STEALTH WEALTH - The less-is-more approach to luxury.
she wore a full-length navy military coat, blue jeans and a white t-shirt even though it was spring. around her neck hung a piece of buffalo horn, something she had picked up on a recent trip to Tanzania, visiting her father who had married a woman just a year older than her at 29 with a penchant for lion taming. her boyfriend's name was Disco, she didn't drink anything but vodka and water and said that one of these days i would understand. i watched her all evening, mesmerised. yes, she was beautiful but it was the subtleties that won me over. the fine gold ring on her finger. her long untamed the mane of hair. a gentleman's watch with a slightly worn band sitting loosely around her slim wrist. boots up to her thighs; butter-soft, distressed leather in cornflower blue. i was just 20 and on a date with her childhood friend but right from the beginning he stood no chance - besides the fact that he was far too old for me, i couldn't take my eyes off her. she was the most stylish woman i'd ever seen. the kind that makes you want to go home and throw out everything in your wardrobe and start afresh. at the end of the evening as we were getting our things to leave she glanced down at my purse. recently purchased, with all the money in the world (plus some kindly donated from my parents), it was the bag of the moment. an instant status symbol, wherever i took it made me feel as though i belonged to a special club. naively, i expected her to glow with appreciation but instead she look at me perplexed.
'darlink', she said in her husky Italian accent, 'diamonds are best worn on the soles of your shoes'.
this was my first brush with an approach to luxury best described as 'stealth wealth'. a term Forbes.com first coined as being 'about accoutrements that are subtle, not necessarily readible by the general public but by those in the know.'
put simply, its showing off by not showing off.
in a luxury-saturated world where counterfeit exists on street corners and runway designs hit chain-stores just days off the catwalk, its more than tempting to dress down when dressing 'in fashion' no longer sets you apart. that is, personalisation and bespoke are desirable when conspicuous consumption and logo mania are not.
the people who wear it are mostly the style cognoscenti, believing they don't need labels and logos to showcase their taste and wealth.
in a backlash to highly covetable IT items, they choose chic and sophisticated over the latest fad. the Balmain jacket, while beautiful, is so ubiquitous it is no longer compelling, but a pair of royal blue suede Jil Sander pumps are pure understated elegance. teamed with an old shirt and sharp blazer, its a currency that deals in rare and provocative.
regardless of whether the stealth trend has been driven by credit-crunch frugality or sustainable consciousness - there's little debate against the fact that under-the-radar aesthetic is gaining momentum among the fashion elite. the embodiment of classic refined style, Nancy Pilcher, vice president for editorial development at Conde Nast Publications Asia Pacific and long-time Editor of Australian Vogue, admits she's been watching 'a little bit of a change'.
'i don't know whether anybody else has picked it up with (French Vogue Editor) Carine Roitfeld, she's the leader of the pack, the one that the paparazzi in Paris run because of who she is, but she used to wear the most outrageous shoes and the most outrageous clothes and she was very out there', she says. 'now, you would not pick her out from the fashion crowd. i've been monitoring it. she wears very classic court shoes or a bootstrap wrapped around her ankle but not a heavy chunky shoe with a big platform or anything, none of that. her hair, you know, i think she might have had hair extensions in. she's just together. very classic, almost classic going back to a classic thing.'
if anyone knows how to do classic - its Pilcher. white shirts are her signature; she's world-renowned for her collection of YSL Smoking jackets and admires Tilda Swinton because she's not swayed by fashion: 'when she goes to the Academy Awards', she says, 'everyone else was in foo-foo and she can come in this very simple sheath with no makeup and hair back and no jewellery.'
adverse to buying things that scream a label or brand or even a season, for Pilcher, its not about having the latest or the best but feeling comfortable, which in turn is a confidence boost.
my husband always says to me, 'i don't know why you don't just leave your suitcase packed, how many pairs of black pants do you have to take and how many white shirts do you have to take?'
and i say, 'you don't understand, i know exactly what's going to suit me and i think that's a confidence that you build up after a certain amount of time that you just know what's going to work for you', she says. 'i had a big meeting in Japan about a month ago after the shows..and we were talking about how there is an obvious change coming through in fashion that's much more to classic, to basic, to ladylike and wondering how to portray that in your fashion without it looking boring.'
the alternative, however, is much worse, is it not?
in the words of impossibly pared-back Coco Chanel, 'elegance is refusal', and luxury isn't about putting on a new dress. there's nothing stylish about being a slave to fashion: investing heavily in a trend or a covetable luxury piece then finding an imitation on every girl walking down the street.
Pilcher agrees: 'the girls at Balmain can wear all those things because the designers give it to them and they want them to wear it, so it becomes a fashion thing. but by them wearing it, it then filters down, you know that filtering system, it takes a while for it to become mainstream, everybody's wearing it and it loses its cache and it loses its specialness.
'luxury to me means mostly the texture, the fabric, the finish on something and details', says Pilcher. 'i think you can tell something that's a copy and something that's the real thing just by certain details. maybe its a fashion eye where you can tell that something is really great if its not screaming out a brand or label.'
the momentum of the clandestine trend adopted by those in the know is not lost on Holli Rogers, Buying Director at Net-A-Porter, who believes the new luxury is about a personal knowledge.
'the industry has always worked on insider knowledge, but today's luxury consumer is extremely informed and choosing to demonstrate this in different ways than in past years', she says. 'IT bags are around, but they're subtle and without logos. consumers are also buying items that are more artisnal in nature and are showing much more interest in how things are made. at Net-A-Porter, we're buying into a lot more designers that specialise in just one particular category such as Clare Tough and Duffy who focus on knitwear - and they do it brilliantly.'
more noticeably, the classics are more in demand than ever.
'we have stocked Bottega Veneta's classic Intrecciato series of hand-woven bags since 2001', says Rogers.
'these bags remain hugely popular with our customers across the globe. also, there are the new classics like the PS1 from the design team at Proenza Schouler - the handbag does not stay in stock.' Net-A-Porter has been the online saviour to stealth shoppers around the world, Jemima Khan included, and offers a plain wrapping service alongside its branded offering.
'discretion has always been a factor of online shopping and our discrete packaging was something we had in the pipeline for some time before launching it', says Rogers.
'the timing was certainly right, but the move was really about offering customers more choice and another way to shop.'
its not just consumers facing a new sobriety when it comes to trends; the most powerful luxury brands in the world are increasing their reach - and their sales - by staying true to their roots and embracing their ability to do understated. a recent Millward Brown report of the world's top 10 most powerful brands actually showed that the top of the list - Vuitton, Hermes and Gucci, all improved their position by focussing on their history and heritage, and shying awya from anything that looked a little too nouveau.
Louis Vuitton's recent pre-fall collection was a sign of the zeitgeist. despite being the most widely recognised brand in the world, the creative direction leaned on subtle craftsmanship0 with logos in the lining, and the Damier print 'visible-invisible' throughout a crocodile handbag. even a leather-trimmed sailing jacket had the option to turn the label around for serious stealth mileage.
likewise, Hermes, a prototype for hidden luxury if ever there was one, has attributed their reported sales spike to their focus - they do not veer off-brand, but instead concentrate on their classic pieces. Fiona Young, Communications Manager for Hermes Australia, says the Hermes ethos is clear.
'respecting the history of the house, its craftsmanship and tradition, we constantly look to the future in innovation and design', she says of the brand - a saddler and harness-maker since 1837 - that in April took part in creating equestrian events in the heart of Paris, a homage to their first customer - the horse. proving the brand is trend-adverse to a large extent, Young confirms there is 'no demographic at Hermes'.
the fact that the pieces are not too accessible (think of the waitlist for the Birkin bag) makes it all the more desirable to buyers with furtiveness in mind. their time-honoured styles mean consumers would be more willing to invest in items that they perceive will be enduring.
'take the Kelly bag for instance', says Young. 'handcrafted from start to finish by one master craftsman. it takes, on average - depending on the size of the bag, 14 hours to saddle stitch. producing a Kelly bag takes a total of 18 hours of work; 18 hours of patient care, of able and careful effort by a single worker in the service of an art. a bag in need of refurbishment will be returned to the same craftsman who created it, his personal stamp is imprinted on the leather of the bag.'
true luxury always comes back to personal touch. it should never be imposed but always refined by your own taste. whether its a buffalo horn or a Birkin; if you've got it, don't feel you have to flaunt it.
- Jess Blanch, Russh Magazine June-July 2010.
she wore a full-length navy military coat, blue jeans and a white t-shirt even though it was spring. around her neck hung a piece of buffalo horn, something she had picked up on a recent trip to Tanzania, visiting her father who had married a woman just a year older than her at 29 with a penchant for lion taming. her boyfriend's name was Disco, she didn't drink anything but vodka and water and said that one of these days i would understand. i watched her all evening, mesmerised. yes, she was beautiful but it was the subtleties that won me over. the fine gold ring on her finger. her long untamed the mane of hair. a gentleman's watch with a slightly worn band sitting loosely around her slim wrist. boots up to her thighs; butter-soft, distressed leather in cornflower blue. i was just 20 and on a date with her childhood friend but right from the beginning he stood no chance - besides the fact that he was far too old for me, i couldn't take my eyes off her. she was the most stylish woman i'd ever seen. the kind that makes you want to go home and throw out everything in your wardrobe and start afresh. at the end of the evening as we were getting our things to leave she glanced down at my purse. recently purchased, with all the money in the world (plus some kindly donated from my parents), it was the bag of the moment. an instant status symbol, wherever i took it made me feel as though i belonged to a special club. naively, i expected her to glow with appreciation but instead she look at me perplexed.
'darlink', she said in her husky Italian accent, 'diamonds are best worn on the soles of your shoes'.
this was my first brush with an approach to luxury best described as 'stealth wealth'. a term Forbes.com first coined as being 'about accoutrements that are subtle, not necessarily readible by the general public but by those in the know.'
put simply, its showing off by not showing off.
in a luxury-saturated world where counterfeit exists on street corners and runway designs hit chain-stores just days off the catwalk, its more than tempting to dress down when dressing 'in fashion' no longer sets you apart. that is, personalisation and bespoke are desirable when conspicuous consumption and logo mania are not.
the people who wear it are mostly the style cognoscenti, believing they don't need labels and logos to showcase their taste and wealth.
in a backlash to highly covetable IT items, they choose chic and sophisticated over the latest fad. the Balmain jacket, while beautiful, is so ubiquitous it is no longer compelling, but a pair of royal blue suede Jil Sander pumps are pure understated elegance. teamed with an old shirt and sharp blazer, its a currency that deals in rare and provocative.
regardless of whether the stealth trend has been driven by credit-crunch frugality or sustainable consciousness - there's little debate against the fact that under-the-radar aesthetic is gaining momentum among the fashion elite. the embodiment of classic refined style, Nancy Pilcher, vice president for editorial development at Conde Nast Publications Asia Pacific and long-time Editor of Australian Vogue, admits she's been watching 'a little bit of a change'.
'i don't know whether anybody else has picked it up with (French Vogue Editor) Carine Roitfeld, she's the leader of the pack, the one that the paparazzi in Paris run because of who she is, but she used to wear the most outrageous shoes and the most outrageous clothes and she was very out there', she says. 'now, you would not pick her out from the fashion crowd. i've been monitoring it. she wears very classic court shoes or a bootstrap wrapped around her ankle but not a heavy chunky shoe with a big platform or anything, none of that. her hair, you know, i think she might have had hair extensions in. she's just together. very classic, almost classic going back to a classic thing.'
if anyone knows how to do classic - its Pilcher. white shirts are her signature; she's world-renowned for her collection of YSL Smoking jackets and admires Tilda Swinton because she's not swayed by fashion: 'when she goes to the Academy Awards', she says, 'everyone else was in foo-foo and she can come in this very simple sheath with no makeup and hair back and no jewellery.'
adverse to buying things that scream a label or brand or even a season, for Pilcher, its not about having the latest or the best but feeling comfortable, which in turn is a confidence boost.
my husband always says to me, 'i don't know why you don't just leave your suitcase packed, how many pairs of black pants do you have to take and how many white shirts do you have to take?'
and i say, 'you don't understand, i know exactly what's going to suit me and i think that's a confidence that you build up after a certain amount of time that you just know what's going to work for you', she says. 'i had a big meeting in Japan about a month ago after the shows..and we were talking about how there is an obvious change coming through in fashion that's much more to classic, to basic, to ladylike and wondering how to portray that in your fashion without it looking boring.'
the alternative, however, is much worse, is it not?
in the words of impossibly pared-back Coco Chanel, 'elegance is refusal', and luxury isn't about putting on a new dress. there's nothing stylish about being a slave to fashion: investing heavily in a trend or a covetable luxury piece then finding an imitation on every girl walking down the street.
Pilcher agrees: 'the girls at Balmain can wear all those things because the designers give it to them and they want them to wear it, so it becomes a fashion thing. but by them wearing it, it then filters down, you know that filtering system, it takes a while for it to become mainstream, everybody's wearing it and it loses its cache and it loses its specialness.
'luxury to me means mostly the texture, the fabric, the finish on something and details', says Pilcher. 'i think you can tell something that's a copy and something that's the real thing just by certain details. maybe its a fashion eye where you can tell that something is really great if its not screaming out a brand or label.'
the momentum of the clandestine trend adopted by those in the know is not lost on Holli Rogers, Buying Director at Net-A-Porter, who believes the new luxury is about a personal knowledge.
'the industry has always worked on insider knowledge, but today's luxury consumer is extremely informed and choosing to demonstrate this in different ways than in past years', she says. 'IT bags are around, but they're subtle and without logos. consumers are also buying items that are more artisnal in nature and are showing much more interest in how things are made. at Net-A-Porter, we're buying into a lot more designers that specialise in just one particular category such as Clare Tough and Duffy who focus on knitwear - and they do it brilliantly.'
more noticeably, the classics are more in demand than ever.
'we have stocked Bottega Veneta's classic Intrecciato series of hand-woven bags since 2001', says Rogers.
'these bags remain hugely popular with our customers across the globe. also, there are the new classics like the PS1 from the design team at Proenza Schouler - the handbag does not stay in stock.' Net-A-Porter has been the online saviour to stealth shoppers around the world, Jemima Khan included, and offers a plain wrapping service alongside its branded offering.
'discretion has always been a factor of online shopping and our discrete packaging was something we had in the pipeline for some time before launching it', says Rogers.
'the timing was certainly right, but the move was really about offering customers more choice and another way to shop.'
its not just consumers facing a new sobriety when it comes to trends; the most powerful luxury brands in the world are increasing their reach - and their sales - by staying true to their roots and embracing their ability to do understated. a recent Millward Brown report of the world's top 10 most powerful brands actually showed that the top of the list - Vuitton, Hermes and Gucci, all improved their position by focussing on their history and heritage, and shying awya from anything that looked a little too nouveau.
Louis Vuitton's recent pre-fall collection was a sign of the zeitgeist. despite being the most widely recognised brand in the world, the creative direction leaned on subtle craftsmanship0 with logos in the lining, and the Damier print 'visible-invisible' throughout a crocodile handbag. even a leather-trimmed sailing jacket had the option to turn the label around for serious stealth mileage.
likewise, Hermes, a prototype for hidden luxury if ever there was one, has attributed their reported sales spike to their focus - they do not veer off-brand, but instead concentrate on their classic pieces. Fiona Young, Communications Manager for Hermes Australia, says the Hermes ethos is clear.
'respecting the history of the house, its craftsmanship and tradition, we constantly look to the future in innovation and design', she says of the brand - a saddler and harness-maker since 1837 - that in April took part in creating equestrian events in the heart of Paris, a homage to their first customer - the horse. proving the brand is trend-adverse to a large extent, Young confirms there is 'no demographic at Hermes'.
the fact that the pieces are not too accessible (think of the waitlist for the Birkin bag) makes it all the more desirable to buyers with furtiveness in mind. their time-honoured styles mean consumers would be more willing to invest in items that they perceive will be enduring.
'take the Kelly bag for instance', says Young. 'handcrafted from start to finish by one master craftsman. it takes, on average - depending on the size of the bag, 14 hours to saddle stitch. producing a Kelly bag takes a total of 18 hours of work; 18 hours of patient care, of able and careful effort by a single worker in the service of an art. a bag in need of refurbishment will be returned to the same craftsman who created it, his personal stamp is imprinted on the leather of the bag.'
true luxury always comes back to personal touch. it should never be imposed but always refined by your own taste. whether its a buffalo horn or a Birkin; if you've got it, don't feel you have to flaunt it.
- Jess Blanch, Russh Magazine June-July 2010.
I think fashion has changed to reflect something more thoughtful and intelligent. No longer can people feed of statement pieces; so the fashion hungry are left to really think about an outfit before they put it on. Without a label or brand to lean on for style, people really think about how an outfit's cut or silhouette will work on their body, and how different fabrics will work together. I think its a great shift, because it takes such little effort to make a statement, but such immense effort to have unnoticed style.
ReplyDeleteGreat stuff dear Princess diamond rings & Sapphire pendants
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