1. Conspicuous consumption is a way of signalling wealth to reveal or gain one’s status.
2. The term is the subject of Thorstein Veblen’s 1899 hit, The Theory of the Leisure Class.
3. It suggested that outward signifiers, like clothes, were an obvious tool to signal wealth.
4. Like you could literally tell who the rich people were, simply by seeing what they wore.
5. Fashion, born off it, became a language to show allegiance to social groups distinctively.
6. Today, you can’t reliably tell who’s rich anymore because the rich dress like the rest of us.
7. As writer Kate Wagner puts, Zuckerberg looks like your dad’s friend, Gates like grandad.
8. While actors, actresses and celebrities are snapped in Nike sweatpants and Starbucks cups.
9. Wagner notes that clothes have always been a clear class signifier, respecting stereotypes.
10. The rich relied on signals like tailored suits, dresses, beautiful shoes, curated jewellery etc.
11. They no longer embrace formality, eliminating the significance of such aesthetic signifiers.
12. Costumer Colleen Morris-Glennon notes that the richer someone is, the more they blend in.
13. But at least two movements in fashion reveal such discreet forms of understated signalling.
14. Quiet luxury: intentionally going for high-craft, high-quality clothes that deflect attention.
15. Like Gwyneth Paltrow's courtcore, Succession fashion, Cate Blanchett’s wardrobe in Tár etc.
16. Stealth wealth: avoiding ostentatious displays with basics that imply living within means.
17. Like Zuckerberg’s plain tees, Jobs’ normcore mom jeans, Fetterman’s hoodies + shorts etc.
18. Point is, rich people don’t dress like the rich people we think rich people should dress like.
19. They are not wearing Balenciaga hoodies over Supreme tees or Gucci-printed sweatpants.
20. Writer Sheluyang Peng notes that ostentatious clothing displays scream tacky, or worse, poor.
21. Peng adds that with clothing no longer a reliable signal of wealth, virtue signalling steps in.
22. For those with fewer resources can’t afford the flexibility to participate in such costly signalling.
23. But, as the law Prof. James Allan puts, the rich can afford to virtue signal at least more than us.