What true luxury really is and why it’s sometimes good to take a break from social media.

---

It’s already October, and today I’ve finally found the time and inclination to open my MacBook and do something other than watch a video by Kirby Allison. No, today I actually feel like writing a blog post. Apparently, that’s just how this year is going: every now and then, I need a social media break, or end up taking one whether I want to or not. Even though I could have written a post two weeks ago. I just didn’t want to.

September and October are among my favourite months of the year because I love autumn. And as a September baby, I naturally look forward to this time of year twice as much. There are those wonderful autumn days when it’s still pleasantly warm and sunny during the day, and in the evening, the sun bathes everything in golden light while the yellow, red and brown leaves give the whole scene a look of its own. Barbour jackets, jeans, wool sweaters, beanies and so on. It’s simply fabulous.

At the beginning of November, we’ll be travelling to Japan again, and I’m curious to see how autumn casts its spell over the country.

This September, however, was quite different from usual. At the beginning of the month, I finally plucked up the courage to apply for another position and spent a good deal of time preparing for job interviews and everything that comes with them. Just in time for my birthday, I received the call that my new employment contract was ready to be signed. I’m already really looking forward to starting my new job at another company.

Unfortunately, on the very same day, I also received news from my brother that my uncle had suffered an epileptic seizure. My brother, together with the police and the fire brigade, managed to get into my uncle’s house through a window. Thankfully, they were able to get him to hospital alive. Things looked bleak for quite some time, but after more than a week in a coma, he eventually began to improve.

I live a good two hours away from my uncle. My grandad passed away earlier this year, so my uncle spends most of his time alone. I’m glad that my brother and his family have since moved back to somewhere relatively close to him. Who knows how things might have turned out if my brother hadn’t been nearby?

Yesterday, I returned home after visiting my uncle in rehabilitation. He still has to relearn how to walk properly and grip things again, but I’m sure he’ll get there.

The fear during that uncertain time, the question of whether and how my uncle would wake up, what was going to happen to my grandparents’ house, and how best to sort everything out before my grandad’s estate had even been fully settled. It all weighed heavily on my mind. Combined with handing in my notice and the psychological strain of the past few weeks, it seems to have triggered a chain reaction. The result? I’m now in my fourth week of being signed off work, and in my mid-thirties, I’m already taking medication for high blood pressure. But hey, there are worse things in life.

---

There were some wonderful moments during this time, too.

I used my time at home to slim down my wardrobe a little, selling shirts and jackets on Vinted that never quite fitted properly. Of course, I’ve partly filled the newly freed-up space with new Vinted finds.

Thanks to some help from Ivyarchivemunich on Discord, I managed to get my hands on a lovely purple Scottish lambswool sweater. Thanks again for that, Daniel! I also found a few beautiful vintage ties, including some from Hermès.

I managed to get a pair of Oxfords from Shoepassion for a mere €8.75 out of pocket as well. They’re still on their way to me, and once they arrive, they’ll be getting a new makeover.

The Good Things also inspired me to recolour my wingtip brogue Oxfords myself. I love these shoes, but hardly ever wear them because they’re cognac-coloured and simply don’t go with anything in my wardrobe. More on that soon.

A new Barbour has also joined the collection. And no, not in brown this time, but in Sage. Finally!

I also had two visits to the Posthotel run by Alexander Herrmann on the calendar, and the food was simply divine. I’ll be writing a separate blog post about that soon, too. The same goes for my fantastic StrapKlub bracelet, which is fitted to my vintage Omega and gives it a completely new look. It’s a watch I actually wore on my wedding day.

Oh, and I also visited Rooks & Rocks in Leipzig, where I ordered my very first made-to-measure suit.

As you can see, I may have been inactive online, but I’ve still been keeping myself pretty busy offline.

What Does Luxury Really Mean?

What I’ve spent the most time thinking about during this period, though, and what has led to countless internal conversations with myself, is the question of what luxury actually means.

When I think of luxury, I think of bespoke suits, owning a Porsche or a Ferrari. Of no longer having to make monthly mortgage payments on our house. Of beautiful holidays, the finest hotels and the best food the world has to offer.

Whenever we talk about luxury, the conversation almost always revolves around products of exceptional craftsmanship. Handmade has already become synonymous with luxury. Before long, we’ll probably have to label our posts with “Not AI-generated”. A bit like the new “lactose-free”.

In other words, we want products that are expensive. Period. It’s a question of belonging, and expensive products allow us to signal that status.

But if we’re honest, what we really want are products that last a lifetime. The question is: when is a product expensive because it has been made to a high standard, and when are we simply paying for a designer’s name?

For me, a truly outstanding product should have two essential qualities: first, longevity and second, a price that is as low as possible without compromising the first point. I want to spend as little money as possible on a product that is as good as it can possibly be.

I genuinely believe that the best products are often those that sit somewhere in the middle of their respective price categories. The equivalent of the Volkswagen Golf class, if you will.

The Best Things Aren’t Always the Most Expensive

This really hit home yesterday morning when I was sitting in my grandparents’ kitchen, spreading butter on my breakfast rolls.

But this isn’t about the bread roll, the liver sausage or the butter and yes, I eat butter underneath my liver sausage. It’s the same principle as putting butter under Nutella, after all. No, this is about the knife.

They’re ancient Solingen knives with wooden handles. Incredibly sharp, even after all these years. I remember my grandma already using them when I visited during the summer holidays in my first year of primary school.

They can’t have been particularly expensive back then. My grandparents never had much, but they were always happy to give everything they had. To me, these knives are the perfect example of a product that comes remarkably close to perfection.

My grandparents also always had a silver cutlery set in a case that was never used. Which, when you think about it, is rather silly, but that’s just how things were back then.

At the Posthotel run by Alexander Herrmann, which I mentioned earlier, you’ll find AURA. It’s the hotel’s two-Michelin-starred restaurant, alongside the bistro “Oma & Enkel”. During a visit to the hotel, you can also purchase the silver-plated cutlery, albeit at a very high price. Just another example that comes to mind in this context.

So, when thinking about luxury, we shouldn’t just consider our own budgets, but also the era we live in.

From the perspective of my grandparents, or even my great-grandparents, I’m living a life of luxury today. When my grandad was a child, owning a pair of shoes of your own was already the height of luxury on the way to school. Today, even things like access to education and our healthcare system seem perfectly ordinary to us, despite representing an enormous level of prosperity compared with the living conditions of earlier generations.

I have a lovely house, even if there’s still a long way to go before it’s finished, and a large property. I can stay in beautiful hotels or travel to distant countries. I can afford nice things, even if a JLC or an AP probably isn’t in the cards for me in this lifetime.

The value of a product, then, often has something to do with its actual price. Sometimes, spending a considerable amount of money makes us appreciate a product more. Other times, it’s a product that carries a strong emotional significance and therefore has a value of its own.

Take my dark blue wool scarf, for example. It isn’t particularly high-quality. My mother used to wear it during the winter when travelling to the train station or heading to her place of vocational training. Many years later, I wore it myself when cycling to my own place of training.

I love that scarf. But not because it’s particularly well made. I love it because, to me, it’s priceless.

What Social Media Does to Our Understanding of Luxury

Perhaps this is also one of the reasons why it sometimes does us good to reduce our social media consumption.

Every day, we see products we’re supposedly meant to want. Bespoke suits, expensive watches, luxury hotels, extraordinary trips and things that are supposedly going to make our lives better. We see people who always seem to own the latest and greatest, and before we know it, we start comparing ourselves to them.

In doing so, we quickly forget what we already have.

I’ve noticed for myself just how good it feels not to be online all the time. Not to collect new inspiration every day, not to constantly look for the next beautiful addition to my wardrobe, and not to be permanently confronted with things I’d like to own.

Instead, I spend time with my family, take care of things that have been left on the back burner, rediscover old treasures in my wardrobe, or simply sit down with a coffee and let my thoughts wander.

That doesn’t mean I think social media is inherently bad. Quite the opposite. Without social media, I wouldn’t have met so many interesting people, discovered some of my favourite pieces of clothing, or developed the same appreciation for certain brands and traditional craftsmanship.

But sometimes, taking a step back helps us recognise what really matters to us. It allows us to stop thinking only about what we could buy next and start appreciating what we already own and why we value it.

Perhaps that, too, is a form of luxury: the freedom not to feel the need to own something new all the time.

What True Luxury Means to Me

Ultimately, luxury means something different to everyone. But it’s often only in certain situations that we truly become aware of what it means to us.

For me, luxury means that my family and friends are healthy. That we can afford the life we live, and that we get to enjoy it for as long as possible.

And perhaps luxury also means having the time to think about these things. Spending a morning with a coffee, cutting a bread roll with an old knife, or wearing a scarf that has accompanied you for years.

Things that don’t need to carry a particularly high price tag to be valuable to us.

Because sometimes, we already own the very things we’re looking for. We just need to learn to see them again.

True luxury isn’t defined solely by a product’s price or brand name, but by its longevity, its meaning and the memories we associate with it. An old knife or a well-loved scarf can mean more to us than the most expensive designer pieces. Taking a conscious break from social media helps us step away from constant comparison and learn to appreciate what we already have. Because, ultimately, good health, family, time and financial security are the greatest luxuries of all.