I’m a big amateur of history and anthropology, and as I can tell, people in all civilizations have been trying to imitate the wealthy to an extant.
Comment on When will the all white home with grey floors trend be over?
sunsofold@lemmy.zip 2 days ago
Part of it will be the ‘blank canvas’ look. When people want to sell a house, they are told to remove any trace of personality or uniqueness. It presents the idea of a ‘blank canvas’ onto which prospective buyers (if human) can project their imagination, saying ‘This grey is dull. I’d paint it blue.’ For some reason, painting walls, say, red tends to lead to them thinking the room is ‘finished’ with the red colour, so they think ‘I don’t want this house. It has red walls.’ You can paint both, but the unconscious brain is incredibly stupid.
The other element is imitation of wealth. Wealthy people have ‘clean’ (can be read lifeless) space as a show of wealth. Many people, especially Western European and American people, have a bit of a Calvinist bent that leads them to imitate the wealthy. Knockoff luxury items is a big industry.
Danquebec@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
sunsofold@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
There does seem to be a kind of ‘big hat=important’ idea that might be kind of innate to humans. It’s a problem.
mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 days ago
This is a large part of it, TBH. Completely clear spaces mean you have space. Lots of large houses have kitchens that are almost barren with cooking tools, because they actually have space to properly store everything. And that means they have a large kitchen. It’s not that they have fewer things; they just have more places to put the things they have.
Also, proper minimalism is actually fairly expensive. Minimalism is usually focused on having high quality items that can last and long time, work well, and can do multiple tasks. And it also means you’re okay re-buying things that you may only occasionally need.
They’d never dream of using the rusty hand-crank can opener that is older than your grandparents. Instead, they’ll use an automatic can opener, jar opener, jar re-sealer, soda can crusher, vacuum sealer, and sous vide cooker, all in one. It is an essential part of every minimalist kitchen, and you can have it for the low low price of only $5000. Oh, all of those things can be independently purchased for a fraction of that cost? Well now your kitchen is full of single-use tools that all take up space. Not very clean and tidy, is it? Now all of your storage space is full, and your kitchen is messy.
sunsofold@lemmy.zip 2 days ago
I suspect the influencer type wouldn’t know there was more than one kind of can opener. The well-off influencer lifestyle is a consumer lifestyle, paying others to handle work. The person they pay to make the food probably knows all about it, but their focus is on how best to make shocked faces for thumbnails.
schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
Really rich people give their servants tiny galley kitchens.