14.10.2024
Old Money Aesthetic: Quiet luxury, loudly misunderstood
The old money aesthetic, rooted in subtle elegance and generational legacy, is now a viral social media trend often misinterpreted. Explore how this understated style has been reduced to superficiality, disconnected from its true origins.
By Amir Benzaki
Photo credit: The Adult Man
The allure of the "old money" aesthetic has gripped the social media landscape in recent years, evolving from a once obscure style reserved for the upper echelons of society into a cultural trend accessible to all. Youtube, TikTok and Instagram, with their endless stream of "how to dress like old money" videos, have played a key role in this surge of popularity. Yet, what was once a discreet, understated mode of elegance has been distorted, misunderstood, and, more often than not, reduced to an exercise in superficiality.
Night Market (Pasar Malam) Encounter: A Misfit Attempt
There’s something distinctly comforting about a stroll through a pasar malam, a Malaysian night market, where you’re surrounded by the tantalizing scents of freshly skewered satay, melted margarine sizzling roti john on skillet, and wok hei aroma from char kuey teow. On an evening, like many other Malaysians, I found myself meandering through one such market in my neighborhood, in search of a sinful yet satisfying street food fix. It was a moment to enjoy the vibrancy of local culture, a mosaic of sounds, flavors, and personalities. However, one particular hawker caught my eye—though not for the reasons you might expect. The vendor, busy pouring teh ais he sells, stood out with an attempt at sophistication that felt out of place.
He wore a white button-down shirt with sleeves rolled up and tucked into his beige dress pants. In theory, a classic outfit. But in practice, his execution left much to be desired. The shirt's collar was oddly small and flimsy, resembling something more suited for a high school uniform or a catering staff. Wrinkles and creases from lack of ironing is to much to go unnoticed. The fabric, likely polyester, reflected the fading sunlight with an unnatural sheen. His equally shinny pants were tight, unkempt, and clearly werent properly prepped and taken care for. If that weren’t enough, the vendor’s discomfort was apparent, as if he had forced himself into this "formal" attire and persona, for reasons beyond practicality.
Curious, I eavesdropped as another passerby asked him why he was dressed so "formally". His answer? "I'm dressing old money." I couldn't help but chuckle. What does that even mean? I'm dressing as if I come from a wealthy family?
While I couldn’t pinpoint the source of his sartorial inspiration with certainty, it was very likely that his idea of "old money dressing" was something he had picked up from TikTok or Instagram—another victim of the social media-fueled trend that’s been trendy for the past few years.
Old Money Aesthetic : A Culture Misunderstood
This encounter encapsulates a growing phenomenon: the appropriation and misunderstanding of the "old money aesthetic" by those far removed from its true origins. What started as an authentic, understated way of life has morphed into a caricature, misunderstood and misrepresented by people with no real connection to the culture they’re trying to emulate. The old money aesthetic trend has indeed spiraled out of control. Once a symbol of sophistication and appreciation for craftsmanship, etiquette, and propriety, has now been hijacked by individuals who neither belong to nor understand the culture it represents, wear it as a costume.
Social media influencers, who just months ago flaunted garish new-money styles with logos plastered across every inch of their outfits, have suddenly jumped ship to follow the trend. They’ve traded their logo-heavy pieces for garments from brands like Loro Piana, Brunello Cucinelli, or Goyard, brands traditionally associated with discretion and quiet wealth. Yet, most of these influencers miss the point entirely. They speak endlessly about the brands, tagging them in posts and slapping them across their captions. They boast about their new purchases and how now they are dressed old money, not realizing that they are undermining the core value of the very culture they seek to mimic. This obsession with labels and attention is the antithesis of old money dressing. Quiet luxury is being beaten into loud proclamations on Youtube, Instagram reels and TikTok videos, stripping away almost all of its essence.
Context Matter
Old money families—those who have been entrenched in wealth for generations—do not dress to be noticed. They dress to uphold family standards, often guided by unwritten rules and codes passed down through the decades, if not centuries. It’s about more than just the clothing itself; it’s about a deep understanding of when, how, and why to wear it. Dressing, for these families, is a form of etiquette, a way of showing respect for tradition, occasion, and circumstance. It’s about knowing what is appropriate for daytime wear and what to wear to a soirée. As our GC Editor-in-Chief succinctly put it, "It's about dressing for the occasion, not for the attention."
This is where the hawker at the pasar malam missed the mark by miles. His polyester shirt and tight pants were not just inappropriate in terms of fit, but also in context. In a bustling pasar malam, surrounded by the people and smells of street food, his attempt to "dress old money" while selling iced tea, clashed starkly with the environment. True old money understands the importance of context—what is appropriate for the occasion. The scene I witnessed was someone dressed in smart casualwear when his circumstances clearly called for something more practical. The irony was almost too much to bear.
Dilution of A Culture
