Why the stealth luxe trend might save us
Discover more from It's Not Sustainable with Tiffanie Darke
Why the stealth luxe trend might save us
Because the fashion industry doesn't seem to be putting forward any other ideas
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“Humanity is on thin ice,” said the UN Secretary General António Guterres yesterday, as the IPCC (International Panel on Climate Change) issued its progress report on the world’s efforts to achieve survival. The report has been 5 years in the making, and 130 countries met over the weekend to finalise the text. Read more on the report here, but to summarise, while the good news is the rise in carbon emissions is slowing, the bad news is it needs to peak by the end of next year. After that, it needs to drop by a WHOPPING 43% - and fast. “There is a rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all,” the report warned. So hello, Planet Fashion: that means less.
Not sure Planet Fashion has received this memo. In fact, this recent show season it seemed the sustainability conversation was turned down to mute. The shows were glorious. Almost the best we’ve ever had: the creativity, the diversity, the innovation, the choice, was intoxicating. It was hard not to be seduced. But there was almost no acknowledgement that Bernard Arnault cannot go on getting richer by selling more things. Where were the ideas around circularity? Upcycling? Biomaterials? Alteration? Repair? Not on the catwalks. But a phone call from Anne Marie Curtis, Editor in Chief of The Calendar Magazine, pulled me out of my spiral. “Can you write about the return of stealth luxe?” she asked excitedly. “Did you see Milan? So beautiful!”
It’s an old fashion friend, stealth luxe. It was a strong trend amongst the big brands this season, who returned to those everlasting classics, the ones that stick around in your wardrobe for years (Yes! Buy less, buy better!). These are pieces that don’t shout, they whisper; they major on cut and quality of fabric and the truth is they may be in your wardrobe already. If not, you can justify buying them because if you go hard on quality, they should last you to the end of time.
Stealth luxe will be all over our screens at the end of this month when Shiv Roy and her brothers return for the final series of Succession, wearing a wardrobe that is so reassuringly expensive, the last thing it needs to do is advertise itself. Of course the top 0.0001% are responsible for by far the largest consumption habits (Put that private jet down, Kendall!), but let’s just say the chicest fashion people I know are the ones whose understated wardrobes are built to last. There is an excellence of fabric, detail on cut and design that almost acts like fashion code: while a passer-by might just see a regular black jacket, the wearer, and the sharp-eyed fashion observer, sees a Balenciaga comeback piece. If you know, you know.
If we all bought less and bought better, ultimately luxury would be the winner. Twenty things at Zara is one very good choice at Prada. Not splurging like some crack addicted shopping addict on cheap high street knock offs affords us the ability to buy into something better made, more long lasting, frankly chicer. In the Max Mara show notes, it was called ‘the camelocracy’. Precision cuts around classic items that don’t shout their value but whisper it, elegantly. Italy’s history of fabric mills and leather goods positions it perfectly to lead this swing to elevated classics; like a bowl of spaghetti puttanesca, there’s the Sainsbury’s kind, and there’s the kind they serve at Giacomo’s. Over at Gucci, the rumour surrounding the departure of creative director Alessandro Michele was that his designs just weren’t mainstream enough for the brand’s growing audience. ‘Timeless’ is the brief to the new Gucci creative director, Sabato De Sarno.
The buzziest show of Milan Fashion Week was Bottega Veneta, where designer Mathieu Blazy took stealth wealth one step further: he made it in disguise. Last season, he showed a pair of blue denim trousers that looked to all the world like a regular pair of jeans, but in fact were made from butter-soft leather. Kate Moss wore them down the runway with a lumberjack shirt and immediately stole the front pages. This season, he showed white striped Oxford shirts and ‘slipper socks’ which were also made from leather: true beauty is in the permanence of design and expression, he seemed to be saying.
Proof of the sustainability of all these items can be found in the buzz surrounding the return of designer Phoebe Philo this autumn. To celebrate, there has been a rash of private sales of her ‘old Céline’ pieces, some of them now over 15 years old. Not only are they still absolutely relevant, the quality has ensured they are as good to wear now as when they were first made. For Phoebe fans, ‘old Céline’ is a club, and if you know, you really know.
I have had my own stealth luxe moment this season, too. At the beginning of this year, I made a vow to only buy five new fashion things.
The Rule of 5 campaign encourages us to buy less - to buy only what our planet can afford. But that doesn’t mean you can’t still have fun with fashion. Find out more here:
Limiting yourself to just five things a year is a sobering exercise, one I began with a full wardrobe audit. What have I actually got, and what do I actually need? For me, it’s a slouchy blazer, a classic trouser, a camel knit, an oversized overcoat. Saint Laurent, Balenciaga and The Row all had glorious takes on these, but the one that got me going was the white shirt, boyfriend style. The one you can wear with everything, layered under jackets, knits and dresses, or as a showcase in itself over leggings, trousers and skirts. As with all stealth luxe pieces, shopping for one is never boring, or it doesn’t have to be. The complexities are myriad; the intricacy of cut and material, you can spend hours on. So, this time, I tried on many different shirts, and having been tipped off by several stylists and editors, I went for this one from the shirt specialist With Nothing Underneath. The fabric is organic cotton, it is thick and stiff, and the cut is just perfect around the shoulders. The boyfriend shape is so well considered – I can wear it loose under a jacket but also tucked into a trouser or layered under a jumper. It is the ultimate white shirt. It is also a good price point, under £100. Not all luxury needs to be ridiculously expensive. In fact if you support small, founder led brands that don’t spend all their money on marketing you can find true steals.
So how are you going to respond to the IPCC’s very clear and stark progress report? If like me, you used to be one of those fashion fiends swooping armfuls of clothes out of Zara and filling the checkout basket at Net a Porter: it’s over. Just a few, extremely well constructed, longlasting pieces going forward. The IPCC couldn’t be clearer. Not paying attention is the fashion equivalent of wearing fancy dress to a funeral.
See you next week
Tiff
Why the stealth luxe trend might save us
Brilliant and completely relevant as always..
How do we translate this down to gens below? How do you persuade kids Primark isn’t cool