What makes someone look rich / wealthy?

[cococovido]

Piggy backing onto the LV bag thread - so many responses saying you can tell if the bag is fake / real depending on the persons hair and general look.

I've really noticed this where I live during lockdown - even though we're all predominantly in scruffy clothes / gym gear (just me?!) you can just tell some people look 'rich' - for lack of a better word.

What is it? It's like an unspoken code or something.

Maybe the gilet is giving you an Audrey Forbes Hamilton vibe.

She copped off with a nouveau, so there’s hope for your bank balance yet!

IME they dress down, drive normal cars, have large(ish) houses and scruffy furniture (often handed down) and they keep their wealth a secret. Agree that well cut hair, manicured nails and good quality clothes and shoes are a sign but tend to be subtle. Many have horses in livery stables.

When I see people with designer handbags, flashy cars and lots of Botox I assume they’re not wealthy but trying to project an image.

@RattleOfBars

IME they dress down, drive normal cars, have large(ish) houses and scruffy furniture (often handed down) and they keep their wealth a secret. Agree that well cut hair, manicured nails and good quality clothes and shoes are a sign but tend to be subtle. Many have horses in livery stables.

When I see people with designer handbags, flashy cars and lots of Botox I assume they’re not wealthy but trying to project an image.

The very wealthy keep their horses on their own land.

I think a lot of it is to do with facial expressions.

Not having an ounce of body fat on their body. Ime, they eat for the nutrients and experience not to fill themselves up. Also it's very common for little ones to do loads of physical activities after school but in my generation, I wasn't sent to do ballet, gymnastics and horse riding, hence my body shape is very different to them as I didn't come from a wealthy family. My only physical activity was P.E, bike riding and running around in the park.

@seriouslynotserious

Not having an ounce of body fat on their body. Ime, they eat for the nutrients and experience not to fill themselves up. Also it's very common for little ones to do loads of physical activities after school but in my generation, I wasn't sent to do ballet, gymnastics and horse riding, hence my body shape is very different to them as I didn't come from a wealthy family. My only physical activity was P.E, bike riding and running around in the park.

I did dance, riding, athletics and gymnastics for years and was thin. Now I'm fat, just saying.

Not having an ounce of body fat on their body. Ime, they eat for the nutrients and experience not to fill themselves up.

These ‘wealthy’ people (not those vulgar new money types) really are a super race, aren’t they?

This thread is hilarious. The question posed by the OP was, how can you tell that somebody is rich?

Predictably, it’s descended into horrified ‘nouveau riche’ bashing (so vulgar, with their yachts and tans!) and worship of a mythologised version of the upper classes

Yeah, it was bound to happen. Mumsnet has a weird obsession with and reverence for the "upper classes".

a balanced, intelligent view of life, and a respect for others.

What, ALL rich people? Including Philip Green, say? Mike Ashley?

I was answering the question about what makes people look rich, not what do rich people look like wink.

But you clearly associate those attributes with being rich, don’t you? Why? Or do you mean ‘rich in the milk of human kindness’? I don’t think that is what the OP was getting at!

There's obviously a difference between posh and rich. Or a Venn diagram, at least.

And not all posh people are nice. Some are arseholes. But I would venture that most rich people are arseholes.

Anyway, if you define "rich" as posh, then I'd definitely say that posh people have a different shape. Apart from the Queen (and Queen Mother and Princess Margaret) posh people seem to be rangy and even stringy. Kate Middleton is not from posh stock, but she ticks the boxes of long legs, a fine set of teeth and thick, silky hair (the same attributes as a good horse!!!).

Rich people are always thin

There are loads of fat rich people! Come off it.

You can tell by the glow from their halos

To some extent I think the rich look rich because many (but not all of them) breed within a pretty limited gene pool!

Based on my experience of going to a university with a very high percentage of students from wealthy families (yahs!) after uni the vast majority of them married and had children with people from very similar backgrounds to themselves.

And it’s a generalisation but the women tended to be tall, slim, small boned, blonde. These genetics plus an affluent lifestyle (decent haircuts, access to outdoor space and lots of travel) definitely give them a certain ‘air’. Not to mention the confidence instilled by many years of top tier private education.

And 20 years after uni, looking at their instagrams, fb etc, it’s no surprise that their children are growing up looking pretty much as their parents did!

@PolarBearr

You can tell by the glow from their halos

😂😂😂

If you see someone with lots of luxury goods, a fancy car and the latest iphone, they're probably not rich but simply trying to project an image by living off credit. The real rich drive pretty regular vehicles, normal clothes but have large houses in desirable areas and eat nicer food (organic, expensive wines, expensive cuts of meat etc)

I don't think you can tell at all reliably. Euro glamour in particular can give a great impression of wealth where none exists.

Though at one country ball (the sort where you do reels), the lady of the house in which it was held was dressed in a fabulous vut clearly ancient, well worn and slightly threadbare silk gown with fur trim. It was only the sort of gown that someone from a certain kind of background could have worn, as it would have been almost impossible to acquire otherwise.

There's also a certain type of close fitting, unpatterned, silky ball dress that is not at all embellished and requires a lean frame to hang off that is the preserve of the wealthy background at balls such as this.

Oh, and the 3/4 length floral/multi patterned dresses worn to summer weddings, the season, etc.

It's like a uniform, it all fits in and is definately not try too hard.

I live in a part of London that’s both very diverse (very multicultural) and a complete monoculture (you have to be fairly monied to afford to live here, and the catchments are so tiny that going private is a given). School drop off is an anthropological experiment - it’s completely normal to see a parent who looks nothing like their own child in terms of ethnicity. Yet you can always tell which are the parents and which are the nannies.

It’s difficult for a British person to fool you because there are so many tells of class status in the way we present ourselves. It’s far easier for a person from another country to pass as wealthy. My sister in law is from East Asia and looks very elegant at all times. Most of her clothes come from Zara or similar, definitely no designer items and not even a fake designer bag. She will go and try jewellery in Harrods or test drive a Jaguar and is taken seriously as a potential buyer. They have actually have a pretty average income and definitely won’t be buying a Jag anytime soon.

This is hilarious. Lots of myths being trotted out. As for rich people having good bodies/hair/teeth because of rich grandparents' nutrition, how then to explain why so many incredibly beautiful models are poor girls from Ukraine and Russia? Marrying beautiful partners helps balance out some ugly genes for the next generation. Plenty of fugly posh/rich people out there whose ancestors married within their circles and the results are not attractive.

Wearing really bland but expensive designer clothes in classic styles.

Boring. I don't want to look or dress like that.

Oh these threads! I think it's all about being conventionally attractive and dressing conservatively.

MIL is not wealthy but her parents were and going back many generations. I have seen photos taken of family portraits long ago sold. She does still have two oil paintings but her Fathers favourites so she won’t part with them. All I can say is that she literally glides when she walks, speaks beautifully and is gracious to all. She reminds me very much of characters in Victorian literature, a gentlewoman living in reduced circumstances.

Carrying around ones collection of Faberge eggs.