Building on Quiet Luxury: The Familiar Trend’s Impact on Luxury Retail and Hospitality Architecture

The now-familiar concept of ‘quiet luxury’ — which has prompted a broad behavioral and product shift toward understated elegance — is beginning to reshape the architecture and interiors of luxury retail and hospitality. Examples are identified and initial implications explored. 

Feature by FerebeeLane

Aman Residences at Aman New York

Conventional wisdom tells us that the most effective way to present a luxury brand is, you guessed it, luxuriously. Whether the setting is classical or contemporary, wildly conceptual or warmly vernacular, the basic hypothesis seems clear: it’s best to showcase ultra-premium products and experiences amidst elevated architecture and interiors.

It makes sense, right? Dramatic marbled exteriors with grand brass-and-glass entries. Soaring, ornately embellished ceilings. These statement-making flagship stores and stunning hotel lobbies set a magnificent stage. They signal the remarkable caliber of a brand well before an affluent passerby even crosses the threshold. But that once ubiquitous approach to luxury placemaking may have a new, more subtle counterpart. 

A walk down the brand-packed streets of Paris, London or New York reveals that a change — a quiet shift — is underway. A new kind of luxury statement is being made, but without some of the more recognizable gestures we’ve come to expect. 

It’s not that all the grand architecture and interiors have gone away — nor is there any expectation they all will. Fifth Avenue and the Champs-Élysées and New Bond Street still put on a glorious show. It’s also not the case that this shift is happening all at once or born of something entirely new. After all, the must-mention darling of any ‘stealth wealth’ discussion, Loro Piana, just celebrated a full century of quiet couture. What’s more, old money didn’t just discover logo-less cashmere or off-the-radar boutiques or spa sanctuaries known only to a few. 

Those dressed-down upmarket sensibilities have seemingly, until recently, focused more on personal implications rather than commercial, architectural conditions. Most of the talk about ‘quiet luxury’ has explored the evolving relationship between wealthy consumers and ultra-premium products — on the nature of their personal engagement with luxury. Little has been said though about what goes on between affluent consumers and the physical spaces housing those high-end goods and experiences.

Now, however, broadening interest in low-key luxury, and in related ideas about authenticity and minimalism, seem to be influencing not only what we buy, but also how and where we buy it. 

Some suggest it’s all part of a deeper response to the pandemic, a reflexive turn from slick to sincere. Others point to the growing fatigue from social media’s fake perfection. Meanwhile, more cynical observers contend that these hushed expressions of wealth are just the highest form of if-you-know-you-know exclusivity. Whatever the exact catalyst behind the changes may be, these new cultural indicators are difficult to ignore. Richly detailed architecture will no doubt remain a powerful signal of a brand’s luxury stature, but some in the category seem to be finding success with more subtle experiential cues as well.

A NEW TAKE ON ‘ATMOSPHERICS’

To understand the dynamics of this shift in luxury brand architecture and interiors, it’s helpful to look back a bit. Spaces have been shaping consumer behavior since the earliest days of organized commerce. It wasn’t until the 1970s, though, that Philip Kotler published his landmark retail study dimensionalizing these spatial factors into a framework he called ‘atmospherics.’ The principles are still evident in today’s experiential brand strategies and multi-sensory consumer journeys. 

The elaborate stagecraft driving traditional luxury retail reflects the key premise of ‘atmospherics’: that architecture and lighting and interior design and floral and scent — that all of it exerts significant influence on premium buying decisions. A few decades after Kotler’s study, the field of neuromarketing shed light on exactly why.

By the 1990s, marketing researchers like Gerry Zaltman and Ale Smidts began using fMRI technology to document the impact of atmospherics on core consumer behavior. Their work explained how immersing affluent consumers in expansive retail settings, awash in natural light and refined furnishings, prompts them to feel more powerful, liberated and receptive. The breathtaking design cues them that all is well — very well in fact. Relocate those consumers to more intimate, low-lit luxury spaces, and now their willingness to buy is driven by self-affirming feelings of privilege and exclusivity. Assured by context clues, the premium materials and textures communicate that this is a perfect backdrop for discerning connoisseurs.

With all this decision-making science in mind, it’s no wonder luxury retail and hospitality design often defaults to impressive, often lavish architecture and interiors. Like the palaces and cathedrals that established early cultural patterns about how humans present prized possessions, and how we frame significant experiences, the world’s finest stores and hotels have successfully signaled their prominence in society with unequivocally bold gestures and grand displays. They haven’t necessarily tried to be demure or quiet.

That certainly doesn’t mean all these brands are shouting or screaming, but their architectural approaches often communicate a message that’s unapologetically loud and clear: we are exceptional, we are luxurious. Now, this new wave of ‘atmospheric messaging’ is communicating similar luxury-related messages in very different ways.

NOT AS LOUD, BUT JUST AS LUXURIOUS

Just as some segments of high-end fashion have shifted away from overscaled logos and obvious, look-at-me luxury, more subtle approaches to brand architecture, interiors and atmospherics are gaining momentum in the category, too. This is not new territory for brands like Brunello Cucinelli and The Row. And, yes, Jil Sander boutiques have always felt like calm, warmly lit galleries. But what was once the hallmark of a handful of restrained outliers, now seems to be a broader pattern language popping up in the architecture and design of both new and established luxury brands. Whether in Mayfair or SoHo or Saint-Germain, examples of the evolution is becoming easy to spot. 

Newcomer Aimé Leon Dore, young in fashion terms at just ten-years-old old, has built a brand known as much for luxurious, streetwear-inspired fashion as it is for its lounge-y, laid-back retail vibes. The wood-paneled walls, well-tailored upholstery and easygoing energy of its London outpost beautifully blurs the line between residential and retail design. 

Aimé Leon Dore

Brands like fragrance maverick Le Labo come to mind, too. Once at the fringe of high-end retail, their stripped-back, Wabi Sabi aesthetic is being embraced by more and more brands — no doubt an effort to signal honesty and authenticity to modern affluents eager for both. Even Peter Marino, the larger-than-life architectural king of luxury retail, seems to be infusing quieter touches into his recent work for houses like Chanel, Dior, Zegna and Louis Vuitton. Although still stunning, and still dramatic, a walk through some of his latest designs reveals details like sitting rooms with vintage furnishings, gallery-like installations, and a range of softer, more natural materials.

A number of luxury hospitality brands have been turning down the volume a bit, too. Aman, considered travel’s high standard for all things quiet and luxurious, continues to expand its portfolio of sublimely understated resorts, including its take on a serene transformation of Manhattan’s landmark Crown Building. The brand’s focus on exquisitely tranquil spaces, deeply personalized service — and in this case, some of the largest residential-style suites in the city — deliver a different kind of elevated experience. But sophisticated simplicity isn’t the only way hoteliers are responding to interest in calmer, quieter luxury. 

The Emory, for example, is an masterfully designed, all-suite haven in London’s Belgravia district. In contrast to the charming pomp and circumstance of arrivals at its sister hotel, the lavishly luxurious Connaught, guests enter The Emory through an unassuming entrance tucked away down a cobblestoned alley. There is no grandiose signage. There are no doormen in top hats out front. Instead, the impression at arrival is that of deliberate, perhaps even curious, restraint. The unexpectedly quiet approach is a perfectly warm welcome to the hotel’s impeccable service and contemporary-yet-cozy interiors.  

The Emery, part of Maybourne Hotel Group

KEEPING AN EAR TO THE GROUND

Of course these are just a few examples of ways this now-familiar trend is beginning to impact luxury structures and settings. Hopefully they offer a snapshot of how some of the world’s leading premium brands are embracing these more understated atmospheric tactics in major markets around the world. The approachable, unpretentious sensibilities. The warmer, calming tones. The more comfortable feel and residential scale.

Only time will tell how prevalent and enduring these architectural and experiential shifts may be, but for now ‘quiet luxury’ — at least in some parts of the premium category — seems to be making quite the statement. 

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 FerebeeLane is a brand strategy and creative agency that works with premium and luxury brands to engage the discerning affluent consumer. For the past 20 years, the agency has collaborated with beloved brands such as Le Creuset, Blackberry Farm, Miele, The Ritz-Carlton, Baker McGuire Furniture, Vail Resorts, Chimay Trappist Beer, as well as numerous other Relais & Châteaux properties, and other luxury brands throughout the home. To learn more about FerebeeLane or our perspective on the discerning affluent consumer please contact Josh at  josh.lane@ferebeelane.com