready to go to a Spanish Ball - after some minor investigation, turns out she’s the descendant of the Von Dommersmark family. Why are we dressing up as the descendants of slave owners or property hoarders? Why are we cosplaying as people who send their money to offshore tax havens and vote for policies that prevent upwards mobility?
Middle-Class Icon F Scott Fitzgerald put it best in The Great Gatsby: “They were careless people … they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.” Sure, Daisy Buchanan is an Old Money aesthetic icon, but Fitzgerald was scathing in his critique of the Old Money World that she represented.
There’s nothing wrong with simple lines and high-quality basics, but guys can we please not glorify the Old Money tycoons.