7 subtle ways to pull off ‘quiet luxury’ even while you’re living paycheck-to-paycheck

I discovered quiet luxury the way most of us did—through HBO’s Succession and a thousand TikToks dissecting how rich people dress to look like they’re not trying. Cashmere sweaters in oatmeal. Perfectly fitted white T-shirts. Handbags with no logos. The kind of wealth that whispers so softly, you almost miss it.

The problem? Every “quiet luxury essential” guide I found started with $400 T-shirts and $3,000 handbags. As someone whose checking account regularly hovers around $47 on the day before payday, I needed a different approach.

Here’s what I learned: quiet luxury isn’t about owning expensive things. It’s about restraint, editing, and understanding what actually makes something look expensive. After two years of studying this aesthetic (and yes, occasionally scrolling Net-a-Porter while eating ramen), I’ve figured out how to fake stealth wealth on a very loud budget.

1. Stick to a palette of five colors maximum

My entire wardrobe now revolves around black, white, navy, camel, and grey. That’s it. No patterns, no prints, no “fun” colors. It sounds boring, but here’s what happens: everything matches, everything looks intentional, and you never look like you tried too hard.

When you wear all black with one camel accessory, people assume it’s a choice, not that black hides the fact your pants are from three years ago. The constraint forces elegance. I haven’t bought anything purple in two years, and suddenly people ask if I have a stylist. I have a color limit and Target basics.

2. Remove all visible branding and labels

Last Sunday afternoon with a seam ripper became my best investment in looking expensive. Every external label had to go—the little Levi’s tag on jeans, the tiny Gap logo on T-shirts, even the discreet Old Navy embroidery on sweaters.

Rich people pay extra for no logos. You can achieve the same effect with 20 minutes and a seam ripper. My $12 H&M T-shirt now looks like it could be from some minimalist designer brand. The absence of branding reads as confidence—like you don’t need to prove where you shop.

3. Iron or steam everything, even T-shirts

Nothing screams “paycheck to paycheck” like wrinkled clothes. A $20 steamer from Amazon changed everything—though honestly, hanging clothes in the bathroom while you shower works almost as well and costs nothing.

Wealthy people’s clothes never look like they came from a drawer. They look like they materialized, perfectly smooth, from thin air. A wrinkled designer shirt looks cheaper than a perfectly pressed Target one. Five minutes every morning to steam whatever I’m wearing, including jeans and T-shirts. The difference is shocking.

4. Wear the same jewelry every single day

Stop rotating costume jewelry. Pick one or two pieces—a simple chain, small hoops, a basic watch—and wear them constantly. This reads as “these are my real pieces” rather than “I have a jewelry box full of random accessories.”

The same $25 silver chain from Target, worn every day for a year, starts to read as precious simply through consistency. Because you never change it, people assume it must be valuable. Quiet luxury is about having one perfect thing, not twelve options.

5. Keep your shoes obsessively clean

Scuffed shoes will ruin a quiet luxury look faster than anything. Baby wipes work just as well as expensive shoe cleaner. Dish soap and an old toothbrush can make sneakers look new. The point is doing it regularly.

The wealthiest-looking people wear simple shoes—white sneakers, black loafers, brown boots—but they’re always pristine. You can wear the same $40 pair every day if they look brand new. It suggests you take care of your things because they’re worth taking care of, even when they’re from Payless’s successor stores.

6. Choose oversized fits in structured fabrics

Forget body-con everything. Quiet luxury loves an oversized blazer, wide-leg trousers, a boxy shirt. But here’s the key: the fabric has to have structure. Not stretched-out jersey or thin polyester, but cotton with body, ponte knits, anything that holds its shape.

Uniqlo’s $20 cotton shirts look more expensive than designer silk when they’re oversized and structured. The silhouette suggests you’re not trying to show off your body because you have nothing to prove. It’s the opposite of Instagram fashion—covered up but confident.

7. Master the art of strategic damage control

White T-shirts get the baking soda and vinegar treatment the second they start yellowing. Black clothes get refreshed with strong coffee (seriously, it works) when they fade. Small holes get hand-stitched during Netflix binges.

Rich people don’t wear worn-out basics—their white stays white, their black stays black. A box of baking soda costs $2 and can save a whole wardrobe. The goal is to look like your clothes are mysteriously immune to wear, even if you’ve had them for years. Sometimes this means finally letting go of the truly dead pieces, even if it means having less.

Final thoughts

The quiet luxury aesthetic is actually perfect for being broke. It’s about having less, choosing simple things, and taking obsessive care of what you own. You’re not trying to look rich—you’re trying to look like you don’t think about money at all.

The irony is that actual quiet luxury—the real Loro Piana sweaters and Bottega bags—is insanely expensive. But the aesthetic itself costs nothing. It’s about what you don’t do: don’t wear logos, don’t follow trends, don’t accumulate stuff, don’t let things look worn.

I’ve been doing this for two years now, and something interesting happened. People stopped asking where things are from and started assuming they couldn’t afford them. My boss complimented my “investment pieces.” They’re from Target, but they’re pressed, they fit well, and they’re in a neutral color. That’s apparently all it takes.

The truth about quiet luxury is that it’s mostly about discipline. The discipline to stick to a color palette, to maintain your things, to resist the sale rack, to choose one good basic over three trendy pieces. It’s about creating the illusion that you’ve never had to think about money, which is hilarious when you check your bank balance daily.

But it works. Looking expensive, it turns out, has very little to do with spending money and everything to do with looking like money doesn’t matter to you at all.