Wealthy New York moms are embracing a $600 'uniform' that signals a change in how people display their money
- The New York Times reports wealthy Brooklyn moms are dishing out hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars on two defining accessories: slouchy clogs and woven purse straps.
- With starting prices around $300 and $140 respectively, they are an expensive update to the already-expensive styles that used to define the "mom look," which has previously included Ugg boots and Lululemon leggings.
- They look is one of many markers of an era in which discreet wealth is a new status symbol.
There's a new look in town for wealthy Brooklyn moms, and, as Hayley Krischer at The New York Times reports, it's a decidedly bohemian style that involves two staple elements and exudes a subtle sort of wealth.
That's not to say the look isn't expensive: The favored No. 6 clogs start at around $300 and Salt straps start at $138.
What's more, the bright, woven Salt straps are advertised as customizable additions to designer purses - think Gucci and Celine at $2,500 and $2,600 a piece - with price tags that already run well into the thousands of dollars, writes Krischer for the Times.
And clogs, for their part, once the epitome of uncool and unfashionable, are now being touted as an "ugly-chic shoe obsession" by the likes of Vogue and as a fashion "staple" by StyleCaster.
Beyond just being newly chic, though, they also send a message about the look the wearer is striving for.
"For moms, specifically, the No. 6 clog gives off a message that you're very much interested in comfort and not so interested in appearance," Krischer continues.
Both of these style choices are part of a look that's more expensive and perhaps more consciously arranged than it may first appear to be - and they're markers of an era where, as Business Insider's Hillary Hoffower previously reported, discreet wealth is becoming the new status symbol.
"Owning a Louis Vuitton handbag, a multimillion-dollar Bugatti, or a shiny Rolex has typically been a marker of elite status," Hoffower wrote. Those flashy styles, however, are becoming "less ubiquitous among the ultra-high-net-worth crowd," and they're making room for a different kind of wealth display.
Whereas shiny jewelry, leather handbags, and sports cars very clearly display the owner's status to everyone, these new "it" accessories do it more quietly and, potentially, only to a group of people who are already in the know. After all, as demonstrated by high-end hotels that have "secret" suites available only by word of mouth and expensive brands that forgo all sorts of adveristng and celebrity endorsements, exclusivity and subtlety are marks of luxury in and of themselves.