By Bianca Guzzo
Before her spring wedding, I only associated Sofia Richie as being Nicole Richie’s younger sister and Scott Disick’s controversially younger girlfriend a few years ago. Now that she’s an FYP staple, her makeup tutorials and outfit of the day videos have been going viral with people calling her simple and chic personal style a breath of fresh air. It’s safe to say she has totally rebranded herself from being a side-character on Keeping Up With The Kardashians into a bonafide social media maven. According to her Instagram bio she’s the Beauty Director of Canadian makeup brand Nudestix. If you take a quick glance at her Insta grid you’ll see snaps from her wedding, pics of her by a pool, and various shots of her daily outfits. She posts short videos of her doing her own makeup and hair on vacation, cute clips of date nights with her husband, and joining in on silly trends with her friends. It’s all of course highly curated, but none of it feels like she’s trying too hard.
Back in the spring Sofia’s lavish destination wedding to music executive Elliot Grainge in the South of France took TikTok by storm. The internet quickly became obsessed with the relaxed glamour of the wedding. It felt like everybody was tuning in to watch quick videos of Sofia doing her own makeup and choosing earrings for her rehearsal dinner. She gave us a behind-the-scenes peek of the whole weekend including clips of her walk down the aisle and the late-night afterparty. Although Sofia’s “wedding of the year” was elaborate, it still came across as an intimate and exclusive event that just about everyone wanted an invite to. She delivered look after look through the wedding weekend, honeymoon, and continued as she settled into newlywed life that everybody is eating up. It’s classic, luxe, logo-less, and way more mature than the way we’re used to seeing 24-year-olds put themselves together. Sofia’s curated style actually has a name. It’s a “quiet luxury” aesthetic and it’s become the trending style to watch this summer, according to Vogue.
Quiet luxury is used to describe a “timelessly chic” aesthetic that is said to be the antithesis of fast fashion trends we tend to see on social media personalities. It doesn’t rely on loud prints, logos, or the oversaturated “in-your-face” trends to make a bold statement. It instead focuses on shopping with intention and purpose to create a wardrobe that can be mixed and matched to create an abundance of chic looks. Gwenyth Paltrow’s outfits while she attended court earlier this year are another great example of this aesthetic. The style exudes that old money feel that still shows off without being too showy. Instead of relying on a logo belt or printed scarf, it’s just vaguely “expensive looking”. It’s even inspired users to create a series of “choose your own destiny” style games on TikTok that are based on picking the right outfits and accessories to fit in as a new member of “high society”. Some social commentators are saying that quiet luxury is a direct response to the current economic climate and ongoing global recession.
It’s on the opposite end of the style spectrum of trends like “dopamine dressing” that saw people wearing bright colours, mixing patterns, and over-accessorizing which gained popularity through the end of 2021 and into 2022. Quiet luxury (which is also sometimes called stealth wealth) takes a step back with more subdued hues and tailored or classic silhouettes. The current recession has changed the way we look at disposable income. During the pandemic everything was closed, so we had nothing to spend our money on except for silly little purchases to soften the blow of impending doom. Now that the world has opened up and things have gotten more expensive, people have to allocate their savings to things that are more important to them. This specific trend does the same thing with cutting back on loud outfits while still looking expensive. People like Sofia or Gwenyth probably aren’t feeling the effects of inflation as much as us, but they’re still dressing in tune with global economics. It’s kind of a brilliant way of branding yourself because it’s a style that people can still aspire to without immediately wanting to price-check the whole outfit.
The Kardashian-Jenners have been longtime fans of sharing their extravagant wardrobes to their followers online. Kim even credited her showing off a large diamond ring and other pricey items on her social media as what led to her being robbed in a Paris hotel in 2016. Following the online popularity of Sofia Richie’s wedding, people started noticing Kylie Jenner changing up her style. Instead of the tight and loud outfits we were used to seeing Kylie in, she started opting for classic cuts and flowy frocks in muted colours. It didn’t take long for the comments to flood in accusing her of “stealing” Sofia’s signature style. Other’s are calling it “The Sofia Richie Effect”, and more celebs are starting to follow suit. Kylie’s sister Kendall has also been dipping her toes into the quiet luxury waters, which isn’t a super dramatic departure from her “off-duty” model looks she usually sports.
In researching the quiet luxury trend and all of the famous people who are currently influencing people to adopt it, here’s what I found out. It does a really good job of masquerading as an attainable aesthetic that has always been in circulation. In reality it’s just another trend that will cycle through just like the rest of them. It’s important to remember that not everybody has the privilege to shop sustainably or from bespoke luxury brands for their entire wardrobe. I think the main reason why this specific aesthetic is resonating with young people is because it doesn’t feel like she’s constantly flaunting her extravagant lifestyle in our faces. Sure her closet is impressive, but she doesn’t post videos of a wardrobe full of Birkins or her glam team working on her hair at the DMV. She’s still rich but she doesn’t feel out of touch, and I think that’s the real Sofia Richie Effect.
