Delicate and poor young man: luxury at the same time

Author丨Du Qian

Title picture丨Visual China

Many new middle class are like a hunting dog, not only keen on making money and investing, but also keen and shrewd in the distribution of property.

In recent years, the new consumerism popular in the new middle class is called "exquisite poverty".

"Delicate poverty" was originally an Internet buzzword, referring to the fact that many young people are not only moonshiners, but also take out loans to buy shoes and bags, and live a refined but poor life.

But the "exquisite poverty" here has a different meaning for the new middle class.

Exquisite poverty is not some kind of abstract life ritual, but refers to the new middle class will be luxurious and poor in life.

The consumption pattern of refined poverty is particularly similar to the new luxury consumption phenomenon mentioned by the Japanese scholar Kenichi Omae in "The M-Shaped Society: The Crisis and Business Opportunities of the Disappearing Middle Class".

The exquisite life of the "new middle class". (Photo/Pexels)

The characteristics of "new luxury" are that "the price and feel are middle and upper-class".

In other words, providing products and services that customers from the middle and lower classes "feel a little expensive, but want to get" is called "new luxury".

The primary reason for the rise in the consumption of new luxury goods is that discount retail stores allow the average family to save some household expenses, so that the middle and lower classes have extra money to buy slightly more expensive goods.

For example, I usually buy things at a 100-yen store, but I have an attachment to the luxury of interior appliances; I usually wear Volkswagen brand clothes, but I just want to have a brand-name bag; I usually eat cheap food from supermarkets, but I am very particular about miso and soy sauce.

It is the new middle class, but it also loves to pick up cheap

The "exquisite poverty" of the new middle class is up, flat on the other, and down: both luxury and poverty - they dress according to the "layering, mixing" aesthetic, underwear and T-shirts buy cheap, while jeans and trench coats buy expensive;

I haven't worn Archaeopteryx, Patagonia, Salomon, Lululemon, not a new middle class; In Beijing, "you pay the mortgage, I pay the tooth loan."

The reason for the emergence of such two extreme consumption psychology in the new middle class seems to be found in the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu's "Distinction: A Social Critique of Judgment": "What distinguishes all levels of society is not only economic capital, but also cultural capital, which is expressed through so-called fun, and more secretly determines our social status than economic capital." ”

"Fun" differences are not necessarily related to comparing money, but they will lead to the emergence of a chain of contempt, such as: watching British dramas despises American dramas, watching American dramas despises domestic dramas; Look at La Liga's contempt for the Premier League, watch the Premier League's contempt for the Bundesliga; The despise of playing "interstellar" plays "LOL", the despise of watching literary films and watching comedies ... These disdains obviously have little to do with money, and it's important to show "fun."

But in the proposition of "quality consumption", "fun" still has some relationship with money.

No one will directly show others their bank card balance, so the products consumed become representatives of their own "fun", reflecting their own quality of life, superior aesthetics and even their class.

(Photo: Pixabay)

The same is a cup of milk tea for 20 yuan, but some people are willing to choose Internet celebrity brand products with interesting advertising; It is also lady's clothing, but compared to FMCG brands, light luxury brands are more loved by the "quality party".

Practicing refined poverty does not mean rejecting the "quality party", and its accurate expression is to focus on the field of consumption.

For example, Jiang Wen once frankly said in "Round Table Style" that he is very unparticular in life, "I have to recognize a brand to buy clothes, tired me, comfort first."

Li Qing, who has standard new middle-class conditions such as "master's degree for overseas returnees, full real estate in Beijing, and decent work", insists that "the clothes are all special treatment of Pinduoduo, Taobao, and idle fish, with an average price of 30 yuan; Bicycles must buy small cloths, lightning, and more than 10,000 yuan a piece."

Li Qing does not care whether the purchased product is genuine. He feels that "genuine products and imitations are completely instilled by the brand".

Li Qing said that all the products you think are not worth but will buy, people are not looking at the product itself, but the circles, services, and network opportunities behind them, and their value is sometimes really worth it - but it takes a specific time and occasion to happen, and many people don't need it.

"Archaeopteryx is really waterproof, but you have an umbrella and it's over. Archaeopteryx is not bought because it is waterproof, but to blend in with other groups wearing Archaeopteryx. ”

Li Qing believes that the main way to measure whether he is poor or rich is who he is compared with, "as soon as you wake up, you have to spend money, and part of restraint is to be able to consume freedom more often."

He sets himself a fixed monthly spending amount and divides it evenly across his hobby spending.

In his circle of friends, he has been featured in various entertainment occasions, such as script killing, escape room, camping, Citywalk, frisbee, swing dance, talk show, etc.

Frisbee was once popular in the social arena of young people. (Photo/Figureworm Creative)

Li Qing has further plans - he wants to learn to fly an airplane, go to the South Pole and the North Pole, "I want to go to the commercial activity of spacecraft, but I have no money."

So he firmly believed: "As long as there are many places that need to be spent money, there must be many ways to save money." ”

KFC "Crazy Thursday", McDonald's "Monday Membership Day", Burger King "Wednesday Poor Ghost Set", Convenience Bee's special food, good sale of advent imported food, supermarket sushi, fresh fruit after 8:30 every night at half price or buy one get one free... There were basically no offers that he didn't know about.

These money-saving tips mainly come from poor messaging and information, "free, discounted does not equal low quality, or the more and earlier you know, the more advantage." It's equivalent to saving money with time."

Parental support aside,

The new middle class returns to the new poor

In 2015, the basic characteristics of the definition of the new middle class are: post-80s, pre-90s, received higher education, living in first-tier, new first-tier and second-tier cities, annual net income of 100,000-500,000 yuan, with new aesthetics, new consumption, new connection values, not cheap income, willful consumption, excellent aesthetics, quality of life.

The "new middle class" outlined by these words is more like a way of life. Under the general work pressure of "996", shopping has become a liberating form to get rid of depression.

People are almost in the stage of being dominated by the desire for new things, like an upstart, "buy whenever you want". Consumption has little to do with taste.

But now, from the rebound of instant noodle sales in China, the blooming of MINISO, the tightening of "Double 11" consumption compared with before, etc., it can be seen that the new middle class consumption seems to be calming down.

Some pseudo-middle class gradually realize that because the definition of the middle class is too vague, coupled with the illusion of abundant money created by borrowing and consumption, many people mistakenly classify themselves into the middle class, blindly worship the consumption patterns of the rich, paranoid that the more expensive things are, the better, and constantly increase the middle-class identity by buying luxury goods and famous brands.

In Li Qing's eyes, "you can't buy it freely with any amount of money."

This seems to make sense, but after many times of scrutiny, it was found that this is a typical middle-class viewing perspective, for the materially poor people, the real thinking is not freedom, but how to exchange freedom for money.

"But the saddest thing is that it is often the same people who end up in the consumption trap, spending all their hard-earned money on revenge consumption." Li Qing said.

June 28, 2023, Shanghai. People line up at LV pop-up shops to buy LV coffee and canvas bags with the LV brand logo. (Photo/Visual China)

Feng Feng, who successfully settled in Beijing with his status of returning from studying abroad and has successfully purchased a house, gave an interpretation of the "new middle class" in another context in China, that is, many people with new middle-class identities are mostly inseparable from the accumulation of assets of their parents, and if they put aside the support of their parents, they are like "new poor".

Sam and Hema supermarkets near Feng Feng's house are across the bank and together become her daily source of ingredients.

The membership system of Sam's Supermarket can also be counted as the middle-class advanced threshold in a sense. The annual ordinary membership fee of 260 yuan can dissuade some low-income people.

Feng Feng became a Sam's member early, but she still said helplessly: "I don't dare to buy it casually after entering Sam." A piece of salmon and two pieces of beef is four or five hundred yuan, and two thousand yuan is very easy to carry alone. ”

Therefore, she only buys salmon and pork and beef products from Sam, and hardly looks at other imported products. "Boxes of fruit are also expensive and not cost-effective. Might as well go to the opposite Hema horse. ”

The documentary "The Culprit of Uncontrolled Consumption" mentions that anxiety and fear are collective accomplices of uncontrolled consumption - in order to make you spend money, merchants will try to create anxiety for you.

There is such an example in life, that is, many women, despite the average economic conditions, still give preference to luxury brands such as Dior and Chanel when choosing lipstick.

The reason they gave was: "It's a mouthful thing, and [cheap lipstick] is worried that the ingredients are bad and toxic." ”

Lipsticks for luxury brands. (Photo/Unsplash)

According to the official website information, most of the unit price of such luxury brand lipsticks is between 350-450 yuan, only from the price point of view, this is not a large expenditure, ordinary families can afford.

But in the eyes of Xu Jiayi, the new middle class of "Shanghai Drift", this is a luxury behavior: "One of the consumption standards I understand is that if you are buying Gap, then your beauty products should be benchmarked against Maybelline." But in real life, many low- and medium-yielders will buy a big name. ”

Xu Jiayi believes that the semi-luxury and semi-sour consumption pattern has always existed in her life, as far as lipstick is concerned, she insists on choosing affordable brands, and the lipstick color is good-looking, suitable for herself is her biggest demand.

"L'Oréal and KIKO's lipstick ingredients should be similar to luxury brands."

She doesn't deny that the products we use have their own social attributes – the brands you choose for clothes, phones, necklaces, lipsticks, etc., sometimes determine your circle of friends.

But as she grew older and her relationships were relatively stable, she chose to ignore this social attribute: "What kind of family I was born into, what kind of work I do, what class I am in, and my friends around me also know that there is nothing to be vain, and I never feel ashamed." ”

After becoming a habit, even if it is a date, Xu Jiayi will only use simple combinations such as white T and jeans, "so that the other party's attention can be focused on the conversation."

The middle class is refined and poor, which is a kind of rationality

In recent luxury news, LV (Louis Vuitton, full name Louis Vuitton) can be said to have earned enough gimmicks.

Previously, LV launched a "limited-time bookstore" pop-up event in the center of Shanghai with three coffee shops, and according to the value calculation, it took at least 580 yuan to buy a book to get a LV canvas bag giveaway.

But people rushed to buy it, which one media outlet described as "stupid, poor and vain."

Then, MSCHF, a creative agency known for spoofing well-known brands, launched a 657 micron× 222 micron × 700 micron LV imitation handbag, which is smaller than a grain of salt.

MSCHF claims that the purchase package comes with a microscope. In the end, the "LV bag" was sold at auction for $63,000.

Even the New York Times couldn't help but sarcastically say: "What the hell is this? Handbags for ants? ”

Earlier news was that Heytea partnered with luxury brand FENDI to launch a joint drink.

A joint drink between Heytea and FENDI. (Photo/Visual China)

Because of the matching yellow paper cups, coasters and badges, and the provision of handbags printed with FENDI's English logo, the 19 yuan milk tea was fried to more than 100 yuan, which makes people think that rational consumption is an ability.

As the first stock of golf apparel in China, Biyin Leffen is known as "Maotai in clothes", and the prime location of major airports is always not lacking in its location.

The new economy IPO reported: "The brand's maximum price for a polo shirt can be 5280 yuan. However, due to the 'simple design' of Biyinleufen polo shirt products, after comparison, its 880 yuan polo shirt and 5280 yuan polo shirt can hardly see the design change, 880 yuan a piece is even better. ”

This view is biased towards a personal perspective, but another reality that cannot be ignored is that for the new middle class, the premise of enjoying life is to objectively understand their own wealth.

Otherwise, no one knows where the dividing line between one step heaven and one step hell is.

A post-80s new middle-class mother in a second-tier city said that she is also a practitioner of delicate poverty.

In recent years, she prefers gold jewellery to diamonds. Gold jewellery can be seen as an investment and retains value more than diamonds. Buying gold jewellery also became one of her few luxury-related hobbies, while otherwise it was relatively modest.

(Photo/Figureworm Creative)

The reason why she spends bipolar is to transfer her wealth to the upbringing of a son and a daughter.

In order to give her two children a better education, she plans to take them to first-tier cities to school in the near future and buy local real estate.

It can be found that the delicate poverty of the new middle class is a trade-off distribution of fixed wealth at different latitudes.

At the same time, for many low-yield or pseudo-middle class, the reason for rejecting branded products from informal channels or second-hand sources is that it is difficult to accept being seen as shoddy and laugh at themselves.

The key to achieving luxury to frugality in New China's production capacity is to abandon this concern.