What is Quiet Luxury in Interior Design?
Quiet luxury is a movement that stealthily took the fashion world by storm earlier this year, and it's affecting interior design in a big way. It shares many elements with warm and natural design styles we've seen in the last few years but with a traditional twist. So how do we get the quiet luxury look? Let's delve into it and find out.
Table of contents
What is quiet luxury?
We've been talking about warm minimalism for years, then organic, modern, and, more recently, the turn toward more traditional design elements. Quiet luxury takes aspects of all of these styles, emphasizing quality, materials, understated elegance, and timeless appeal.
Also known as stealth wealth, it's a movement that prioritizes simplicity and refinement, creating spaces that reflect style and sophistication without ostentation.
Like warm minimalism, it’s more of a lifestyle movement than a trend, aligning perfectly with changing attitudes toward sustainability and conscious consumption.
Quiet luxury style
Craftsmanship over extravagance
Quiet luxury embraces the old-money concept of placing importance on craftsmanship and comfort over extravagance, focusing on serene spaces that exude warmth and elegance. The goal is to create a sophisticated aesthetic of subtle luxury rather than flashy wealth.
It reflects a growing desire for a more refined and nuanced approach to luxury, one that prioritizes quality without giving up authenticity and individuality. It's about creating laid-back interiors that offer an enduring sense of style.
Moderation and simplicity
Moderation is key in creating a quiet sense of luxury and starts with simplicity. Simplicity results from the careful process of editing superfluous items and lightly layering in some key pieces and meaningful items. It's soft and livable without sacrificing style and sophistication, embracing soft minimalism and simplicity through clean lines, uncluttered spaces, and a discreet and thoughtful approach.
Timeless design and high quality
Quiet luxury focuses on timeless design and high quality with selections that will stand the test of time, functionally and aesthetically. It revolves around making life comfortable using design and decor that expresses your personal style. It's a thoughtful and curated mix of modern, traditional, and warm minimalist elements but doesn't adhere to a specific era or design style. It's a classically and timelessly eclectic look that's authentic and understated.
Classic and modern looks
Modern and contemporary furnishings look great against classic woodwork like wainscoting picture or crown molding or board and batten or classic floor patterns like checkerboard and herringbone. Juxtaposing classic and modern in this way gives the room a timeless and refined feel while still looking current.
Classic details and furnishings have been making a comeback, which aligns perfectly with the quiet luxury aesthetic. Mixing heirloom and vintage-sourced items with modern classics and more contemporary pieces creates a look that evokes style and character and will remain relevant and tasteful for years to come.
Neutral colors
The quiet luxury aesthetic embraces a limited and primarily neutral color palette consisting of shades of white and ivory, soft browns and tans, and accents it with understated earthy tones and hints of black layering different neutral tones and contrasting them with darker accents to create space that's subtly elegant and visually interesting. When decorating with neutrals, a key element is the layering of textures.
Natural elements
While we often think of a palette in terms of color, textiles and materials also add texture and pattern, adding nuance to the tonal color story.
Bring in natural materials like wood, stone, and ceramic, and natural fibers like linen and wool, keeping patterns simple and subtle and juxtaposing contrasting textures to create visual interest while keeping a neutral and tonal look. Layering natural elements adds texture, warmth, and depth to a neutral color scheme, creating a timeless look.
The quiet luxury trend
So what do you think about quiet luxury? Is it a movement you can get behind? Let me know in the comments below.
Comments
Join the conversation