Do some rich people only wear designer clothes? Like, is everything they have in their wardrobe designer, even down to their socks and underwear?
It’s a question I’ve always had.
To clarify, I mean both old money and new money, from high-level millionaires to billionaires. And when I say designer, I mean across the entire spectrum. Not every designer brand is loud and famous like Gucci. What I mean is, do these wealthy people ever buy clothes, underwear, socks, etc., from stores like Walmart, Target, and other regular retailers, or is everything in their wardrobe designer?
In my opinion the only reason to buy designer is quality but you don’t even get that anymore, you’re paying for the name only. Rich people aren’t rich by making foolish financial decisions.
I want something that is tailored and without company names or logos. That would be tacky and free advertising that I do not want.
It has to be intentional in style, well built not single stitched or anything, those last two seasons. Well built lasts forever, and will always be repairable. Same for shoes.
At some point you have all the basics and you only “need” to add accesoires for each season and occasion.
One of my old CEOs was a millionaire. He walked around in Jeans and t-shirts. I thought it was relatable. Until someone told me that he wore 500 designer jeans and 200 t-shirts…cuz he can afford it
Threads like this read a lot different when you’re hungry.
The richest person I know walks around in a 15 year old pair of these https://www.newbalance.com/pd/mx608v5/MX608V5-35113-PMG-NA.html?dwvar_MX608V5-35113-PMG-NA_style=MX608WN5
And similarly old generic jeans.
I don’t know how rich they are, but in the $50-100m range if I had to guess.
Nope. My mother’s family is rich, they wear clothes tailored for them. Underwear and socks come from C&A or somewhere else cheap, though. They think designer wear is common and think people who wear stuff like that are beneath them.
Yeah, they’re stuck up.
Clothes as a signifier of wealth has dropped over the last quarter of the 20th century as the ability to dress down at work was a form of displaying power at work. For the insanely wealthy, they but designer clothes, but they are buying more for the better materials and workmanship; branding on the clothes is understated and can usually requires an education by the people looking at it.
There are some brands who are for the aspirationaly wealthy who do display their brands more conspicuously, but they aren’t for the billionaires.
Did you know that French king Louis XIV did not even dress or undress himself? He had servants for such tasks.
Some regailia is complex that it was physically impossible for someone to put it on unassisted.
I believe Louis wasn’t the only one in history doing that
No. Just the wannabees and the posers.
They wear designer stuff, it’s just that most of us can’t tell. Dude on YT (Chasing Beauty) does great shorts on fashion history and the differences in quality. Sounds boring, very fascinating.
An example: I still remember a young women I saw one day in Franklin, TN. She was pretty enough, in a normal sort of way, but something about the plainness of her clothes and her poise reeked of class and wealth. I can’t describe it, but after watching that guy on YT, I have a better understanding of why a T-shirt can cost $200 and what the differences are in that and a $10 T-shirt. She had the $200 blouse, yet it was plain as could be.
Depends on what kind of rich. If you’re trying to show off and FEEL rich you’re a lot different from just casually rich. Most of them aren’t. Plus also, if you’re rich, you generally buy quality, which isn’t the same as what the plebs think of as “brands”
I don’t wear designer clothes. Not only are they impractical, but they really go against my cash flow constraints.
Cash flow constraints? I thought you were rich!
People have different tastes. Some wear brands, while others have clothing made for them and schedule measurement/fitting events.
Depends where you draw the line on something being designer a bit, but if we’re including luxury brands in general, then essentially yes in most cases.
If someone cares about their appearance and they have enough wealth to not need to worry about economising, they will be wearing something close to the best versions of a given item of clothing that they (or their stylist) can get their hands on.
It doesn’t have to be flashy (and increasingly the goal is to not be flashy), you can spend hundreds, even thousands on a plain black t-shirt. If someone wealthy wants a black tee, it’s almost certainly gonna be one of those and not one from a supermarket.
Is the difference in value equivalent to the difference in quality? No of course not, the prerequisite is not needing to worry about the cost. There’s no value to them in shopping around for a deal and/or compromising due to cost, they just want the best available, and that’s it.
Now there’s the democratic of wealthy people who genuinely don’t give a shit what they look like, and instead dress like eccentric geography teachers, but even then, I don’t think they’re getting their clobber from a Walmart
Do some rich people only
yes.
do these wealthy people ever
yes.
Only when there’s illegal street racing in the evening.
The quiet luxury is pretty darn close. There are now brands that are known as “quiet luxury” brands, but that’s another attempt to let less wealthy people feel wealthy by now buying these quiet brands. Searching quiet luxury and reading up on it will probably give you the most information.
But they wear brands without logos, without obvious tags. They buy high quality, classic neutrals that never go out of style. They have their own tailors so nothing is “off the rack”. Either extremely quiet brands, speciality boutiques that no one can just walk in uninvited, or bespoke from a tailor. They probably order socks and underwear from those ultra quiet brands too. Even the $30-45 per pair high end underwear from places like Nordstrom are brands they would probably never touch.
