Quiet luxury is evolving. Here's what's next

Where it came from

The look took hold around 2023, helped along by Succession, a celebrity ski trial and a lot of very expensive beige. The Row, Loro Piana and Brunello Cucinelli became shorthand for money that doesn't need to announce itself. The high street followed within months, and suddenly everyone owned a camel coat and a cream knit.

What's changed

The new mood is warmer. Texture over tone-on-tone, personality over perfection. Think a brushed cashmere coat worn with a vintage scarf, or a perfect white shirt with a very imperfect bag. The rules about fabric and fit still stand. What's gone is the fear of looking like you tried. Fewer, better things still make a more interesting wardrobe. Now you're allowed to enjoy them.

Colour is back, quietly

Chocolate brown, burgundy, deep olive and butter yellow have replaced the endless oatmeal. They're still grown-up shades that sit well with neutrals, so there's no need to start again. A burgundy knit with grey trousers, or a brown suede jacket with jeans, does more than another beige jumper ever will. Toteme and Khaite are good places to see how it's done.

Texture does the talking

With no logo, the fabric has to work harder. Brushed wool, suede, chunky ribbed knits, crinkled silk and heavy cotton all give an outfit depth without decoration. Mixing two or three in one look is the quickest way to make plain clothes look expensive. COS is reliable for this at high street prices, and Uniqlo cashmere is better than it has any right to be.

Personality has permission

The strictest version of quiet luxury could look a bit joyless. The update lets something odd in: an inherited brooch, a striped sock, a bag in a colour nobody expected, a scarf from a market in Lisbon. One unexpected thing per outfit is plenty. It stops the look reading as a uniform and makes it yours.

The new uniform

A good template for the season: wide trousers in a dark neutral, a fine knit or crisp shirt, a coat with some weight to it and one accessory with character. Loafers or flat boots. Small gold jewellery. It works for the office, for dinner and for the weekend with a change of shoes, which is the real test of any uniform.

Look after what you already own

The most expensive-looking wardrobe is one that's well kept. De-bobble your knits, get your coat dry cleaned once a season, polish your shoes and replace heel tips before they wear down to the nail. Hang tailoring on proper wooden hangers. None of this costs much, and it does more for the look than buying anything new. Quiet luxury was always more about care than price tags.

How to shop it now

Start with what you already own. Most wardrobes built over the last few years have a good coat, decent trousers and a couple of knits that can stay. Add colour one piece at a time, ideally something you'll wear twice a week. Look for natural fibres, check the seams and ignore anything that relies on a trend name to sell it. Net-a-Porter and Mytheresa are useful for researching shapes, even if you end up buying the high street version.

Buy secondhand first

The labels that defined quiet luxury hold their value, so the resale market is full of them. Vestiaire Collective and Vinted regularly have Toteme coats, Max Mara knits and The Row basics at a fraction of the original price. It's the most honest way to own the real thing, and the most sustainable.

What to skip

Head-to-toe beige that washes you out. Logo-free bags that copy a famous shape so closely they look like fakes. Cheap cashmere blends that pill by February. Anything sold to you as old money. Real taste doesn't come with a hashtag, and the people who have it rarely talk about it.

Start with the piece you'd save in a fire. Build around it slowly. That's the whole philosophy, and it isn't going anywhere.