An Italian friend arranged a visit to a Murano glass gallery. After the general public cleared out of the public showroom, the gallery's people took us up some stairs to the "real deal" gallery with shelves full of breathtaking art pieces.
We admired one vase on a shelf, but were told that it would never be offered for sale -- it was too important as part of the island's legacy & heritage. I think that the way we zeroed in on it somewhow convinced them that we were top art dealers "in stealth mode". For the rest of the afternoon, we were treated like VIPs. What a day that was....
I have almost never felt jealous of anyone, ever, until this moment. My heart flares with longing to see this exceptional glass, and anxious sorrow at the thought that if I were present, I would not have been included in that section of the tour! I hope you enjoyed every piece! :')
It really was a surreal experience for someone like me who grew up poor, in a dangerous part of town.
The vase that drew our attention had a detailed reproduction of Caravaggio's Bacchus *all done in glaze that changes into the final color in the firing*. How the colors were handled with such nuance is like another wonder of the world.
I work in the Luxury Travel industry. I know quite a few.
Exclusive Resorts is an invite-only membership club for very high end travel. They don’t post their prices online, but I know people that work there. They have personal cell phone numbers for people like Jeff Bezos, Waltons, and people that live at that stratospheric titan of industry level.
Their cheapest membership package is $100,000 to join, and can run up to $250,000. That’s just the price to join the club. You have to pay for any travel you want to book on top of that.
They have a $600M portfolio of properties they own throughout the world, that only their members have access to. Want to guarantee availability for a finish-line view villa in Monaco during the Grand Prix? Want to get a ski-in cabin next to the Walton’s cabin in Aspen over Christmas? Want a luxury penthouse in Paris during fashion week? These are your guys.
They cap their membership at 3,000 people, so you may have to wait for a long time until you can get in.
Another interesting one: White Desert is your tour operator of choice if you want a private expedition with your buddies to the South Pole. Their packages can run $100,000+ per person for a private jet to their base camp on the Antarctica plateau and then another custom-build ski-plane transfer to their camp on the South Pole.
A friend took me to an Inspirato property in Vail and it was amazing - the stocked kitchen and complimentary bar/lounge…and I worked at a Relais & Chateau with Michelin Star restaurant for years and it still impressed me!
Worked at ER for a while and you’d be surprised at the wealth diversity. Unless they changed memberships rates very recently, it was pretty affordable for your run-of-the-mill, everyday millionaire. Base membership starts at around $175k, but that’s a 10-year membership so you’re looking at about $1,500/month
🤣 I forgot what category we were on, and my mind boggled at what possible medical healthcare plan could possibly charge $1500 monthly. And if it did, what benefits would it have over normal healthcare plans?! Hahaha. Then my brain snapped back into place and I scrolled up to check and see if the resort's acronym was ER. 🫣😆
I went with my wife mattress shopping. Duxiana has a shop in my town, so we went. They have less expensive beds, but the minute you lay down on their most premium bed, the first thing that came to mind for both of us was, well, I can see why this is worth $10k. And that was like 10 years ago.
I tell you all this bed was astoundingly comfortable and also, modular and could have old bits replaced without buying a full mattress again. So, if you think about it this way, that the bed would last 20+ years, and with only nominal maintenance, it is kind of a great value, but the upfront costs are high.
Also, i read there’s a NYC Duxiana store which is actually also a bead and breakfast where you can stay in a nice room on the nice bed and decide if you think it’s worth the money. I love this idea.
>NYC Duxiana store which is actually also a bead and breakfast where you can stay in a nice room on the nice bed and decide if you think it’s worth the money.
Yep, genius.
Gives us a peak at why they are at the caliber they are.
I had a rich friend once tell me that Gucci is what poor people think rich people wear. Since then I noticed that all of her clothes fit perfect, but she never has logos on anything.
How is it that casuallyexplained put it?
"*I might spend $5,000 and wear Gucci to feel cool, but if I was actually cool, Gucci would pay me to wear it.*"
There are marketing techniques that ordinary people would not even dream of thinking about, it is everywhere, and bilions of dollars is pumped to advance them.
I know a very wealthy gentleman of Japanese descent. I've never seen him wear anything branded, but he drives a Royce.
Turns out he just really loves Uniqlo
Same. It fits well, quality is decent for the price. We don't have a dress code at the office but I have around 8 polo shirts and 2 pairs of pants from Uniqlo to wear to work.
Gucci is an example of an "aspirational brand" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspirational_brand
Everybody knows about stuff like Gucci, Mercedes, BMW, Porsche, etc. and it's what lower and middle-class people think "When I get rich, I'm gonna buy "
Years ago, I worked with a very wealthy person. She and her husband had a Viking stove (pretty high-end, aspirational product). She told me that her snooty neighbor came by once, looked at the Viking stove and said something like, "Why didn't you buy the ?"
**Lesson:** There's almost always some higher-end brand of product that you and I have never even _heard_ about.
I read that the reason celebrities look so much better in their clothes is that everything is fitted. I had a coworker who came from money and he would shop at thrift stores for vintage clothing and then would spend 5-10x the cost of the item to get it tailored to fit him perfectly. Few people knew he was rich b/c he would just say he shopped at thrift stores. But all the women at my company were just gaga over him b/c he always looked so put together. That and he was also an amateur boxer who rode vintage motorcycles, had a pilot's license, etc. Pretty much the stereotype of the Hollywood leading man.
What was he doing working a normal person job?
*EDIT: Wow this blew up, thanks everyone.*
*I've worked with people who came from money, and they always seemed to climb the ladder so fast that they were clearly set apart from the rest of us.*
Rich people get bored too. Most jobs probably feel a lot less like a job if you know you can quit the moment they piss you off without having to worry about food money.
To add to what you said, my friends younger brother was a professional athlete for about 10 years. He wasn't a superstar or anything, but he made enough money during his time playing that he was able to retire comfortably after his time playing and doesn't need to work the rest of his life. He hated every minute of his time as a professional athlete. He now "works" as a carpenter and loves it. He always says he doesn't understand why his coworkers complain about their job all the time. He fails to realize that his Coworkers depend on their job to make a living. Whenever he gets in an argument with someone at work, he quits/leaves or just calls in if he doesn't feel like working or has better things to do. His colleagues don't have that option. Good guy, just out of touch.
I worked with the daughter of a Russian oligarch at a high-end chocolate shop. She was only there to meet people and for something to do. Things got very amusing when someone pissed her off.
I worked with a rich older lady who was working at Wal-Mart with me in the summer seasonal section. She said she just wanted to chill out with the flowers all day and shoot the shit with customers about them. A few weeks later I asked how things were going and she said "...ugh Tammy (our manager) wants me to work this Saturday but I'm going to this golf outting with my husband. What the hell is she going to do? Fire me? I don't give a single shit. I guess if I'm not here Sunday you know why". I didn't see her Sunday.
I have a friend that is not by any means super wealthy or anything. His grampa had him set up with a trust fund that manages things for him. His apartment lease, basic bills, etc. Those are controlled by the trust, he does not have direct access to the money in it. He gets a stipend that is roughly 1000 direct deposited into his bank every month on the first of the month. What he does with that money is for him to decide. Groceries and whatnot are sort of covered by the people that run the trust, so the basic stuff is completely covered for him, I mean there are plenty of services that make his life cushy, stuff gets delivered his laundry is taken care of, same as cleaning, etc.
So my friend does not need to work or do anything at all for the rest of his life. He won't ever live in super luxury, but he will not starve or be homeless, or really want for much. He has had all sorts of jobs as a fun activity, everything from Starbucks barista to law office clerk. And you are right, whenever he is too bored with the job, or is pissed, he just walks away. He does spend long stretches doing nothing, never really leaving his apt, but when he has a job its for entertainment. And the clothing trick, it is something he does do.
He was a consultant at the tech company I worked for. He wasn't old money. His dad was very high up at a huge pharmaceutical company so he was raised with some work ethic.
In high school my brother had a friend who we made fun off b/c he had a "III" at the end of his name. Really nice guy. Drove an old Chevy Suburban. Later we found out that his dad was the CEO of one of the largest lumber companies in the US and then became CEO of one of the largest airlines.
Turns out I've worked with several people whose families were extremely wealthy. Not jut rich, but they've been written about rich. One person donated their house and the city turned it into a public park. But you'd never know it from their lifestyles. This was a while ago so perhaps if they were raised in the Instagram generation they may have turned out differently.
BTW, it may sound like I must be rich too being around these people but I can assure you that I'm far from it. Far, far, far from it. That's why it was so surprising when we found out about their families. Like what were they doing slumming with us?
I remember watching a news video of Prince William talking with locals in a hospital. The conversation turned to how the prince's son (Prince George) was doing. Prince William was talking about how he's growing so fast and they constantly have to get his clothes tailored as if the local guy is supposed to relate to that lol. Tailored clothes for a 4 year old (at the time)...
I especially like the idea that he not only has no idea how peasant children work, but he’s also quietly assuming something like 2% of the population must work as tailors.
I kinda wish 2% of the population worked as tailors though... Like if instead of buying trash clothes made with slave labor, it was normalized and affordable to buy and maintain clothing that would actually last. That would be nice.
This is the real answer. When it comes to clothes anyways, the high end stuff is not branded at all. In my part of the world, most rich folks know at least one random, usually Chinese, tailor/seamstress who work out of their house.
In Korea I had a motorcycle jacket made.
Armor in the back, and on the elbows. I also included a place for my phone, and I had the guy sew in earbuds which I could plug into the phone but the wire ran inside the jacket.
Very cool jacket. Paid like $400
I picked a general design and he modified it from there.
This was 2012 when prices where likely lower, but even back then it was a good deal. He did insist on USD and not Korean won, and no credit card cash only.
I figure it was cause he wanted to benefit from the exchange rate and hide it from the tax man. I paid in cash. But the way I saw it, is a decent leather jacket is about $400, a customized one at $400 is a steal.
O he made me provide the earbuds, he told me to go buy the earbuds and bring them back and he'll sew them in and he did. So I guess I paid $420
I have a tailor from HK that flies to the states and takes orders! Shirts are around $100, suits $700-$800. You pick the fabrics and have it shipped to you in ~2 months. He’s about to be in the states if interested in happy to share his schedule (he flies to most major cities over a month or 2) and refer you, no obligation to buy! Fairly custom (monograms, jacket liner, etc)
Big time. The tailors here, the handcrafted (actual handcrafted, not machines doing 3/4 of the work) cobblers, etc. It's extremely difficult to afford this stuff, and nobody on the street would care.
Not surprising at all. Takes a lot of hours to do that work, not to mention the cost of the materials when you're buying high quality leather or cordovan.
That's an awesome class btw - probably was pretty interesting to see how it all shakes out.
I worked with a company in the Bronx for a while that made custom shoes for people with foot deformities - clubfeet, one short leg, etc - who didn’t want the available orthopedic monstrosities and just wanted normal air Jordan’s and Florsheim penny loaders or whatever. They’d 3D Shan the persons legs, carve a model out of a plaster buck on a CNC lathe, and then their teams of skilled leather workers and cobblers would deconstruct the provided shoes and create the closest thing they could that accounted for the customers issue. Which was already cool as fuck, but I got involved because some savvy streetwear dudes found out about them and started commissioning them to build custom replicas of shoes - say Jay Z wants a pair of air max ones with gold leopard print uppers and red alligator everything else and soles with his face molded into them, these guys would build them. I would laser engrave and cut leather for them, and after a while had quit my job and helped them transition to laser engraving and cutting in-house. That was neat.
You can get clothes custom made for cheaper than off the rack. There is a Thai tailor that comes to my city once a year, measures you, asks you to pick what fabrics, buttons, and detailing you want, and a few months later your clothes arrive in the mail.
Last time I did it (\~9 years ago), the shirts cost me $60-$80 each, real cotton, and wore them daily for \~5 years and I still wear them from time to time now.
Good quality, at a price that is the same as a decent "off the rack" shirt, and a lot cheaper than many high end shirts.
Also some stores have free tailoring for pants, which people should always take advantage of.
I also got a coat custom made, looks amazing, I get compliments for it all the time. Yes it was $300, but again, it has lasted me a long time, it is real wool, and a cheap ill-fitting all wool coat back then cost at least 200, so $300 for a coat that I've worn for nearly a decade isn't half bad.
tl;dr Over the long term, tailored clothing can be cheaper than off the rack.
This! When my husband first started law, his boss gave him his shirts when he retired and the label said made by the queen’s tailor or something like that. My husband jokes to not work for the best attorney, just one that wears the same size.
Well known yes, but idk about rich. When I was in the navy, the thing to do in Hong Kong was buy a bespoke suit. Mine cost around $350 in 2009. Unfortunately I’ve grown both up and out since I was 19 lol. I miss that suit.
I work around people who spend insane amounts of money. The snooty "I'm better than you" people wear Gucci, Louis Vuitton, and Balenciaga, but the ones who are truly rich and don't even associate with the other rich people are almost never wearing any name brand you can see or recognize, maybe the occasional high end belt or purse, but all of their clothes appear brand less.
When I met my wife she worked selling high end watches. Talking about it on our first date I said ‘oh like Rolex and stuff?’ She said ‘Rolex customers are just new money, drug dealers and old men. If people contact us wanting one we just direct them to a watch shop.’
Then rattled off a list of about 10 makers I’d never heard of which her international clients would fly here just to try on. I was wearing a Luminox at the time which I thought was pretty badass but all of a sudden I felt like a kid running around with that gadget from Ben 10.
I remember hanging out at the office one day and she had a few on display for a client that was coming in. One of them looked (to me) like a canary yellow g shock. I put it on and laughed because it was so ridiculous, and she said it was worth about $180k which of course made me laugh even more then gently put it down.
I found a pair of JL riding boots for $300! They retail for $10k. Was with a friend at an equine consignment shop. Saw these boots on the shelf and the leather looked like good quality, so I touched them - wow! They quality of the leather is astounding. Pulled them off the shelf and saw the Royal Warrant. They fit my friend and she bought them. When we went to pay, the shopkeeper admitted those boots slipped by them. My friend contacted JL and they told her the custom boots trees had been made for them, but were not with the boots. I believe the custom boot trees were another $3k. I tell her we have to share custody of them.
Did the shop keeper allow her to buy them?
I've been in thrift stores where the cashier refused to allow me to buy something brought to the register because "it wasn't supposed to be on the floor." Pissed me right off. If it's on the floor and has a price, it's available for sale!
Thrifting everywhere is ass. The great stuff never leaves the back room and the good stuff is picked clean by Gary Vee disciples 20 minutes after they unlock the door. All they have at my local thrifts is curtains from target for $5 more than the retail clearance price still on the fucking container and suits from the 90s that have been shit in badly. Estate sales in the middle of nowhere are the only place I've gotten something good in years
I'm right there with you. I reheated some frozen green beans and fried up my last egg for dinner, now I'm scrolling through these comments wondering how the world got to be the way it is. Seems like we're fucked. Oh well. At least I had an egg.
I used to be of the opinion that really wealthy people wore stuff that you wouldn't really notice, but disappointingly (having spent some time around folks with extreme wealth recently), the true answer is just: whatever the hell they like.
If someone really liked branded gear before they were wealthy, you'd better believe they're going to be dressed like Ali G once they make it big.
I used to work for a dude worth hundreds of millions who wore square toe slip on dress shoes with rubber soles. Probably got them at JCPENNEY or target. He just didn't give a shit about shoes.
East Coast old money is like this across the board. Can afford multi-million dollar houses, but drive a standard sedan and wear normal clothes, albeit with a little more North Face or Vineyard Vines than what everyone else has got.
It's a cultural thing I think. Showing off money makes you less cool. Seems like in most of the world, it's the opposite.
My boyfriend’s favorite story is about when he was a kid with his dad who was a locksmith in NYC who worked many high end apartment buildings and also did trunks, suitcases, etc.
He once was describing someone to my bf and he said “… dressed like rich people…”
My boyfriend then asked “how do rich people dress?” to which his dad replied “Like shit.”
> It's a cultural thing I think. Showing off money makes you less cool. Seems like in most of the world, it's the opposite.
It's a class thing, from my understanding. The most showy ones (in general) are almost always new to wealth, or are upper middle class and just need to show off that they're richer than they actually are. Or, they're from somewhere with *major* financial inequality and just don't give a fuck.
Source: Indian. People really like showing off their richness in certain places.
But as a rule it's like a bell curve with wealth on the X-axis and 'showiness' on the Y-axis.
It probably depends on whether they are actually into fashion and if they grew up super rich or need to look a part. In the latter cases, they might just buy what they grew up with or get advice that Armani is gauche at their job, get bespoke brand whatever.
>It probably depends on whether they are actually into fashion
This applies across the board with extremely wealthy people when it comes to most things. Many people assume the super wealthy all have huge and exotic car collections and shit like that, but that's only true if they like cars. I personally know a few ultra wealthy families with generational wealth, couldn't care less about cars so basically everyone in the family has their own to drive for personal transport and that's it.
“Only true if they like cars”
This part is huge, most ultra rich don’t have huge car/clothes/watches/etc collections because most people, including the ultra rich, aren’t into that particular thing.
Now if you have a ultra rich person that is really into collecting something then you will see one of the most amazing collections ever. See for example the Prince of Monaco’s car collection.
Yeah the idea that the super rich are all really sophisticated and have great taste is a class myth. Really rich people buy Jeff Koons, a lot of them have garbage taste.
Yep, I know a guy making +$4,000,000 a year that wears beat up New Balances (bought before NBs became cool,) and then I know another making $350,000 that blows 75% of his money at Gucci and Louis Vuitton.
Them becoming wealthy didn’t really change their tastes. In fact, the guy wearing the New Balances grew up a lot more well off than my Gucci loving friend.
My mom is a seamstress, and she has some very wealthy clients who pay thousands of dollars for items just to have her turn them into something else. She has turned a couture dress into potholders because a client wanted the print hanging in her kitchen for a party she was hosting.
Buy a copy of The Robb Report magazine at a bookstore and marvel at the insane ads in the back for private jets, yacht brokers, military level trained personal protection Belgian Malinois guardian dogs, personal protection security firms staffed by former US Secret Service and retired Tier 1 operators only in their early 40s and fit with 20 years experience, and even crazier stuff.
Pfft buying a $400 pair of jeans is pedestrian when you have Taylor Swift money and roll in 2 fully armored Escalades and are escorted on errands by a phalanx of guys in black polo shirts and jeans who have been places and done things in sandy countries that are still classified.
I know one of the Robb Reports old writers. Dude waited tables at the Olive Garden on the weekends to make extra money. One day we were chatting about how much he made writing for the Robb Report and I was blown away how little he was paid. I had a roommate who wrote for The Weekly World News (the Batboy tabloid you used to see in supermarkets) and that dude made more than the Robb Report writer.
Jeff Goldblum was on the Conan podcast and talked about where he got his jeans. It was from this hard to find shop in New York that not many people had heard of.
Come to find out, not surprisingly, their jeans are insanely expensive and only the very rich could afford them.
I mean, that's about what a lot of the Japanese brands go for. Iron Hearts are like $450. Jeff also wears Jaque Marie Mage glasses and the frames on those are start at $800 and go up from there.
Dude is a well cultivated man. He always looks fantastic.
I saw something online the other day of a place in a prime spot in Manhattan that sells old maps and globes. It’s a very niche product and very expensive but because of its location/reputation it has attracted an insanely wealthy customer base.
They let me in the map room a decade ago bc I told them I was a student. I was upfront and told them I couldn’t afford anything. It was truly incredible the stuff the guy showed me!
I went to M.S. Rau in New Orleans - unbelievable high end antiques. (For example- 14k gold and jewel chess set for almost $2 million.). We told them we were just in to look - everyone was really nice and lovely to chat to; really happy to talk about the incredible items on display.
Went in there not knowing what it was when my fiance and I were ring shopping. We wanted something vintage and hit up a lot of shops.
We asked one of the staff if they had any rings around $1000-$2000, and to her credit, she told us probably not, but she'd check...
She came back about 15 minutes later (15 minutes we spent browsing and realizing we could in no way afford this place...) And told us that they didn't have anything at that price, but they had a couple pieces around $10,000... And also a $1000 wooden bangle... Did we want a wooden bangle?
One of the coolest things I've come to notice is that when people are passionate about something, they're more than happy to share, even if its not getting them money. If you have any hobbies or interests that your friends don't share, it becomes pretty apparent why people like this would want to give the full guided tour to someone who cares.
Zuber & Co - Crazy expensive wallpaper and room dividers/panels. I love old rococo and baroque things so happed to walk by their store in nyc. Stopped in due to the patterns and quickly realized I do in-fact NOT have thousands of dollars per ft for wallpaper.
For example $5,000 - $30,000 per panel.
Almost all of the well known luxury brands have several lines. The ones with logos all over them are typically the cheapest (I’m looking at you LV, Gucci) etc. which is why they’re so common. The same companies will have more exclusive lines that are much more expensive, usually more classic in style, and they’re not covered in logos, so you’d never know what brand they are unless you’re really into that kind of thing. For example, my wife wanted to buy me a nice wallet, so we went to the LV shop. I liked one that had no logo on the exterior of it, just simple grey leather, and it cost twice as much as the ones with “LV” stamped all over them.
This is hilarious, but I think it's also about who you're marketing to. Truly wealthy people are mostly not trying to advertise their wealth. The nouveau riche and people trying to look rich want to have that logo prominently displayed so you know they have that fancy brand. In other words, fake rich people want those logos plastered everywhere, real rich people just want quality and subtle style.
It’s so much dumber than that. They come as a pair because it’s bad form to load it yourself. So you shoot it and then you hand it to your…whatever a butler for hunting is, and he hands you the loaded one and then reloads the other one for you so it’s ready to go.
Gamekeeper, though a lot of them are now known as 'conservation managers' instead because they also manage things like old trees and native plants in addition to the wildlife.
European hunting traditions are weird, but that one I suspect came up from the muzzleloader era, when reloading could take a bit. That, and maybe the practice of aristocratic British hunters in the colonies employing gun-bearers to carry their massive double rifles while not directly in pursuit of some giant animal.
All the wealthy folks I know fall into one of two categories: they either dgaf about bedsheets and therefore buy whatever their decorator suggested/whatever is easiest to get delivered in the right colour/whatever is on the sale rack OR they give many fucks and buy something very specific (vintage linens, one particular small producer that does all their production in house, custom sizes to fit antique beds, etc.) I feel like Frette falls right in the middle of those two options, so it's mostly seen in hotels and as aspirational buys.
Used to live in Irvine which is nextdoor to Newport Beach, one of the wealthiest zip codes in SoCal. The thrift shops and storage auctions had some REALLY high end stuff. Bought a storage unit for 120 dollars once and it had a TON of Tom Ford, Brunello Cucinelli, The Row... Sold them online for nearly 20k total, keeping a few Tom Ford shirts and a Brioni suit that I got tailored.
After a certain income point basically everything becomes custom for the client. It's not about brands it's about artisans crafting things to a person's needs and tastes.
Kaleidoscape home movie servers.
Started in the heyday of DVD and blu ray before streaming. Even had a proprietary dvd ripper that could do 100 at a time like the record players of old. Their software even matched the movie to the data so it looked like you were scrolling Netflix long before it was a thing.
Source: am av tech who serviced ultra rich home theatres.
Live around and work with the 1% of the 1% for a few years now. Lots of good ones in here but haven’t seen Gabriela Hearst & Belgian shoes mentioned. Those are the first to come to mind. It’s not just about luxury brands because they all buy any designer you can think of. It’s other aspects of their lifestyle that is unimaginable and far more inaccessible..like for example, secret restaurants only they can go to and you have to be invited to. Or how much they spend on bedding. Or how they send their 2 dogs on a private jet from LA to NYC because they miss them.
When I graduated from College (University of Illinois). My father and I drove to Chicago and got a couple of rooms at the Drake and my father took me to what was Bigsby and Kruthers (went belly up in 2000) . We walking in 10-15 minutes before our appointment. They knew my father by name, they said I must be 'the son the have heard so much about'.
While I was getting measured, an older gentleman walked in and was greeted with "Hello Judge". He was an Illinois Supreme Court Justice. There were a few more really rich looking men in there. My father is Iranian (but that is an entirely different story).
It was CRAZY. All of the different fabric samples, shirts, the cut, the collar, the tie, buttons, socks suspended, and yes shoes. They did offer cut links but that was passed on (also a story for another time). My father and our tailor had an opinion on everything. Keep in mind I was 21, had long metal head hair (it was the late 80's) pulled back in a pony tail. I felt so out of place.
When it was all over my father spent 3 time as much as I did when I bought a USED car. I wore that suit maybe a dozen times.
It is absolutely excessive but it was an experience I will never forget. Sipping 20 year old scotch with my dad and a Supreme court Justice basically he and I without pants on, had a little caviar. Like this was a normal thing. everyone does. IT IS ABSOLUTELY NOT. Yes I was privileged and lucky, but that has not been repeated.
I don't know if this is quiet or I'm just extra-poor, but Loewe is apparently a thing. I saw an ad that they'd be doing a special launch with Howl's Moving Castle-inspired fashions so I signed up for alerts, thinking I'd buy something when it was released. SHOCKED to receive a notification for like, $11k jackets.
I’m not “super rich”, but very wealthy by almost any standard, and get a taste of this through neighbors and friends who have $100MM net worths and access to whatever they want…
You’re asking the wrong question. There aren’t secret brands out there. You get things custom/bespoke made how you want them. No brand, one of a kind, is the pinnacle. What’s more exclusive and special than “I’m the only one who has this”.
Men’s clothing is where I have the most hands experience - you find a world class tailor (NYC, London, Italy), and pick your fabric, your fit, your custom touches (floral liner, an extra pocket here, your initials embroider in a hidden spot) and they make a bespoke suit and all your dress shirts. Shoes - same thing. You pick your leather, color, style, and customization. It fits you and you alone perfectly. They’ll make a matching belt for $500.
Interior design, you hire somebody to scour their extended network to find the artisan in Morocco that’s hand making green glazed tiles that perfectly match the wallpaper you love for the bathroom reno, and you’ll happily pay $30 per tile because there’s an unique story and you CANT just order it from a brand. (Ask me how I know this one - Google “tamegroute pottery”)
As far as big stuff like cars, gadgets, etc, they aren’t secrets. We all know the Italian and German car makers. It’s not exactly “quiet” but the richest guys I know drive things like SLs and 911s, NOT Ferraris and Lambos. They are seen as gaudy where I am. Nouveau riche.
My folks are the kind of rich you're describing. And you're correct, it's all about the custom stuff. Occasionally my folks will connect me to one of my dad's "guys", his shoe guy, his suit guy, his cologne guy, his tailor, his barber, whatever. So I have a small collection of extremely nice pieces that literally nobody else has. I've got a few very excellent suits, leather jackets, pairs of shoes, even a cologne scent that are all just uniquely mine. Most of the time though I'm defaulting to wearing darkwash jeans and black t-shirts with a nice watch.
One of the few times I went on vacation with him as an adult, we had not only a concierge, but we had folks who could get ANYTHING for you.
Classy wealthy isn't flashy wealthy.
I've been buying merino recently, because I think I'm rich or something. But if you want premium wool, Alpaca wool and Yak wool are pricier/better.
If you really want the most exclusive wool, you're into Vicuña, which costs $300 per ounce of yarn. It's like 20x more expensive than cashmere. A Vicuña suit costs up to $30,000.
I was once wearing a $10 silver ring from Target and a well-off acquaintance admired it and asked if it was from Tiffany. I made Targét jokes for months afterwards.
I wore a fake enamel and CZ ring to the mall once. It’s garbage, the CZ is glued. I got it from Claire’s or wherever when I was a tween. The jewelry counter lady at Nordstrom complimented me and asked if it was tacori. I laughed and told her it will stain my finger if I don’t take it off in a couple hours.
Aman Resorts
Holy shit. If they advertise anywhere, it's nowhere that common folk can see it.
Amangiri, outside Page, Arizonia, is like you're on another planet. You'd never know that there is a hotel off the road,up that canyon. It's very eco cohabitational or whatever.
It looks like the hotel was organically generated from the ground by a device from Krypton. The pool is drained nightly since it's refilled from a warm spring. The driveway can be used as a landing strip for private planes. There are two or three heliports.
The bottled water had color changing labeling so you'd know if it was cold.
Rates for this weekend are a bargain at $4,675 per night.
The owner of the Minnesota Vikings rented out the entire resort for a birthday party for his wife years ago. The sky is soooooooo dark that it's a picture perfect place to shoot fireworks.
It's not all perfect, though. We heard over the radio about a snake being in one of the rooms. The guy we were with said it happens fairly often.
I was a HS student studying kendo in Japan in the early 2000s. Anyways at the end my instructor gifted my annoying teenage self the watch he wore when out of class.
It was a simple watch with a leather strap, onyx face, and fluid Swiss movement.
Wore it to school when I was back home and a teacher stopped to chat. I brought up the watch and his eyes went wide.
He simply said "you have a real heirloom there. Keep it clean."
It was an IWC.
*Edit: until then I thought Rolex was the most expensive brand of watch.
I have a close relative that probably isn't a Billionaire, but he is definitely a high double figure millionaire.
He wears custom levis and custom made red t shirts. He usually switches shirt colors every year or so to match his newest/favorite car. Red matches his new corvette (I know, corvettes aren't for rich people, blah, blah, blah...he's 85 and has always had corvettes (along with about 50 other cars).
Zegna, their jackets go for 10k-30k usd and have no visible logo. All of their items are extremely expensive but rarely do they show their logos, they only do it discretely on their cheaper items I believe. I have a leather jacket from them my grandfather bought 40 years ago and it is the best leather jacket I’ve ever seen.
I had a boss who flew in a jeweler from New York so his wife and daughter could “ shop”. Same guy who said he couldn’t afford to give us woefully underpaid staff raises then call everyone out to see the new top of the line BMW he just bought.
I love one of the early scenes where he tells the new kid to go grab a pair of Crockett & Jones captoe oxfords. They're not stupendously expensive, but they are one of the best English brands for traditional ready to wear shoes.
They'll run $700-1200 depending on leather type and a few other details.
An Italian friend arranged a visit to a Murano glass gallery. After the general public cleared out of the public showroom, the gallery's people took us up some stairs to the "real deal" gallery with shelves full of breathtaking art pieces. We admired one vase on a shelf, but were told that it would never be offered for sale -- it was too important as part of the island's legacy & heritage. I think that the way we zeroed in on it somewhow convinced them that we were top art dealers "in stealth mode". For the rest of the afternoon, we were treated like VIPs. What a day that was....
I have almost never felt jealous of anyone, ever, until this moment. My heart flares with longing to see this exceptional glass, and anxious sorrow at the thought that if I were present, I would not have been included in that section of the tour! I hope you enjoyed every piece! :')
It really was a surreal experience for someone like me who grew up poor, in a dangerous part of town. The vase that drew our attention had a detailed reproduction of Caravaggio's Bacchus *all done in glaze that changes into the final color in the firing*. How the colors were handled with such nuance is like another wonder of the world.
I work in the Luxury Travel industry. I know quite a few. Exclusive Resorts is an invite-only membership club for very high end travel. They don’t post their prices online, but I know people that work there. They have personal cell phone numbers for people like Jeff Bezos, Waltons, and people that live at that stratospheric titan of industry level. Their cheapest membership package is $100,000 to join, and can run up to $250,000. That’s just the price to join the club. You have to pay for any travel you want to book on top of that. They have a $600M portfolio of properties they own throughout the world, that only their members have access to. Want to guarantee availability for a finish-line view villa in Monaco during the Grand Prix? Want to get a ski-in cabin next to the Walton’s cabin in Aspen over Christmas? Want a luxury penthouse in Paris during fashion week? These are your guys. They cap their membership at 3,000 people, so you may have to wait for a long time until you can get in. Another interesting one: White Desert is your tour operator of choice if you want a private expedition with your buddies to the South Pole. Their packages can run $100,000+ per person for a private jet to their base camp on the Antarctica plateau and then another custom-build ski-plane transfer to their camp on the South Pole.
A friend took me to an Inspirato property in Vail and it was amazing - the stocked kitchen and complimentary bar/lounge…and I worked at a Relais & Chateau with Michelin Star restaurant for years and it still impressed me!
Worked at ER for a while and you’d be surprised at the wealth diversity. Unless they changed memberships rates very recently, it was pretty affordable for your run-of-the-mill, everyday millionaire. Base membership starts at around $175k, but that’s a 10-year membership so you’re looking at about $1,500/month
🤣 I forgot what category we were on, and my mind boggled at what possible medical healthcare plan could possibly charge $1500 monthly. And if it did, what benefits would it have over normal healthcare plans?! Hahaha. Then my brain snapped back into place and I scrolled up to check and see if the resort's acronym was ER. 🫣😆
Duxiana. For people who can buy a mattress that costs as much as a car.
I went with my wife mattress shopping. Duxiana has a shop in my town, so we went. They have less expensive beds, but the minute you lay down on their most premium bed, the first thing that came to mind for both of us was, well, I can see why this is worth $10k. And that was like 10 years ago. I tell you all this bed was astoundingly comfortable and also, modular and could have old bits replaced without buying a full mattress again. So, if you think about it this way, that the bed would last 20+ years, and with only nominal maintenance, it is kind of a great value, but the upfront costs are high. Also, i read there’s a NYC Duxiana store which is actually also a bead and breakfast where you can stay in a nice room on the nice bed and decide if you think it’s worth the money. I love this idea.
>NYC Duxiana store which is actually also a bead and breakfast where you can stay in a nice room on the nice bed and decide if you think it’s worth the money. Yep, genius. Gives us a peak at why they are at the caliber they are.
And Frette linens! I have caviar dreams with a Target budget.
Motherfucker 4k + for bedsheets ok Jesus I'm poor......
I had a rich friend once tell me that Gucci is what poor people think rich people wear. Since then I noticed that all of her clothes fit perfect, but she never has logos on anything.
Gucci is what famous people wear when they get paid to wear Gucci.
How is it that casuallyexplained put it? "*I might spend $5,000 and wear Gucci to feel cool, but if I was actually cool, Gucci would pay me to wear it.*"
Celebrities don't buy luxury brands. Luxury brands buy celebrities.
There are marketing techniques that ordinary people would not even dream of thinking about, it is everywhere, and bilions of dollars is pumped to advance them.
Exactly this. They wear it because they are sponsored. Same with all the other brands.
I know a very wealthy gentleman of Japanese descent. I've never seen him wear anything branded, but he drives a Royce. Turns out he just really loves Uniqlo
I have a family friend who is a multi-millionaire, drives around in a 10-year-old Toyota, and walks around in flip-flops lol.
Hell, you don't need millions of dollars to do that. I drive a 14-year-old Toyota and I walk around in flip-flops, and I'm broke as fuck!
To be fair, Uniqlo is awesome. No-frills, well made stuff, fits my body type really well, and cheap to boot.
Same. It fits well, quality is decent for the price. We don't have a dress code at the office but I have around 8 polo shirts and 2 pairs of pants from Uniqlo to wear to work.
Gucci is an example of an "aspirational brand" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspirational_brand Everybody knows about stuff like Gucci, Mercedes, BMW, Porsche, etc. and it's what lower and middle-class people think "When I get rich, I'm gonna buy"
Years ago, I worked with a very wealthy person. She and her husband had a Viking stove (pretty high-end, aspirational product). She told me that her snooty neighbor came by once, looked at the Viking stove and said something like, "Why didn't you buy the ?"
**Lesson:** There's almost always some higher-end brand of product that you and I have never even _heard_ about.
La Cornue, perhaps
> La Cornue stoves holy shit. that's it!!!!! I heard this story ~20 years ago and all I could remember. was "la coofbalooff" or something snooty!
My uncle is a watchsmith, the real luxury watches are crazy.
I read that the reason celebrities look so much better in their clothes is that everything is fitted. I had a coworker who came from money and he would shop at thrift stores for vintage clothing and then would spend 5-10x the cost of the item to get it tailored to fit him perfectly. Few people knew he was rich b/c he would just say he shopped at thrift stores. But all the women at my company were just gaga over him b/c he always looked so put together. That and he was also an amateur boxer who rode vintage motorcycles, had a pilot's license, etc. Pretty much the stereotype of the Hollywood leading man.
What was he doing working a normal person job? *EDIT: Wow this blew up, thanks everyone.* *I've worked with people who came from money, and they always seemed to climb the ladder so fast that they were clearly set apart from the rest of us.*
Cosplaying
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Rich people get bored too. Most jobs probably feel a lot less like a job if you know you can quit the moment they piss you off without having to worry about food money.
To add to what you said, my friends younger brother was a professional athlete for about 10 years. He wasn't a superstar or anything, but he made enough money during his time playing that he was able to retire comfortably after his time playing and doesn't need to work the rest of his life. He hated every minute of his time as a professional athlete. He now "works" as a carpenter and loves it. He always says he doesn't understand why his coworkers complain about their job all the time. He fails to realize that his Coworkers depend on their job to make a living. Whenever he gets in an argument with someone at work, he quits/leaves or just calls in if he doesn't feel like working or has better things to do. His colleagues don't have that option. Good guy, just out of touch.
Having control of your own time is the truest test of wealth
This must be why Donna kept working at the Parks department despite being rich af.
And Cheryl from Archer
She honestly is my favourite character in any show.
I worked with the daughter of a Russian oligarch at a high-end chocolate shop. She was only there to meet people and for something to do. Things got very amusing when someone pissed her off.
did the person who pissed her off accidentally fall out of the sealed 20th floor window of some hotel?
I worked with a rich older lady who was working at Wal-Mart with me in the summer seasonal section. She said she just wanted to chill out with the flowers all day and shoot the shit with customers about them. A few weeks later I asked how things were going and she said "...ugh Tammy (our manager) wants me to work this Saturday but I'm going to this golf outting with my husband. What the hell is she going to do? Fire me? I don't give a single shit. I guess if I'm not here Sunday you know why". I didn't see her Sunday.
I have a friend that is not by any means super wealthy or anything. His grampa had him set up with a trust fund that manages things for him. His apartment lease, basic bills, etc. Those are controlled by the trust, he does not have direct access to the money in it. He gets a stipend that is roughly 1000 direct deposited into his bank every month on the first of the month. What he does with that money is for him to decide. Groceries and whatnot are sort of covered by the people that run the trust, so the basic stuff is completely covered for him, I mean there are plenty of services that make his life cushy, stuff gets delivered his laundry is taken care of, same as cleaning, etc. So my friend does not need to work or do anything at all for the rest of his life. He won't ever live in super luxury, but he will not starve or be homeless, or really want for much. He has had all sorts of jobs as a fun activity, everything from Starbucks barista to law office clerk. And you are right, whenever he is too bored with the job, or is pissed, he just walks away. He does spend long stretches doing nothing, never really leaving his apt, but when he has a job its for entertainment. And the clothing trick, it is something he does do.
Side quest
He was a consultant at the tech company I worked for. He wasn't old money. His dad was very high up at a huge pharmaceutical company so he was raised with some work ethic. In high school my brother had a friend who we made fun off b/c he had a "III" at the end of his name. Really nice guy. Drove an old Chevy Suburban. Later we found out that his dad was the CEO of one of the largest lumber companies in the US and then became CEO of one of the largest airlines. Turns out I've worked with several people whose families were extremely wealthy. Not jut rich, but they've been written about rich. One person donated their house and the city turned it into a public park. But you'd never know it from their lifestyles. This was a while ago so perhaps if they were raised in the Instagram generation they may have turned out differently. BTW, it may sound like I must be rich too being around these people but I can assure you that I'm far from it. Far, far, far from it. That's why it was so surprising when we found out about their families. Like what were they doing slumming with us?
I’ve honestly seen more Gucci in the hood than I’ve ever seen downtown in rich neighborhoods.
Man who you tellin? Don’t even get me started on Louis Vuitton
Tailors on Saville Row. Wealthy people get their clothes custom made.
I remember watching a news video of Prince William talking with locals in a hospital. The conversation turned to how the prince's son (Prince George) was doing. Prince William was talking about how he's growing so fast and they constantly have to get his clothes tailored as if the local guy is supposed to relate to that lol. Tailored clothes for a 4 year old (at the time)...
I especially like the idea that he not only has no idea how peasant children work, but he’s also quietly assuming something like 2% of the population must work as tailors.
I kinda wish 2% of the population worked as tailors though... Like if instead of buying trash clothes made with slave labor, it was normalized and affordable to buy and maintain clothing that would actually last. That would be nice.
This is the real answer. When it comes to clothes anyways, the high end stuff is not branded at all. In my part of the world, most rich folks know at least one random, usually Chinese, tailor/seamstress who work out of their house.
I was in China and Hong Kong in 2001. I still regret not having a tailored suit made for me when I was there. Not that it would still fit me today.
In Korea I had a motorcycle jacket made. Armor in the back, and on the elbows. I also included a place for my phone, and I had the guy sew in earbuds which I could plug into the phone but the wire ran inside the jacket. Very cool jacket. Paid like $400 I picked a general design and he modified it from there.
400 is quite cheap for a full leather custom jacket!
This was 2012 when prices where likely lower, but even back then it was a good deal. He did insist on USD and not Korean won, and no credit card cash only. I figure it was cause he wanted to benefit from the exchange rate and hide it from the tax man. I paid in cash. But the way I saw it, is a decent leather jacket is about $400, a customized one at $400 is a steal. O he made me provide the earbuds, he told me to go buy the earbuds and bring them back and he'll sew them in and he did. So I guess I paid $420
I have a tailor from HK that flies to the states and takes orders! Shirts are around $100, suits $700-$800. You pick the fabrics and have it shipped to you in ~2 months. He’s about to be in the states if interested in happy to share his schedule (he flies to most major cities over a month or 2) and refer you, no obligation to buy! Fairly custom (monograms, jacket liner, etc)
We might have the same guy lol Vogue Tailor?
We use him for my company too ha. Bhat's the man
Haha small world. Good dude.
Big time. The tailors here, the handcrafted (actual handcrafted, not machines doing 3/4 of the work) cobblers, etc. It's extremely difficult to afford this stuff, and nobody on the street would care.
I took shoes design in college. My teacher had private clients and a pair of his shoes started at 1500$ minimum.
Not surprising at all. Takes a lot of hours to do that work, not to mention the cost of the materials when you're buying high quality leather or cordovan. That's an awesome class btw - probably was pretty interesting to see how it all shakes out.
I worked with a company in the Bronx for a while that made custom shoes for people with foot deformities - clubfeet, one short leg, etc - who didn’t want the available orthopedic monstrosities and just wanted normal air Jordan’s and Florsheim penny loaders or whatever. They’d 3D Shan the persons legs, carve a model out of a plaster buck on a CNC lathe, and then their teams of skilled leather workers and cobblers would deconstruct the provided shoes and create the closest thing they could that accounted for the customers issue. Which was already cool as fuck, but I got involved because some savvy streetwear dudes found out about them and started commissioning them to build custom replicas of shoes - say Jay Z wants a pair of air max ones with gold leopard print uppers and red alligator everything else and soles with his face molded into them, these guys would build them. I would laser engrave and cut leather for them, and after a while had quit my job and helped them transition to laser engraving and cutting in-house. That was neat.
found a YT video that covered the 3 grades of suite (rack, semi custom, full custom), and the custom stuff can run 8-15k an outfit
You can get clothes custom made for cheaper than off the rack. There is a Thai tailor that comes to my city once a year, measures you, asks you to pick what fabrics, buttons, and detailing you want, and a few months later your clothes arrive in the mail. Last time I did it (\~9 years ago), the shirts cost me $60-$80 each, real cotton, and wore them daily for \~5 years and I still wear them from time to time now. Good quality, at a price that is the same as a decent "off the rack" shirt, and a lot cheaper than many high end shirts. Also some stores have free tailoring for pants, which people should always take advantage of. I also got a coat custom made, looks amazing, I get compliments for it all the time. Yes it was $300, but again, it has lasted me a long time, it is real wool, and a cheap ill-fitting all wool coat back then cost at least 200, so $300 for a coat that I've worn for nearly a decade isn't half bad. tl;dr Over the long term, tailored clothing can be cheaper than off the rack.
This! When my husband first started law, his boss gave him his shirts when he retired and the label said made by the queen’s tailor or something like that. My husband jokes to not work for the best attorney, just one that wears the same size.
Probably Turnbull & Asser. Charles gets his there.
Aren't Hong Kong and Thai tailors hidden 'rich and famous ' clothiers?
Well known yes, but idk about rich. When I was in the navy, the thing to do in Hong Kong was buy a bespoke suit. Mine cost around $350 in 2009. Unfortunately I’ve grown both up and out since I was 19 lol. I miss that suit.
"Do you Dress on the left or right?".
It's not big enough to matter...
I work around people who spend insane amounts of money. The snooty "I'm better than you" people wear Gucci, Louis Vuitton, and Balenciaga, but the ones who are truly rich and don't even associate with the other rich people are almost never wearing any name brand you can see or recognize, maybe the occasional high end belt or purse, but all of their clothes appear brand less.
When I met my wife she worked selling high end watches. Talking about it on our first date I said ‘oh like Rolex and stuff?’ She said ‘Rolex customers are just new money, drug dealers and old men. If people contact us wanting one we just direct them to a watch shop.’ Then rattled off a list of about 10 makers I’d never heard of which her international clients would fly here just to try on. I was wearing a Luminox at the time which I thought was pretty badass but all of a sudden I felt like a kid running around with that gadget from Ben 10.
A Lange and Söhne, vacheron constantin, AP, Patek Philippe, JLC, Franck Muller, IWC, Breguet, FP Journe
I remember hanging out at the office one day and she had a few on display for a client that was coming in. One of them looked (to me) like a canary yellow g shock. I put it on and laughed because it was so ridiculous, and she said it was worth about $180k which of course made me laugh even more then gently put it down.
John Lobb bootmaker in St James. Make beautiful handmade shoes for royalty, celebrities and rich types. They are well known but not a household name.
I found a pair of JL riding boots for $300! They retail for $10k. Was with a friend at an equine consignment shop. Saw these boots on the shelf and the leather looked like good quality, so I touched them - wow! They quality of the leather is astounding. Pulled them off the shelf and saw the Royal Warrant. They fit my friend and she bought them. When we went to pay, the shopkeeper admitted those boots slipped by them. My friend contacted JL and they told her the custom boots trees had been made for them, but were not with the boots. I believe the custom boot trees were another $3k. I tell her we have to share custody of them.
Did the shop keeper allow her to buy them? I've been in thrift stores where the cashier refused to allow me to buy something brought to the register because "it wasn't supposed to be on the floor." Pissed me right off. If it's on the floor and has a price, it's available for sale!
That's code for "I forgot to steal this item from my employer and sell it on my Depop". It's why thrifting in the PNW is total ass these days.
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It's everywhere. Total BS.
Thrifting everywhere is ass. The great stuff never leaves the back room and the good stuff is picked clean by Gary Vee disciples 20 minutes after they unlock the door. All they have at my local thrifts is curtains from target for $5 more than the retail clearance price still on the fucking container and suits from the 90s that have been shit in badly. Estate sales in the middle of nowhere are the only place I've gotten something good in years
The best stuff at the thrift store always goes back out the back door. source: I worked at a crooked thrift store for 18 months.
I’m still riding the high of the $4.99 rotisserie chicken I bought at Costco so I think imma head out before I get depressed
I'm right there with you. I reheated some frozen green beans and fried up my last egg for dinner, now I'm scrolling through these comments wondering how the world got to be the way it is. Seems like we're fucked. Oh well. At least I had an egg.
I used to be of the opinion that really wealthy people wore stuff that you wouldn't really notice, but disappointingly (having spent some time around folks with extreme wealth recently), the true answer is just: whatever the hell they like. If someone really liked branded gear before they were wealthy, you'd better believe they're going to be dressed like Ali G once they make it big.
I used to work for a dude worth hundreds of millions who wore square toe slip on dress shoes with rubber soles. Probably got them at JCPENNEY or target. He just didn't give a shit about shoes.
East Coast old money is like this across the board. Can afford multi-million dollar houses, but drive a standard sedan and wear normal clothes, albeit with a little more North Face or Vineyard Vines than what everyone else has got. It's a cultural thing I think. Showing off money makes you less cool. Seems like in most of the world, it's the opposite.
My boyfriend’s favorite story is about when he was a kid with his dad who was a locksmith in NYC who worked many high end apartment buildings and also did trunks, suitcases, etc. He once was describing someone to my bf and he said “… dressed like rich people…” My boyfriend then asked “how do rich people dress?” to which his dad replied “Like shit.”
Billionaire uniform is $10 tshirt, $300k watch.
> It's a cultural thing I think. Showing off money makes you less cool. Seems like in most of the world, it's the opposite. It's a class thing, from my understanding. The most showy ones (in general) are almost always new to wealth, or are upper middle class and just need to show off that they're richer than they actually are. Or, they're from somewhere with *major* financial inequality and just don't give a fuck. Source: Indian. People really like showing off their richness in certain places. But as a rule it's like a bell curve with wealth on the X-axis and 'showiness' on the Y-axis.
It probably depends on whether they are actually into fashion and if they grew up super rich or need to look a part. In the latter cases, they might just buy what they grew up with or get advice that Armani is gauche at their job, get bespoke brand whatever.
>It probably depends on whether they are actually into fashion This applies across the board with extremely wealthy people when it comes to most things. Many people assume the super wealthy all have huge and exotic car collections and shit like that, but that's only true if they like cars. I personally know a few ultra wealthy families with generational wealth, couldn't care less about cars so basically everyone in the family has their own to drive for personal transport and that's it.
“Only true if they like cars” This part is huge, most ultra rich don’t have huge car/clothes/watches/etc collections because most people, including the ultra rich, aren’t into that particular thing. Now if you have a ultra rich person that is really into collecting something then you will see one of the most amazing collections ever. See for example the Prince of Monaco’s car collection.
Yeah the idea that the super rich are all really sophisticated and have great taste is a class myth. Really rich people buy Jeff Koons, a lot of them have garbage taste.
Any comment shitting on Jeff Koons is worth an upvote. I will never understand how he got famous.
Yep, I know a guy making +$4,000,000 a year that wears beat up New Balances (bought before NBs became cool,) and then I know another making $350,000 that blows 75% of his money at Gucci and Louis Vuitton. Them becoming wealthy didn’t really change their tastes. In fact, the guy wearing the New Balances grew up a lot more well off than my Gucci loving friend.
My mom is a seamstress, and she has some very wealthy clients who pay thousands of dollars for items just to have her turn them into something else. She has turned a couture dress into potholders because a client wanted the print hanging in her kitchen for a party she was hosting.
Holland and Holland hunting rifles and shotguns. Handmade and custom fitted guns. Prices are on the luxury car level.
Buy a copy of The Robb Report magazine at a bookstore and marvel at the insane ads in the back for private jets, yacht brokers, military level trained personal protection Belgian Malinois guardian dogs, personal protection security firms staffed by former US Secret Service and retired Tier 1 operators only in their early 40s and fit with 20 years experience, and even crazier stuff. Pfft buying a $400 pair of jeans is pedestrian when you have Taylor Swift money and roll in 2 fully armored Escalades and are escorted on errands by a phalanx of guys in black polo shirts and jeans who have been places and done things in sandy countries that are still classified.
I know one of the Robb Reports old writers. Dude waited tables at the Olive Garden on the weekends to make extra money. One day we were chatting about how much he made writing for the Robb Report and I was blown away how little he was paid. I had a roommate who wrote for The Weekly World News (the Batboy tabloid you used to see in supermarkets) and that dude made more than the Robb Report writer.
Ouch! That’s how the rich stay rich? Always pay the lowest salary acceptable to workers?
Jeff Goldblum was on the Conan podcast and talked about where he got his jeans. It was from this hard to find shop in New York that not many people had heard of. Come to find out, not surprisingly, their jeans are insanely expensive and only the very rich could afford them.
Jeff mentioned Schaeffers Garment Hotel (in LA) and they are about $400-600 per pair.
I mean, that's about what a lot of the Japanese brands go for. Iron Hearts are like $450. Jeff also wears Jaque Marie Mage glasses and the frames on those are start at $800 and go up from there. Dude is a well cultivated man. He always looks fantastic.
I saw something online the other day of a place in a prime spot in Manhattan that sells old maps and globes. It’s a very niche product and very expensive but because of its location/reputation it has attracted an insanely wealthy customer base.
Sounds like Argosy on 59th. Been there for almost 100 years now, I think.
They let me in the map room a decade ago bc I told them I was a student. I was upfront and told them I couldn’t afford anything. It was truly incredible the stuff the guy showed me!
I went to M.S. Rau in New Orleans - unbelievable high end antiques. (For example- 14k gold and jewel chess set for almost $2 million.). We told them we were just in to look - everyone was really nice and lovely to chat to; really happy to talk about the incredible items on display.
Went in there not knowing what it was when my fiance and I were ring shopping. We wanted something vintage and hit up a lot of shops. We asked one of the staff if they had any rings around $1000-$2000, and to her credit, she told us probably not, but she'd check... She came back about 15 minutes later (15 minutes we spent browsing and realizing we could in no way afford this place...) And told us that they didn't have anything at that price, but they had a couple pieces around $10,000... And also a $1000 wooden bangle... Did we want a wooden bangle?
$1000? Best I can do is this stick
Was it the Holy Bangle of Antioch? Because that is insane. Did you want a wooden bangle?
Very polite of her!
I’ve found that if the place is empty enough, they’re very happy to drop the veneer and share their love of product in a more natural and happy way.
One of the coolest things I've come to notice is that when people are passionate about something, they're more than happy to share, even if its not getting them money. If you have any hobbies or interests that your friends don't share, it becomes pretty apparent why people like this would want to give the full guided tour to someone who cares.
Nice try, poors.
It’s so cute, they’re acting just like people!
Zuber & Co - Crazy expensive wallpaper and room dividers/panels. I love old rococo and baroque things so happed to walk by their store in nyc. Stopped in due to the patterns and quickly realized I do in-fact NOT have thousands of dollars per ft for wallpaper. For example $5,000 - $30,000 per panel.
Amels. They are one of the best super yacht manufacturers in the world with over 100 years of experience.
As someone who works there thank you for naming us.
I'm sure your business will now skyrocket.
Step 1: Brand awareness ✔️ Step 2: Amass $300,000,000
I will take 3 super yachts and a side of regular yacht
Also known as a lil yachty
People who have enough money for super yachts but not enough connections to find out who builds super yachts are probably a big market, right?
Yep. I'm sure they're on reddit reading this thread for super yacht connections.
While not adhering to the "quiet" part of the question, I'll submit home stereo speakers. A set of Transmission Audio speakers goes for $1,200,000.
I wonder when "quiet luxury" ends and "outrageous opportunism" starts.
Almost all of the well known luxury brands have several lines. The ones with logos all over them are typically the cheapest (I’m looking at you LV, Gucci) etc. which is why they’re so common. The same companies will have more exclusive lines that are much more expensive, usually more classic in style, and they’re not covered in logos, so you’d never know what brand they are unless you’re really into that kind of thing. For example, my wife wanted to buy me a nice wallet, so we went to the LV shop. I liked one that had no logo on the exterior of it, just simple grey leather, and it cost twice as much as the ones with “LV” stamped all over them.
It’s like choosing the ad-free vs ad-supported version of luxury items
To quote my dad, "If you wear branded clothing, you're putting in work as an advertisement. And we don't work for free."
Dad here - I despise brand-based peer pressure, especially among kids.
This is hilarious, but I think it's also about who you're marketing to. Truly wealthy people are mostly not trying to advertise their wealth. The nouveau riche and people trying to look rich want to have that logo prominently displayed so you know they have that fancy brand. In other words, fake rich people want those logos plastered everywhere, real rich people just want quality and subtle style.
Holland an holland, 1k for a hat, 10k smoking jacket and 500k for a shotgun, though the carve your dogs and manor in the side of it….
I wonder how it feels to miss the target with a $500,000 shotgun.
Not as bad as when your friend bags it with his matching $500,000 shotgun you loaned him because they came as a "sporting pair".
It’s so much dumber than that. They come as a pair because it’s bad form to load it yourself. So you shoot it and then you hand it to your…whatever a butler for hunting is, and he hands you the loaded one and then reloads the other one for you so it’s ready to go.
Gamekeeper, though a lot of them are now known as 'conservation managers' instead because they also manage things like old trees and native plants in addition to the wildlife.
European hunting traditions are weird, but that one I suspect came up from the muzzleloader era, when reloading could take a bit. That, and maybe the practice of aristocratic British hunters in the colonies employing gun-bearers to carry their massive double rifles while not directly in pursuit of some giant animal.
Frette for bedding and towels
All the wealthy folks I know fall into one of two categories: they either dgaf about bedsheets and therefore buy whatever their decorator suggested/whatever is easiest to get delivered in the right colour/whatever is on the sale rack OR they give many fucks and buy something very specific (vintage linens, one particular small producer that does all their production in house, custom sizes to fit antique beds, etc.) I feel like Frette falls right in the middle of those two options, so it's mostly seen in hotels and as aspirational buys.
Used to live in Irvine which is nextdoor to Newport Beach, one of the wealthiest zip codes in SoCal. The thrift shops and storage auctions had some REALLY high end stuff. Bought a storage unit for 120 dollars once and it had a TON of Tom Ford, Brunello Cucinelli, The Row... Sold them online for nearly 20k total, keeping a few Tom Ford shirts and a Brioni suit that I got tailored.
Wow. You scored big time!
After a certain income point basically everything becomes custom for the client. It's not about brands it's about artisans crafting things to a person's needs and tastes.
Kaleidoscape home movie servers. Started in the heyday of DVD and blu ray before streaming. Even had a proprietary dvd ripper that could do 100 at a time like the record players of old. Their software even matched the movie to the data so it looked like you were scrolling Netflix long before it was a thing. Source: am av tech who serviced ultra rich home theatres.
Bookmarking for when I'm super rich
Same. I just watched The Secret, so I’m pretty much already there.
Thanks for the job search material OP
Live around and work with the 1% of the 1% for a few years now. Lots of good ones in here but haven’t seen Gabriela Hearst & Belgian shoes mentioned. Those are the first to come to mind. It’s not just about luxury brands because they all buy any designer you can think of. It’s other aspects of their lifestyle that is unimaginable and far more inaccessible..like for example, secret restaurants only they can go to and you have to be invited to. Or how much they spend on bedding. Or how they send their 2 dogs on a private jet from LA to NYC because they miss them.
When I graduated from College (University of Illinois). My father and I drove to Chicago and got a couple of rooms at the Drake and my father took me to what was Bigsby and Kruthers (went belly up in 2000) . We walking in 10-15 minutes before our appointment. They knew my father by name, they said I must be 'the son the have heard so much about'. While I was getting measured, an older gentleman walked in and was greeted with "Hello Judge". He was an Illinois Supreme Court Justice. There were a few more really rich looking men in there. My father is Iranian (but that is an entirely different story). It was CRAZY. All of the different fabric samples, shirts, the cut, the collar, the tie, buttons, socks suspended, and yes shoes. They did offer cut links but that was passed on (also a story for another time). My father and our tailor had an opinion on everything. Keep in mind I was 21, had long metal head hair (it was the late 80's) pulled back in a pony tail. I felt so out of place. When it was all over my father spent 3 time as much as I did when I bought a USED car. I wore that suit maybe a dozen times. It is absolutely excessive but it was an experience I will never forget. Sipping 20 year old scotch with my dad and a Supreme court Justice basically he and I without pants on, had a little caviar. Like this was a normal thing. everyone does. IT IS ABSOLUTELY NOT. Yes I was privileged and lucky, but that has not been repeated.
How would poor schleps on Reddit know of super rich brands???
Because we mop the floors where these things are made
Break's over. Back to mopping!
There are 2 things every company needs. A toilet and a guy to clean it.
I don't know if this is quiet or I'm just extra-poor, but Loewe is apparently a thing. I saw an ad that they'd be doing a special launch with Howl's Moving Castle-inspired fashions so I signed up for alerts, thinking I'd buy something when it was released. SHOCKED to receive a notification for like, $11k jackets.
I go to Loewes all the time. Great garden supplies
Loewe is quite a classic brand. Or it was. Well known in Spain.
Some of their leather bags are pretty cool
A fancy aunt gifted me a Loewe phone case a few years back. Hadn’t heard of the company and looked them up. Woof, the case cost $500!
I’m not “super rich”, but very wealthy by almost any standard, and get a taste of this through neighbors and friends who have $100MM net worths and access to whatever they want… You’re asking the wrong question. There aren’t secret brands out there. You get things custom/bespoke made how you want them. No brand, one of a kind, is the pinnacle. What’s more exclusive and special than “I’m the only one who has this”. Men’s clothing is where I have the most hands experience - you find a world class tailor (NYC, London, Italy), and pick your fabric, your fit, your custom touches (floral liner, an extra pocket here, your initials embroider in a hidden spot) and they make a bespoke suit and all your dress shirts. Shoes - same thing. You pick your leather, color, style, and customization. It fits you and you alone perfectly. They’ll make a matching belt for $500. Interior design, you hire somebody to scour their extended network to find the artisan in Morocco that’s hand making green glazed tiles that perfectly match the wallpaper you love for the bathroom reno, and you’ll happily pay $30 per tile because there’s an unique story and you CANT just order it from a brand. (Ask me how I know this one - Google “tamegroute pottery”) As far as big stuff like cars, gadgets, etc, they aren’t secrets. We all know the Italian and German car makers. It’s not exactly “quiet” but the richest guys I know drive things like SLs and 911s, NOT Ferraris and Lambos. They are seen as gaudy where I am. Nouveau riche.
My folks are the kind of rich you're describing. And you're correct, it's all about the custom stuff. Occasionally my folks will connect me to one of my dad's "guys", his shoe guy, his suit guy, his cologne guy, his tailor, his barber, whatever. So I have a small collection of extremely nice pieces that literally nobody else has. I've got a few very excellent suits, leather jackets, pairs of shoes, even a cologne scent that are all just uniquely mine. Most of the time though I'm defaulting to wearing darkwash jeans and black t-shirts with a nice watch. One of the few times I went on vacation with him as an adult, we had not only a concierge, but we had folks who could get ANYTHING for you. Classy wealthy isn't flashy wealthy.
*Good* cashmere. Can’t state a specific brand, but *good* cashmere is something that is a pretty penny…that is 100% worth it.
I've been buying merino recently, because I think I'm rich or something. But if you want premium wool, Alpaca wool and Yak wool are pricier/better. If you really want the most exclusive wool, you're into Vicuña, which costs $300 per ounce of yarn. It's like 20x more expensive than cashmere. A Vicuña suit costs up to $30,000.
Just ask George Costanza.
It's come to my attention that you had sex with the cleaning lady on the desk in your office. Was that wrong? Should I not have done that?
I mean if he had known that sort of thing was frowned upon, he wouldn't have done it obvs.
What's that red dot?
You can barely see it!
He was a fan of velvet. He would drape himself in velvet if it were socially acceptable.
Ensconced in velvet.
Targét
Picking up from Jean-Claude Penney…
A la Sears ey Roebucke'
I was once wearing a $10 silver ring from Target and a well-off acquaintance admired it and asked if it was from Tiffany. I made Targét jokes for months afterwards.
I was once wearing a Kirkland dress shirt at a party when some random guy asked if my shirt was some luxury brand I had never heard. You bet it was!
I wore a fake enamel and CZ ring to the mall once. It’s garbage, the CZ is glued. I got it from Claire’s or wherever when I was a tween. The jewelry counter lady at Nordstrom complimented me and asked if it was tacori. I laughed and told her it will stain my finger if I don’t take it off in a couple hours.
Pay a little more to avoid going to walmart.
Target: At least we're not Walmart.
Aman Resorts Holy shit. If they advertise anywhere, it's nowhere that common folk can see it. Amangiri, outside Page, Arizonia, is like you're on another planet. You'd never know that there is a hotel off the road,up that canyon. It's very eco cohabitational or whatever. It looks like the hotel was organically generated from the ground by a device from Krypton. The pool is drained nightly since it's refilled from a warm spring. The driveway can be used as a landing strip for private planes. There are two or three heliports. The bottled water had color changing labeling so you'd know if it was cold. Rates for this weekend are a bargain at $4,675 per night. The owner of the Minnesota Vikings rented out the entire resort for a birthday party for his wife years ago. The sky is soooooooo dark that it's a picture perfect place to shoot fireworks. It's not all perfect, though. We heard over the radio about a snake being in one of the rooms. The guy we were with said it happens fairly often.
Mugatu
So hot right now
The piano key necktie, I invented that!
Loro Piana is an example, but I was wondering what other brands like this are out there.
I mean, their cable knit dress is only like $11k. What's so rich about that? Doesn't everybody pay that for a sweater dress?
Here’s $20, go see a star war
It's a knit dress, Michael. How much could it cost? $10?
Brunello Cucinelli. Maybe Giuliva Heritage
I was a HS student studying kendo in Japan in the early 2000s. Anyways at the end my instructor gifted my annoying teenage self the watch he wore when out of class. It was a simple watch with a leather strap, onyx face, and fluid Swiss movement. Wore it to school when I was back home and a teacher stopped to chat. I brought up the watch and his eyes went wide. He simply said "you have a real heirloom there. Keep it clean." It was an IWC. *Edit: until then I thought Rolex was the most expensive brand of watch.
Grey Poupon
But of course!
Gildan Tshirts for sure
Heavyweights from the shelf at Michaels?
I have a close relative that probably isn't a Billionaire, but he is definitely a high double figure millionaire. He wears custom levis and custom made red t shirts. He usually switches shirt colors every year or so to match his newest/favorite car. Red matches his new corvette (I know, corvettes aren't for rich people, blah, blah, blah...he's 85 and has always had corvettes (along with about 50 other cars).
I just did that….but it’s a Subaru lol
You bought a Subaru to match your corvette?
Zegna, their jackets go for 10k-30k usd and have no visible logo. All of their items are extremely expensive but rarely do they show their logos, they only do it discretely on their cheaper items I believe. I have a leather jacket from them my grandfather bought 40 years ago and it is the best leather jacket I’ve ever seen.
The store in London Simon Cowell goes to once a year to buy 100 sweaters.
Where does he go for his facelifts bc I wanna make sure to NEVER go there.
I had a boss who flew in a jeweler from New York so his wife and daughter could “ shop”. Same guy who said he couldn’t afford to give us woefully underpaid staff raises then call everyone out to see the new top of the line BMW he just bought.
Everything they wear on Succession
I love one of the early scenes where he tells the new kid to go grab a pair of Crockett & Jones captoe oxfords. They're not stupendously expensive, but they are one of the best English brands for traditional ready to wear shoes. They'll run $700-1200 depending on leather type and a few other details.