Commentary: Luxury Mooncakes and the Struggle of the Alpha Consumers

So many things in Singapore embrace novelty over sustainability. Of course, sometimes things and places reach their natural end and need to be renewed and replaced, but I think sometimes we push things to the limit. From replacing perfectly good cars to fast, fast fashion to relentless renovation. Is this a case of just buy and not think?

And does this drive for one-upmanship also mean that we lose people, places and things that are not so “fancy” but nevertheless valuable to the fabric of society? I fear that in a few years there will no longer be bakeries making simple, cost-effective mooncakes and other pastries because we will not want to eat them anymore.

SILENT LUXURY WILL NOT SOLVES THINGS

Some news sources are reporting that conspicuous consumption is now less common. Luxury brands known for their ostentatious labeling are reporting tough sales in key markets around the world. The buzzword among Gen Z now seems to be “quiet luxury,” popularized by TV shows like Succession.

Quiet luxury eschews the flashiness of brands with a seeming focus on simple designs and muted colours. You might think that embracing a trend like quiet luxury suggests that we have matured as a society and are striving for “stealth wealth”.

I don’t think this is the case, because as the showiness becomes more muted, the hierarchies of visibility I mentioned earlier simply become hierarchies of invisibility – that is, hierarchies still exist and one-upmanship continues unabated, albeit in the shadows. The desire to acquire new things for the sake of newness remains.

Instead, perhaps we should question the desire to make everything newer and whether we seek luxury for the sake of luxury. Are we, as the saying goes, spending money we don’t have to buy things we don’t want to impress people we don’t like?

This is the biggest challenge in a world saturated with advertising, media and messages that revolve around the acquisition and performative consumption of goods and brands, which in itself places a burden on the Earth’s already limited resources.

The mooncake race is simply a symptom and symbol of a broader problem, one that has major implications for individuals, society and the environment.

Terence Heng is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Liverpool. His new, co-edited book, Death and the Afterlife: Multidisciplinary Perspectives in a Global City (Routledge 2024), documents, maps and theorises Chinese death practices in Singapore.