Quiet, Please

Like their global counterparts, India's elite love quiet luxury, but on their own terms

- By SAMREEN WANI

You don't fully grasp exactly how the American TV series Succession fuelled a fascination with the lives of the wealthy until you stumble upon an Instagram page zealously dedicated to the characters' outfits. With over 185,000 followers, the account meticulously details the brands and price points of nearly every item of clothing on the show that won multiple awards over a course of about five years.

And just so you don't go rummaging through each episode to spot 'that' jacket or 'that' watch, the Instagram handle adds the season and episode details as a bonus. The real curiosity though lies not in what brands the wealthy prefer, but with how these incredibly expensive clothes manage to look so surprisingly ordinary. That is, except for those with an eye for luxury fashion. And that's how, in a brilliant bit of irony, 'quiet luxury' became the centre of attention.

“A lot of quiet luxury clothing is visually indistinguishable from what you'd find at Uniqlo. It might be a navy baby cashmere sweater, but it still looks like a normal navy crew neck to everyone else. This is essentially the problem with a lot of quiet luxury. It's so quiet, it's hard to visually distinguish from mass market clothes,” says Derek Guy, a Canada-based menswear writer and internet personality whose takes on men's fashion have engaged, entertained and enraged many online.

The idea of a subdued aesthetic though is nothing new. In fact, it can be traced to the notions of 'old money', where inherited wealth was communicated through the impeccable cut of a suit, the quality of a cashmere sweater, or the texture of a leather handbag and not through ostentatious logos.