The end of June traditionally marks one of the most important events in the luxury fashion calendar: Paris Men’s Fashion Week, where the world’s biggest fashion houses and up-and-coming designers gather to set the trends for the coming season. 

While there’s normally a wealth of different styles and directions to see on the runway, this year’s Fashion Week has, for the first time ever, been dominated by a single “definitive look” for Spring/Summer 2027, described by Highsnobiety as “aspirational realism.” This reflects wider trends across the category, where layering appeared as a big trend this year (signalling the need for everyday adaptability), workwear and barefoot shoes entered high fashion (a nod to functionality over fashion), and Carolyn Bessette became a viral sensation for her effortless and quiet luxury style. 

“The new face of aspiration is rooted in reality,” writes fashion commentator Chani Ra, echoing the words of Highsnobiety's Noah Johnson. “And the brands young women [and men] want to buy are those they can grow with.” The brands that adapt to their lives, creating timeless products that resonate beyond seasonal trends. It's a sentiment confirmed by our network, who tell us: “Luxury exists beyond money. It’s personal. It's experience. There’s luxury in the everyday,” says Mattia (23) from London. 

So how did a category built on the notion of extravagance shift towards an aesthetic grounded in practicality and attainability? And who are the brands catering to these new definitions? Let’s break it down.

Hype & aura exposed

For the vast majority of fashion brands, just because a product is labelled “luxury” (or priced higher) doesn't automatically mean it’s better quality. More often than not, what you’re paying for is the cultural kudos and credibility of the logo itself: what you might call brand aura.

But the world has changed. Brand aura and traditional ideas of luxury aren’t cutting through with Gen Z. Perhaps this shouldn’t be a surprise: whether it’s the cost of living, impossible rents, the rise of AI or climate collapse, the unprecedented social and economic challenges facing young people mean that our priorities were always going to change.

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As videos surfaced online of counterfeit items being produced in the exact same factories as brand-name versions, we began to realise that the mark-up we’d paid for luxury items was often based on a lie: an illusion of superiority heightened by tired marketing tactics, influencer endorsements, and artificial scarcity. No longer was Balenciaga’s appearance on the red carpet enough to win Gen Z support. Growing up in an age of permanent crisis, splashing cash we don’t have on luxury items has started to feel meaningless.

Instead, Gen Z have been drawn to cheaper alternatives to traditional luxury items, be that thrifting vintage designer pieces (Preloved items now make up about a tenth of gen z dupe trend

global fashion sales) or buying outright dupes and flexing them online as a more cost-efficient way to keep up with trends. Status isn’t about the item itself, but the wearer’s ability to seek out, curate and style different combinations, no matter what brand or price the constituent pieces are. 

A new definition for luxury

Consumers are still willing to pay high-end prices for the products they want, but they have to be genuinely more elevated than their cheaper alternatives. Brand aura, prestige names and queueing for hours to get a limited drop matter less in 2026 than products adding to our lives in tangible and meaningful ways. 

Product proof: Young people look at luxury purchases as an investment, not just a short-term purchase. They need their products to be durable so that, if push comes to shove, they can always resell them on Vinted. As Printemps America’s chief executive Thierry Prevost notes, a Gen Z audience is one that researches their products before purchase, using apps like TikTok, Reddit, Instagram and even AI to check a luxury brand’s credibility before buying from them. To the sceptical and discerning luxury consumer in 2026, the words 'artisanal’, ’hand-made’ and ‘craft’ are empty without proof. 

This is why we’ve seen a surge in popularity for selvedge this year, with Net-a-Porter experiencing a 226% rise in searches for the term “indigo denim”. Hand-made on old-fashioned shuttle looms, interest in selvedge denim reflects a wider demand for high-quality products made slowly and thoughtfully with artisanal techniques. 

Brands such as Loewe and Hermès, both built on a heritage of craftsmanship, have maintained their aspirational status in spite of luxury’s reshuffling because, unlike other brands that may have lost touch with these founding values, they consistently demonstrate evidence of the craft behind the brand.

World-building: Products can be timeless for reasons other than durability. Instead, creating a consistent story that consumers can attach themselves to gives a product value and justifies its higher price point. This is brand aura, which goes beyond just the brand name itself: it’s about the story of its founder, its makers, its fabrics and the inspiration behind its designs. 

The increased interest in eponymous designers like Grace Wales Bonner, Martine Rose and Isabel Marant reflects growing consumer interest in deeper forms of brand meaning, and an organic connection between founder, brand, product and customer. With each purchase, the consumer becomes part of that brand’s world, which in turn becomes a part of their identity.

But a brand doesn’t have to be eponymous to build a world. Just recently, Burberry leant into its distinctly British roots, running campaigns with national treasures from Eberechi Eze to Olivia Coleman, which gave it renewed relevance as a heritage brand. 

Lifestyle integration: In times of economic hardship, young people are looking for products that are not just beautiful, but functional too; that can be integrated into our lives on a day-to-day basis, rather than just looking good for a season or for a night.

In recent years, this demand for utility has tipped the luxury scales away from fashion, and towards the lifestyle and experience categories. Brands like Bang & Olufsen or Diptyque now carry as much cultural status as designer handbags. Meanwhile, sports and outdoors brands previously associated with performance rather than style, like Arc’teryx, And Wander or Goldwin, have risen into the luxury sector, charging high-end prices for pieces that work on both a hike and the catwalk.

Some established luxury brands are catching on to this shift by launching homeware, wellness and tech lines, from Hermès charging devices (a mere £1,360) to Balenciaga’s dumbbell weights (£1,350), Loewe’s recent collaboration with On Running and Labrum’s collaborations with adidas. There is also an increased prevalence of reversible clothes in luxury fashion, with up-and-coming designers making items that double up as two-for-the-price-of-one, giving consumers more value for money through versatility and practicality. 

Brand aura and hype aren’t inherently bad things. But the evidence shows that they need to be grounded in something tangible if brands want to connect properly with young consumers. Our understanding of luxury has changed, but brands can still rebuild the trust that’s been lost if they follow a few simple principles: offer something that genuinely meets consumer needs; put time and effort into the product and storytelling, ensuring that both come across credibly; and, perhaps most importantly, give the audience something real to believe in.