The “old money” aesthetic is making a comeback in the new decade, a reversal of the new money trends of 2010. The trend is showing up in fashion, décor, and hobbies among Gen Z and Millennials. It’s aspirational and nostalgic, reflecting an economy that has changed a lot in a short time. Loading Something is loading.
Prep is back and bigger than ever.
Think WASPy dinners, country clubs, and summer sailboat vibes. Over the past year, Gen Z and millennials have cultivated an “old money” aesthetic that romanticizes the aristocratic lifestyle of the upper class and a certain form of untouchable privilege for many.
It says a lot about what people didn’t like about the decade we just left behind, and how we want the next one to be.
The aesthetic first took hold among Generation Z, who took to TikTok to share inspiration from “old money”: polo, croquet, lush gardens and Italian villages. These scenes became inspiration for both fashion and décor: riding boots, Gucci shoulder bags, floral wallpaper, and lots of vintage flair. Millennials, meanwhile, embraced leisure-class pastimes like sailing and golf during the “solitary leisure” quarantine days.
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In some ways, it’s a rejection of the casual, new-money look of the 2010s, espoused by both Instagram influencers and the hoodie-wearing millennial billionaire class. In other ways, it is a practical consequence of how supply shortages and lockdowns have changed the economy in ways that will be permanent. And in another sense, it is an expression of escape: away from the traumatic events of the young 2020 and towards the nostalgia of another time.
Old money fashion is aspirational
Oxford shirts, tennis skirts and tweed blazers are taking over social media. Gen Z is pasting ’90s Ralph Lauren campaign ads and vintage tennis photos all over TikTok and Instagram, and they’re spending big to recreate the looks.
Vox’s Rebecca Jennings first reported on the “old money” aesthetic in fashion, writing that Gen Z wants “the unapologetically pretentious country club vibe of Ivy League-slash-Oxbridge-cousin-fourth -of-a-Kennedy”.
TikTok users have rediscovered grooming and are driving the trend, Lyst content lead Morgane Le Caer told Insider. The global fashion shopping platform has seen a growing demand for preppy styles. During the week ending September 24, searches for leather loafers were up 28%, pleated skirts up 16%, Peter Pan collar shirts up 23% and pearl necklaces up 29%.
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The trend is also known as “dark academia” or “light academia,” depending on the setting, La Caer said. “It embodies the socialist lifestyle represented in the culture by shows and movies like ‘Gossip Girl’ and ‘The Talented Mr. Ripley,’ and is the perfect opposite of the ‘California Rich’ aesthetic popularized by the Kardashian family.” she said.
It’s also a response to the casual outfits that characterize the new millennial billionaire class: Dressing in the sharp style of a Northeast socialite is ultimately a rejection of the CEO’s hoodie-and-sneakers ensemble. of technology.
Old money on the walls
The aesthetic of old money has also made its way into homes.
The elegant look first took root in the form of the “grandmillennial” vibe some millennials gravitated toward before the pandemic, rich in china figurines, English antiques, chintz wallpaper and brocade curtains. They looked everywhere for decor inspiration, from English country houses to neo-preppy brands like Rodarte.
This maximalist vibe was a response to the neutral, minimalist trends that have reigned in the early days of Instagram. It rebounded during the pandemic as millennials and Gen Z shunned mass-market home decor for vintage furniture, partly as a result of supply chain issues and partly as a search for sustainable, stylish items, Avery Hartmans reported. by Insider.
Vintage furniture is all the rage right now.
Brandon Colbert Photography/Getty Images
But the pandemic has also transformed the desired look into one with old-money vibes. Look no further than The Wall Street Journal’s recent advice on decorating with “good old money taste.”
Both trends have the same classic appeal, said Alexandria Kochinsky, a former event planner and writer who runs a grandmillennial inspo Instagram account, but the way they manifest in fashion and décor has an important distinction.
The grandmillennial aesthetic, he told Insider, has the air of a sophisticated father or grandfather, while the old-money aesthetic is a bit more elegant and more appealing to a younger audience.
“Old money is all about projecting impressive wealth born in it, while big millennials can be more sentimental and approachable,” he said. “If I had to personify both, I’d say Blair Waldorf is a good example of the old money aesthetic, and Zsa Zsa Gabor is grandmillennial.”
Old money leisure has taken over
Country clubs, yacht clubs, and age-old pastimes like golfing and sailing have all enjoyed a pandemic boom.
During the quarantine, these pastimes replaced group activities typical of social leisure, such as amusement parks, concerts, and crowded bars and restaurants. And they continued to be popular even as the economy reopened, especially as people became wary of indoor activities again during the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant.
U.S. boat sales hit a 13-year high last year, according to the National Association of Marine Manufacturers, with young first-time boat buyers leading the way. Online resource Discover Boating saw site traffic increase 90% year-over-year through May among 18-24-year-olds, with millennials comprising the largest number of visitors overall. Experts expect the spike in interest to last a long time.
The old money sport of golf is on the rise.
Bob Thomas/Getty Images
A similar story unfolds on the green. The game of golf in the US increased 14% between 2019 and 2020, according to Golf Datatech, the largest increase since the industry’s market research company began tracking the data in 1998. Even spending on golf equipment is on the rise, with retail sales up almost 50% in June, July and August compared to those months two years earlier, according to data from The NPD Group.
Millennials in particular are feeling the pull of the game. In a study by global consultancy GGA Partners and Nextgengolf, 60% of them said that golf became more important to them during the pandemic. It found that millennials are also more willing to invest their time and money in the country club lifestyle, favoring private clubs, a key part of the old-money lifestyle.
The old money aesthetic is a search for nostalgia.
The rise of the old money aesthetic is an aspirational story, but at its roots is a desire for nostalgia. Research has shown that in times of instability, we are more likely to feel homesick.
It explains why nostalgic marketing has reached a fever pitch during the pandemic, why the wealthy have turned to collectibles as a hobby, and why Generation Z sent the world into a Y2K craze. The old money aesthetic is just the latest nostalgic trend, reminiscent of a time when WASP culture dominated.
A return to these classic vibes is a reaction to everything that characterized the last decade: the tech billionaires, the influential class, and even the experience economy.
But younger generations have lost the ability to escape the technology of the 2010s. They are bringing this inspiration to the very platforms that spawned the very trends they are rejecting. And ironically, they aspire to the appearance of inherited wealth while criticizing actual generational wealth as income inequality rises during the pandemic.
As author Kurt Andersen wrote in his 2020 book, “Evil Geniuses,” which explored how changes in the postwar economy increasingly encouraged a turn toward nostalgia after the 1960s, “It’s ironic how technology digital, novelty embodied, the essence of present and future—has reinforced our backward gaze and helped hypnotize us into cultural stasis.”
In essence, however, the rise of the old money aesthetic signifies a search for a different period of time than the one we have just lived through, an escape from the trauma of an unprecedented time.
Source: www.businessinsider.com