ON EVERYTHING #127: THE PRICED OUT YOUTH IS REWIRING FASHION STATUS SYMBOLS AGAIN

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A recent article in the Financial Times style section touted a new Gen Z obsession –– Logchamp’s Le Pliage bag. This rather staid, bougie item made of nylon seems like an unlikely candidate for a fashion status symbol among the supposedly cool-obsessed youth. Or maybe it does – after all, it hits some of the right notes; French, heritage, and like Hermés, vaguely associated with horses. But it’s main point of attraction is that it’s cheap.

Overall, the Western youth has never had that much money, and the egregious post-pandemic price hikes have further priced them out of luxury /designer fashion. But the young are as status-conscious as the adults, and so they have been forced, yet again, to create their own status symbol ecosystem. The luxury fashion industry has always operated on the Veblenian principle of exclusivity, banking on conspicuous (and aspirational) consumption and conspicuous display of wealth. But the trick to luxury pricing is that it must be expensive but still within reach, at least in one’s imagination. Luxury must be tantalizing. Price your products too high and it leaves one’s imaginary orbit. This is why as much as you may love a Francis Bacon triptych you never think about owning one; the thought is not worth entertaining in any meaningful way.

At the same time, contemporary culture has truly elevated luxury goods into a fetish. Every rap track, every celebrity photo, the myriad of social media fashion commentators, touts luxury. The penetration of the collective psyche by the luxury fashion industry has no historical parallel. Even twenty years ago if you asked your average teenager about what is a Hermés Birkin or what Prada is, few would now. It seems like everyone does now.