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What’s This About
Gen Z took up Old Money style as a social-media label for classic, logo-free clothes, and dated reporting links its spread to TikTok, screen costume and fatigue with fast trends.
This guide explains what the label means and why it caught on, such as:
What “Old Money” means as a style label rather than a family history
How TikTok hashtags and moodboards spread the look from about 2021
Films and series that fed the moodboards, from Saltburn to Ripley
Reasons reporters have given, including fast-fashion fatigue and economic worry
Practical lessons for men who like the clothes
and many more!
Clothes can borrow the look but cannot show anyone’s background, so wear the clothes that suit your own life.
Key Points
01Old Money is a contemporary style label for classic, logo-free clothes; wearing them says nothing certain about wealth or family.
02Business Insider reported in June 2023 that #OldMoney had passed 6.5 billion TikTok views, a measure of attention rather than of how many people dress this way.
03Reported reasons include fatigue with micro-trends, the pull of secondhand shopping and economic worry, but no single study explains the trend.
04Fit and a few versatile basics matter more than labels, props or a costume-like copy of the moodboards.
The Old Money look is a set of clothes, not a bank balance: navy blazers, Oxford shirts, cable knits, pressed chinos and loafers, worn without visible logos.
From about 2021, younger people on TikTok and Instagram began collecting these clothes under the “Old Money” label, and the trend was widely reported in 2023 and 2024.
This guide explains what the label means, what dated reporting says about why it caught on with Gen Z, and what a man who likes the clothes can take from it.
What does “Old Money” mean in fashion?
As a phrase, old money describes people whose families have been rich for a long time, which is how Merriam-Webster defines it.
As a style label, it means something narrower: clothes associated with mid-twentieth-century leisure dressing on both sides of the Atlantic, from French Riviera summer clothes to East Coast yacht club style.
Wearing those clothes does not tell anyone about your family, your income or your manners, so The VOU treats Old Money as a look you can choose, not a status you can claim.
Compared with new money style, which leans on visible logos and statement accessories, the American Ivy League version of the look usually keeps to a few habits:
Little or no visible branding.
Clothes that look worn in rather than brand new, such as a softened tweed jacket or a faded Oxford shirt.
A muted colour range of navy, beige, grey and earth tones, covered in our guide to Old Money colours.
Natural fibres such as wool, cotton, linen and cashmere, chosen to last.
Our guide to the Old Money aesthetic covers the wardrobe in more detail.
In a report for GQ first published in April 2024, the writer Max Berlinger interviewed the Stanford law professor Richard Thompson Ford, author of Dress Codes, who traces the look to the clothes of mid-century East Coast prep schools and Ivy League campuses, as an excerpt on Stanford Law School’s website also records.
The GQ report adds that 10 or 20 years ago the same clothes would simply have been called preppy.
Online moodboards often mix that campus look, covered in The VOU’s Ivy League Style Book, with country club dressing and the soft tailoring of Neapolitan style.
How social media turned Old Money into a trend
The label spread through TikTok and Instagram as moodboards, outfit videos and “get the look” edits.
In June 2023, Business Insider reported that the #OldMoney hashtag had passed 6.5 billion views on TikTok and #OldMoneyAesthetic 2.9 billion, as its report republished on Yahoo shows.
Those figures count video views, not people who dress this way, but they show how much attention the label drew.
Moodboards tend to mix archive photographs, 1980s and 1990s Ralph Lauren advertising and stills from films such as The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999).
The result is a simplified version of the look: a cable knit over a polo shirt, a navy blazer, loafers, and a beach or country house in the background.
As Ford pointed out in the same GQ report, older preppy dressing was often more worn in and more colourful than these edits suggest, with bright madras, pink, lime green and Nantucket red trousers.
To see how creators style the look today, our list of Old Money fashion influencers collects some examples.
Films and series that fed the look
Screen costume gave the moodboards many of their references.
Saltburn (2023), Emerald Fennell’s film set largely in an English country house, added summer and country-house scenes to the mix.
Netflix’s Ripley, written and directed by Steven Zaillian and released on 4 April 2024, retold Patricia Highsmith’s story in black and white with mid-century Italian settings, according to TV Guide.
HBO’s Succession is often credited with popularising the related idea of “quiet luxury”, and CNBC reported in June 2023 how the show’s costumes fed that trend.
Films and series show costumes chosen for characters, so treat them as outfit references, not as evidence of how any real family dresses.
Why now? Reasons reported for Gen Z’s interest
No single study explains the trend, but reporters and the people they interviewed have offered several reasons.
A reaction to fast trend cycles
In the GQ report, Avery Trufelman, host of the fashion podcast Articles of Interest, suggested the look is partly a backlash against fast-moving trends.
Classic clothes change slowly, which can appeal to anyone tired of micro-trends that come and go within weeks.
ThredUp’s 2025 Resale Report, as summarised by Retail Dive in March 2025, found that 48 per cent of younger shoppers said secondhand was the first place they looked for clothes.
ThredUp is a resale company, so read its survey with that in mind.
Many Old Money staples, such as blazers, knitwear and loafers, are easy to find secondhand.
Dressing up again
The writer Zach Weiss, also interviewed by GQ, linked the look to wanting to dress up again, by choice, after years of sweatpants and athleisure.
Collared shirts, tailored trousers and leather shoes offer a change without the formality of a full suit.
Economic uncertainty
In April 2025, Fast Company reported a TikTok creator’s theory that the look is a response to economic uncertainty, comparing it with the old idea that hemlines rise and fall with the economy.
That is a theory rather than a finding, and the hemline idea itself has weak support, as our guide to how Gen Z changed the Old Money look explains.
The imagery around the clothes
Some of the appeal lies in the setting the moodboards build around the clothes: old campuses, boats and country houses.
Trufelman told GQ that the online version can work like a costume made for social media, and the same imagery can turn a wardrobe of good basics into a claim about background that clothes cannot make.
What a man can take from the trend
If you like the clothes, the useful lessons are practical ones.
Start with fit, because a secondhand blazer altered to fit you looks more considered than an expensive one that does not.
Buy a few versatile basics first: a navy blazer, white and blue Oxford shirts, grey trousers, chinos, a crew-neck jumper and brown loafers.
Look secondhand for tailoring and knitwear, checking shoulders, linings and moth damage before you buy.
Keep the colour range narrow so most of your clothes work together.
Leave the props out: you do not need a boat, a country house or a vintage car to wear a blazer well.
A simple outfit to start with: a light blue Oxford shirt, a navy crew-neck jumper, stone chinos and brown suede loafers, with a navy blazer on top when you need a layer.
For a fuller wardrobe plan, see our guide to the Old Money aesthetic by season and occasion.
Take our three quizzes
None of these tools is needed to wear the outfits in this guide, but some readers like extra help when choosing clothes.
Check your body shape with the body shape quiz for men, and read our guides to the men’s body shapes and menswear silhouettes.
Find your seasonal colours with the seasonal colour quiz for men, and read more about seasonal colour palettes for men.
Take the fashion style quiz for men to see which styles and outfit ideas match what you like wearing, and see our fashion style guide for personal and historic styles.
Book a consultation for personal help
Our styling services for men are paid consultations; the shop page lists what each one includes.
You can read about The VOU’s image consultants and stylists, or contact us with questions.
You can also read how to choose an image consultant, learn what an image consultant does, and see our guide to styling by occasion, location, season and time of day.
For the vocabulary used in this guide, see our explainers on clothing, garments, fashion accessories and outfits.
We also cover heritage luxury brands and how logo-heavy luxury designs come across.