For the past year, all anyone has talked about is the appeal of quiet luxury. The newly-named aesthetic, inspired by the likes of the über-rich in Succession, catapulted onto our trend radar for the fact that flashy logos aren’t what sells to the wealthy. But like every trend as of late, it comes and goes in a heartbeat because apparently, we’re ditching the subtleties when it comes to handbag purchases from big-name brands.
In the newly-released 2023 ultra-luxury resale report by Fashionphile, shoppers are already swapping out the “if you know, you know” mentality for bigger and louder styles. While lucrative, “quiet” luxury brands – Loewe, Celine, and Bottega Veneta – have surged by 34 percent, at the same time, searches for bold prints skyrocketed even higher than understated silhouettes. Polka dots, for example, have increased by an astounding 71 percent; the sell-through rate for the coveted dotted pieces from the Louis Vuitton x Yayoi Kusama collaboration increased by 51 percent. The site further explains that this is a time when concurrent trends aren’t “just contradicting each other, but they’re dominating the conversation all on their own, too.”
Leading the luxury resale market isn’t Gen Z, but Gen X and Millennial shoppers who hold greater influence as they rank the highest for visiting any discounted page on Fashionphile. But like everything in fashion, the trends will, and have already, started to trickle down. Along with customers opting for striking prints, a “shimmer and iridescence renaissance” is expected to be upon us by 2024. It appears that we all want to be seen, after all.
Other parts of the report spotlight highly sought-after items in the coming months: timeless, minimalist investments and oversized totes are expected to dominate our wardrobes. Despite an uptick in prices as of late, Chanel is experiencing a significant surge, increasing by 47 percent in March compared to the data’s previous six-month average.
Amidst a rapidly changing trend landscape and economic shifts, it’s clear that we’re leaning heavily into a sustainable circular way of shopping — projections indicate that the global secondhand market “will reach an astounding $350 billion by 2027, nearly doubling in size since last year.” For more insight on the resale market, check out Fashionphile’s 2023 Ultra-Luxury resale report in full here.
