Both Sofia Richie and Elliot Grainge are first generation old money. Sofia’s father Lionel is worth an estimated $200 million (£160 million), while Elliot’s father Lucian Grainge, the CEO of Universal Music Group, is worth an estimated $50 million (£40 million). While Sofia may be more new money than old, she can afford to embrace this aesthetic as she has access to luxuries that the average person doesn’t: time and serious money.
While the rest of us are stuck at our 9 to 5s, slaving away making money just so we can look like old money, those with actual money can afford to do all the things necessary to embody the aesthetic. They have the time and money to attend regular hair appointments, facials, manicures, and spa days to be able to create that flawless skin and just-done hair. For celebrities, luxury brands will often gift them clothes in exchange for exposure too, which is why you hardly ever see a celeb repeating an outfit.
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Aspiring to an aesthetic that 99% of us simply cannot afford is not only harmful to our mental health, but continues to perpetuate unrealistic beauty and style standards. Most of us don’t have glowing skin 24/7, perfectly preened hair, or access to a luxury wardrobe. We’re more dull skin, limp hair, and Primark over Proenza Schouler. Of course, we can buy clothes that emulate the old money aesthetic as much as we can, heck, we can even invest in a Chanel bag as an investment piece. But the reality is that if we’re not from old money then we’re not going to look like old money, no matter how hard we try.
We can certainly look to people like Sofia Richie for style inspiration, but don’t beat yourself up if you’re unable to achieve yet another aesthetic salivated over by TikTok, and definitely don’t go into debt trying to achieve it either. Time and trends move on too quickly to keep up with everything.
The old money aesthetic is aspirational, but ultimately not achievable for the average person – and that’s OK. Let’s allow old money to look like old money and we can embrace looking like ourselves, limp hair and all.