What is Quiet Luxury and why is it so popular right now?

Quiet luxury refers to high-quality and well-crafted clothing and accessories without notable logos. Members of royal families could be considered the ideal embodiment of this style. Until the democratisation of the fashion industry, the majority of high-end brands were selling their products primarily to members of high society, where loudly displaying logos was considered bad taste. Quiet luxury was the norm. However, over the last decade, many fashion and luxury brands were able to increase their customer base, thanks to accessories with large logos and endless collaborative collections, e.g. Louis Vuitton & Supreme, Gucci & Adidas, Valentino & Levi's, Dior & Nike and so on.

But did we get tired of the logos? From the end of March 2023, a large number of people expressed an interest in the term Quiet Luxury. According to Google Trends, the search for Quite Luxury peaked in April. Social media is flooded with videos on how to look expensive. #quietluxury videos only on TikTok have surpassed 107 million views. So what happened in April 2023?

Besides Quiet Luxury, people were also searching on Google for Succession, a Drama series that premiered in 2018, while season 4 premiered on March 26th 2023. The drama tells the story of the wealthy family; and it is important to note that the series' characters embody the silent luxury style by wearing Loro Piana and Brunello Cucinelli. Aside from The Succession's popularity, the term quiet luxury was frequently seen in the news alongside Gwyneth Paltrow's court case. The looks of the Oscar-winning actress were precisely analysed and shared across the web and socials under the titles Everything Gwyneth Paltrow Wore to Her Ski Trial. Gwyneth Paltrow's favourite brands include The Row, Celine, Ralph Lauren, and of course Goop, personal label of Gwyneth Paltrow (the visits to goop.com increased by 38% in March compared to February). Gwyneth Paltrow's sophisticated court looks were also labelled Quiet Luxury by the media.

The leading quiet luxury brands

Some experts believe that the popularity of quiet luxury stems from the lockdown era, when personal comfort was highly valued. Even though the COVID-19 lockdown had a significant impact on revenue, with net sales down by 30% on average, the truly luxury brands achieved record results in the following years. Net Sales for the Brunello Cucinelli brand reached €920 million in the fiscal year 2022, up 29% from 2021. The French brand Hermès experienced the same growth, with sales reaching €11.6 billion. The year 2022 brought record sales for both companies.

Apart from Brunello Cucinelli and Hermès, among the silent luxury brands that sell ready-to-wear for men and women are Loro Piana, Giorgio Armani, Kiton, Bottega Veneta, and The Row, a brand with a different heritage but one of the most popular luxury brands of a new generation. Ermenegildo Zegna and Brioni are two other names for men's high-end collections. Women's brands include Akris, Max Mara, and Khaite, which was founded in 2016.

Cover Image: Brunello Cucinelli campaign, courtesy Brunello Cucinelli Facebook page