On Status | Objects of Appreciation
TEFAF was last week..... bout time we intellectualize it; ha ha ha
Pls imagine that we’re having this convo over a perfect glass of burgundy (or mint tea) during a late, rainy Wednesday dinner….. roll up the sleeves of ur coziest sweater & let’s CHAT :) :) :)
In a viral video in 2023, I said that the democratization of (luxury) fashion would have unintended consequences — mainly, that design (furniture, objects, et al) would become the new status symbol to watch in upcoming years. Proud (as a virgo), to say that this prediction… which WAS backed by some critical theory/economic literature… (so maybe more of a hypothesis???) is playing out in real time!!! Yes, as punctuated by The Row’s emergence into homeware during Milan Design Week, but also by what felt starkly obvious (in the hush-hush unsaid) during TEFAF last week!!
I’ve written at length about how proliferated access to capital F fashion via our algos has flattened consumer culture, and has caused its own form of status migration. We can also credit the resale economy, buy now pay later, and shifts in how younger generations view aspiration as core to this thesis, but each of these are deep enough dives to be their own extended post, so we’re glazing by this for now….
Basically, luxury has become duped and (over)distributed to death (wrote ab this in vogue biz!), and while many of us love to consume (me), there’s a weakened status engendered via that form of luxury consumption compared to when you saw a lady in a full Chanel suit in 1992.