the romanticisation of old money & the myth of quiet luxury

What is insane to me is how anyone could look at Sophia Richie's wedding and not think it looks incredibly expensive. Like...nothing about it says "quiet" to me

One thing posts about "appearing old money" always miss is that you can't really "pass" as old money because you are not old money. They literally all know each other. The social currency isn't the aesthetics (though not denying that there are certain "standards" that are Eurocentric and classist) but connections. I go to a historically elitist university and what people do when they make the first connection is to just start rattling off ppl you mutually know (no matter if they're UK or intl). Those "how to be classy" or femininity/how to bag a rich man accounts are every crazier because they don't realise it doesn't MATTER how you dress, you are not part of the circle and you will never be. This whole thing feels like a rebranding of hustle culture/fake it to you make it that misses the point that no matter how hard you try, it's capital that creates capital.

Sophia Richie's story is depressing--not for the discourse around her style, for the fact her life story starts with who her father is, became public for who her boyfriend was, and seems to end with who her husband is. A woman completely defined culturally by men related to her.

What I find really funny about the ‘old money’ aesthetic is just preppy style. Like this style has been popular for decades it’s just been rebranded. I also agree this idea of preferring one kind of rich person over another is ironic considering how often wealth comes from exploitation.

It's especially funny when people talk about "old money" aesthetic in Russia. Like gurl, all old money either fled the country 100 years ago, or were killed. Old money who.

I am 90% sure that the tiktok girlies only thought the wedding was quiet luxury because sophia had her hair in a bun 😂

I have also heard that the “old money, quiet luxury” aesthetic is a survival tactic. Drawing attention to your wealth is the kind of thing that would have gotten you killed during past revolutions. Maybe death is not as much of a threat now, but closer scrutiny and more calls for wealth redistribution certainly still are.

Doing Old Money Shein hauls is like buying a Nirvana t-shirt at Forever21 and calling yourself grunge 😂

succession is one of the very few pieces of media that actually get those whole “wealth whispers“ and “quiet luxury“ perfectly right. you will never see one of the core family characters wear anything with a luxury brand logo - yet their daily wear is worth multiple thousands every time. the attention paid to costume design is insane

I find it funny how on one side nepo babies are being criticized but on the other side the old money aesthetic is celebrated.

perhaps it’s just me, but marrying into old money from the working class sounds like a nightmare. the family will hate you and treat you like a cockroach, the prenup? forget airtight that thing is vacuum sealed. they’ll never see you as one of them and most of the time they will go out of their way to get rid of you. genuinely can’t think of anything worse, marrying someone with money is one thing but old money? no thank youuuu

Aspiring to be old money is so weird to me. I don't understand the sense of pride that people could have to know that they had one savvy ancestor that made loads of money back in the day, and the whole family have been leeching off that success ever since. New money people are considered tacky, but at least it could be argued that they directly worked for what they have, rather than sitting on their arse and living off trust funds.

You’re absolutely right about class mixing Jordan! I work in an extremely affluent area in LA where the rich of the rich old money families frequent. The only time they mix with lower classes is when they’re holding philanthropic or charity events😂

I wanted to add to the 'celebrities vs influencers are the new old money vs new money' that, just like old money, the prevalence of nepotism in celebrity culture means that hollywood-style fame IS actually inherited. When celebrities act old money, it's really because nowadays they kind of are... (Also omg luxury is never quiet, capitalism speaks volumes)

As someone who has worked in the luxury space, I can guarantee that “old money” rarely dresses like this in real life. Truly rich people are bopping around town in Target and Old Navy. They like their money where they can see it: in their bank accounts.

the obsession with old money and "whispering wealth" is hilarious. i've brushed elbows with these people and let me tell you, money does NOT equal class. old money is such a different way of thinking. it's like coming back to school from winter break and they're talking about which $$$ ski resort they went to, if they were going international for a weekend, which house they were going to go to for the summer, etc. they lack a lot of basic life skills and common sense. i truly do not understand the obsession. you can always tell when people try to "fit in"

Not wanting to “class mix” is something that I’ve seen in people other than just billionaires. I won’t talk too too much about the dirty details, but I knew a few children of millionaires, and children of upper upper middle class people, when I was a kid, and my family was… uh… definitely not in that price bracket at ALL. I was uninvited from birthday parties, had my family’s car mocked by the children and their parents, snidely asked if I would be going to a “state school” (meaning a public university/college) when I was 8, and had the birthday gifts that I gave my friends laughed at and *thrown away*. Got laughed at when a gift card was turned down at a coffee shop and I had to put my items away, etc. My family was just on the lower end of the same wealth bracket, (if not at the top of the next bracket down), as these people, and I was bullied and ostracized for it. By the parents far more than their children, one of them literally called me a “social climber”. And I was, like, 9. This aversion to “class mixing” is something that exists at many levels of society, it’s not limited to the extremely rich and famous. (Please take all of this with a grain of salt as it’s just my experience, I’m sure there are people outside of the one group or two groups of clichey wealthy people that I experienced that are in that price bracket and are lovely human beings. I just didn’t happen to meet that many of them.)

It’s funny how with the passing of time, the Vanderbilt family is now considered Old Money. When the Vanderbilt’s first became wealthy, the Old Money family from Europe, such as the Astors, took issue with the Vanderbilts and other New Money families. The European Old Money families saw the New Money as the new kids on the block who still had to prove they deserved a place in high society (and as other have pointed out, basically the way we view celebrities vs influencers).

This obsession for Old Money is so problematic. I feel like people do not have critical thinking skills when it comes to concepts. Old Money is associated with good taste because it presumes generational wealth creates heirs that are educated and thus can asses aesthetics appropriately. Nouveau Riche (the bourgeoisie) have poor taste because the first generation to get rich in a family is not educated, probably not alphabetised, have no school and no tradion of proper taste. For European culture, seeming old money meant literally being nobility and latifundiar(landowner). It is so classist to appeal to this aesthetic. It is inhearently classist. Not to mention the especially racist American Old Money Esthetic cause how are you even gerationally rich in the US question mark???? Probably we all know. Even though I do not like the bourgeoisie, this idea of these people being rich and becoming their own class between nobility and commoners democratised capital ownership. If you are no longer (the old rich) economically better off, how do you distinguish yourself? You gatekeep rich good taste and culture, that you set the canon for

My main take away is that Americans who idealize this aesthetic have no real idea what “old money” means. 😂