Men, please stop the "old money" looks

If I got paid 50 cents every time someone said they were pulling an old money style, I would have about 50 dollars by now.

Every time I scroll TikTok, someone is selling a zip-down polo and calling it old money style. Jackets, pants, shoes, everything suddenly qualifies as generational wealth. Apparently if it is beige, white, and slightly boring, your fashion comes with an imaginary family estate.

Everyone suddenly discovered linen trousers and neutral palettes, and it is always framed like a revelation, as if wearing muted colors unlocked a hidden lineage from the Salim family.

The problem is people keep confusing old money with a look, when it was never about clothes to begin with. Old money is not about being quiet, subtle, or tasteful, that is just the aesthetic people latch onto because it is easy to emulate.

The real definition of old money is much simpler and much more uncomfortable: It is the freedom to wear whatever you want and still be respectful.

That is it. Everything else is cosplay.

We are told old money looks effortless, that the ease is natural, that the lack of trying is the point. But effortlessness is not a styling choice, it is a social privilege.

When rich people put in no effort, it gets translated as confidence. When they look sloppy, it is nonchalant. When they dress oddly, it becomes personal style. When they repeat outfits or mismatch pieces, it is called intentional and brave. The assumption is always the same: they know exactly what they are doing and simply do not care to prove it.

Now watch what happens when normal people do the same thing. No effort suddenly means lazy, carelessness becomes a lack of taste and dressing oddly becomes trying too hard. Dressing simply becomes boring because the same absence of effort is moralized differently depending on who is wearing it.

That is why the old money look feels so tired and boring now, and not because it is minimal or neutral, but because it lies about how fashion actually works. It pretends restraint is virtuous and that quietness is elegant, when in fact, quietness is only impressive if you could also afford to be loud.

So when people say they are chasing an old money style, what they are really chasing is permission. Permission to be careless without being judged, and permission to not explain themselves.

So the next time you are on TikTok and a seller tells you that you can buy old money trousers, skip it.

Discover your personal style. I believe fashion is individual and you need your fashion to match your face, your body, your skin tone, your presence, etc. It is a whole look that is unique only to you. You are a brand whether you like it or not.

Old money is not beige, nor is it linen, or neutral color palettes. Old money is the ability to wear whatever you want, or nothing remarkable at all, and never have your legitimacy questioned because you know your damn self.

Everything else is just clothes with logos, and no Brunello or Loro Piana is going to change you.