The TikTok and Pinterest trend called the “old money aesthetic” is just a really fancy or classy lifestyle. It’s basically a preppy, Ivy League, business-casual style, and these clothes are things regular people can also buy. They have a bunch of them at Walmart, and you can get them on Amazon.
Even a middle-class person can get an old Mercedes or a Porsche. As for golfing, chess, and other “old money hobbies,” again, regular people can do that too. Regular people go to galas, plays, and basically live a super fancy lifestyle—it’s not limited to just “rich people.”
Do rich people do these things more? Sure. But again, calling it an “old money aesthetic” is dumb when classy or fancy people in general do this.
There are even YouTubers who teach regular people to be super fancy, like The Gent Z / Gentleman’s Collective and Jamila Musayeva, and neither of them come from “old money.” This is just a very classy and fancy lifestyle that anyone can really have, regardless of whether you are middle class, working class, or upper class.
I think this is a case of people misusing terms. Social media users are prone to using terms in nonsensical ways. Business casual isn’t old money, casual clothes are a very new and modern trend. Old money is antique items and more traditional looks. It’s called old money because it’s what used to be trendy for the wealthy in the past, as opposed to the modern billionaires who typically wear a T-shirt and jeans. Old money is living in an ornate mansion, new money is living in a modern square mansion covered in glass. And sure any non-wealthy person could buy and wear a 3 piece suit, coat, hat and scarf but they would look out of place almost everywhere, even among rich people, because such an outfit is antiquated and not modern.
Very mindful, very demure.