When season 4 of “Succession” premiered on HBO Max, fans prepared for the return of the eccentric and super-wealthy Roy family. And so they got it — plus a season of television that’s turn out to be considered one of the largest conversations in fashion this yr.

The show premiered with a fashion bang. The “ludicrously capacious” Burberry handbag scene, where character Tom Wambsgans (Matthew Macfadyen) critiques Bridget (Francesca Root-Dodson) for carrying a Burberry Title crossbody bag with a $2,890 price tag, went viral.

“What’s even in there? Flat shoes for the subway? Her lunch pail? I mean, Greg, it’s monstrous,” Tom said in a scene. “It’s gargantuan. You may take it camping. You would slide it across the ground after a bank job.”

Fashion trends on the show — minimalist shapes, neutral colours, tailored suiting and invisible branding — have propelled interest in how the ultra-wealthy dress, and in “quiet luxury,” which has seen a rise in searches.

“Quiet luxury” refers to understated clothing made with very high-quality materials.

Google searches for “quiet luxury,” “stealth wealth” and “old money style” skyrocketed by 684, 990 and 874 percent, respectively, after the primary “Succession” episode aired.

Quiet luxury is probably not a trend — nevertheless it is actually trending.

Karolina Zmarlak, creative director of KZ_K Studio, founded her brand on the principles of luxury, minimalism and slow fashion. Moderately than selling seasonal collections, she does curated drops of core offerings. She offers a trenchcoat for $1,945 and a black pant for $1,250.

For Zmarlak, “quiet luxury” refers to “a lady who has developed a private style that she believes in and comes from her own confidence. She doesn’t look to trends. This implies she wants pieces that aren’t good for only one season or thrown away after a number of times wearing it. She wants investment pieces which can be timeless and of high-quality crafted materials.”

Zmarlak doesn’t see quiet luxury as a seasonal trend.

“There’s an evolution throughout the American clients who want more of the minimalist ‘French girl’ style. They need that look that seems it took little or no for them to tug together. I’ve been having that conversation usually with a lot of my clients. They wish to buy less and have more things of upper value,” she said.

For Zmarlak, quiet luxury is a subculture that now has a broader appeal. While she acknowledged many corporations construct their profit margins off of fast trends, others have been built off of clientele models and minimalist pieces. As an advocate for sustainability in fashion, Zmarlak said she also feels the quiet luxury movement is tied to the broader conversation about sustainability in fashion.

“When designing for trends comes into play, after two seasons, corporations are left asking what they do with that excess inventory from trend-based designs, after which you’ve gotten more waste,” she said. “With quiet luxury and minimalist style, you’re designing for seasonless luxury, meaning customers can keep their pieces longer and reduce fashion’s effect on the ecosystem,” she explained.

Others in the style industry agree that while the term quiet luxury is trending, being a minimalist isn’t something latest. Venk Modur, a Los Angeles-based celebrity stylist who works with “Succession” star Brian Cox, said, “Minimalism has been around for a long time. Just take a look at brands like Jil Sander, Loro Piana and Hermès. I recently styled Brian Cox in Loro Piana to reflect the ‘quiet luxury’ style.”

Loro Piana, known amongst a certain set for cashmere and white sole shoes, recently took out ads that pictures its shoes and said: “In the event you know, you recognize.”

For pieces to fall into the quiet luxury movement, they have to be timeless, manufactured from “the best quality fabrics,” and never have visible logos, Modur said. Then, they shall be “without end wearable,” Modur said.

Nevertheless, the concept that the ultra-wealthy wear beige (and other neutrals) is rooted in American culture, Modur noted.

“I’m a first-generation American and Indian by heritage. In my culture, wealth is related to vivid colours which can be loud, daring, beautiful and vivid. That’s just a part of our culture and wealthy heritage. There are also many African countries which can be culturally much like India in that way, where wealth and opulence is related to vivid, beautiful colours relating to fashion. The concept of minimalism being related to wealth is a really American perspective.”

Today, when persons are talking about quiet luxury, they simply mean designer pieces that don’t have logos, Modur said.

Those pieces have long been bestsellers, luxury buyers say.

Former buyer and current content creator Ivanka DeKoning worked in the posh fashion industry for 10 years, primarily as a buyer for high-end department shops including Barneys Recent York and Saks Fifth Avenue, specializing in brands including Michael Kors Collection, Marc Jacobs and Jason Wu.

“The American luxury houses with minimal to no branding and logos on their merchandise were among the biggest power players and profit generators during my years as a buyer,” DeKoning said. “Multimillionaire customers with that level of affluence aren’t coming in and buying trendy luxury brands off the rack. While those brands still have trendy products that sell, high-net-worth customers are searching for…tried-and-true pieces which can be timeless and won’t be over after two seasons. Customers spending large sums of cash on investment pieces aren’t going after logo items. They need things they will still wear in 10 years.”

DeKoning also rebukes the thought of quiet luxury as a trend, and reasonably sees it as an aesthetic selection that has been around for ages.

“The more we’re considering and talking about it now, the more it looks like a trend,” she said. “Nevertheless, once you dress classic in a trenchcoat and cashmere sweater, that’s a timeless look reflective of private style. To a quiet luxury consumer, their aesthetic is a complete lifestyle.”

Retailers are seeing an uptick in demand from shoppers asking for quiet luxury pieces.

Laure Dubreuil, founder and artistic director of The Webster, said the business has shifted toward more minimalist pieces, and away from a number of daring colours and prints.

“Over the past several months, we’ve got noticed customers requesting more minimalist and ‘quiet luxury’ pieces. With our fall and winter 2023 buys, we went after quiet luxury pieces in a giant way. The offering from our brands selling quiet luxury pieces was robust, too, which gave us numerous variety to pick from.”

Dubreuil said The Webster’s most in-demand and bestselling brands are Khaite, The Row, Wardrobe NYC, Celine and Bottega Veneta.

Dubreuil sees quiet luxury as a response to several seasons of logomania, with a sustainability tie-in.

“I find myself often, when purchasing pieces, enthusiastic about what I need to save lots of and pass right down to my daughter, which also shows the longevity that investing in quiet luxury has,” she said. “That thoughtfulness that comes with the quiet luxury brands expands right into a more sustainable mindset, investing in pieces of quality that can last greater than a season or two.”

The aesthetic can be a part of the post-COVID-19 fashion cycle, Dubreuil said.

“Throughout the pandemic, all of us witnessed our clients living vicariously through their purchases, leaning into the maximalist approach and buying for a time when they may eventually be out and about wearing their party dresses and heels,” she said. “The mindset has shifted as things have turn out to be more open, and now it’s almost as if we don’t feel that the whole lot must be daring to be a moment. So while quiet luxury will not be a complete riot against those maximalist styles, it’s more of an awakening for clients to challenge their very own styles to have range.”