The thought of a “timeless” wardrobe is considered one of style’s longest-running myths. A well-cut blazer, a bit black gown, a pair of leather-based loafers—these are the supposed constructing blocks of non-public type that may carry you thru each period, resistant to shifting tendencies.
But when that have been true, why does the definition of “timeless” appear to vary each decade? Even the idea of “quiet luxury”—as soon as shorthand for discreet wealth—has morphed right into a full-blown pattern, as prone to be present in an influencer’s “old money aesthetic” TikTok as it’s in an precise generational inheritor’s closet.
Nonetheless, there’s a purpose the business retains circling again to minimalism and longevity. After years of ultra-fast style and microtrends with a two-week shelf life, persons are exhausted. No person needs to really feel like they’re chasing an inconceivable cycle, which is a part of the explanation why the capsule wardrobe has gone from a distinct segment idea to a mainstream aspiration. “Investment dressing” is the brand new style gospel. Even manufacturers that when thrived on pattern cycles at the moment are attempting to persuade customers that this time, their designs will final ceaselessly.
But when true timelessness is feasible it’s not due to a particular silhouette or shade palette—it’s due to intention. The manufacturers that get it proper are doing extra than simply promoting restraint as an aesthetic, designing for actual longevity via exact tailoring, thought-about material decisions, and silhouettes that work past the confines of a single season. Safiyaa, the demi-luxury model based by Daniela Karnuts, is a type of manufacturers working in an area that values building over gimmicks, high quality over churn. The query isn’t whether or not timeless style exists—it’s whether or not the business will let it’s greater than a advertising tactic.
Capsule Wardrobes, Minimalism, and the Reinvention of Luxurious
A decade in the past, capsule wardrobes have been the stuff of area of interest style blogs and Marie Kondo acolytes—an aspirational however considerably excessive strategy to dressing that meant paring your closet right down to a set variety of items. Now, they’ve gone mainstream. Minimalism has turn out to be not only a private type selection however a standing image, repackaged as “quiet luxury” or the “old money aesthetic,” with an emphasis on neutrals, tailoring, and the sort of easy polish that means generational wealth. The irony, in fact, is that what we contemplate timeless—camel coats, wide-leg trousers, crisp white shirts—nonetheless follows a pattern cycle. In 2013, the capsule wardrobe was about Marie Kondo-ing your life; in 2024, it’s about dressing like Gwyneth Paltrow’s courtroom wardrobe.
Safiyaa is among the uncommon manufacturers that truly understands this shift fairly than simply repackaging minimalism for the algorithm. Its silhouettes are exact, its supplies intentional, and its ethos rooted in craftsmanship, not advertising spin. Loads of labels have latched onto the language of funding dressing, however Daniela Karnuts has made positive that Safiyaa delivers on it. As an alternative of treating quiet luxurious as an aesthetic, it refines and modernizes basic design rules, designing with longevity in thoughts fairly than chasing a viral second.
However Karnuts’ imaginative and prescient is an exception. Overconsumption and the breakneck pace of quick style have made folks hyper-aware of their purchasing habits, forcing luxurious manufacturers to reframe themselves. Buying and selling the logos of the 2010s for subtler, extra refined design codes is one strategy, nevertheless it doesn’t mechanically translate to longevity. “Investment dressing” has turn out to be the business’s new favourite phrase, however not each model can pull it off. A beige shade palette isn’t a assure of timelessness, and true luxurious isn’t about paring issues again till they really feel sterile—it’s about figuring out what deserves to be there within the first place.
Sustainability and the Enterprise of Permanence
Trend—and virtually each different business—loves to speak about sustainability nowadays, however the business’s soiled secret is that true sustainability is about making garments that don’t have to be changed. Extra than simply utilizing natural cotton or recycled polyester, probably the most sustainable garment is the one you retain sporting, and but most manufacturers are nonetheless working beneath a mannequin of deliberate obsolescence the place even “investment pieces” are subtly designed to really feel outdated inside a number of years.
Safiyaa, nonetheless, does one thing nearly unparalleled in trendy style: it solely makes what folks really purchase. As an alternative of churning out stock and hoping it sells, the model operates on a made-to-order mannequin, that means every bit is lower, sewn, and completed solely when a buyer locations an order. No overproduction, no warehouses stuffed with unsold inventory, no seasonal leftovers dumped into landfills. It’s a surprisingly easy repair for considered one of style’s greatest issues, which makes you marvel why extra manufacturers don’t do it. (Spoiler: as a result of promoting the concept of sustainability is extra worthwhile than altering the system.)
Additionally Daniela has additionally seen to it that Safiyaa makes garments the old-school approach—each bit is constructed by a single artisan within the model’s London atelier, utilizing tailoring rules borrowed from Savile Row. This isn’t style that exists to be content material; it’s style that exists to be worn. And never only for a season, however for years. Whereas different manufacturers construct deliberate obsolescence into their designs—flimsy materials, stylish cuts, items that someway really feel outdated six months later—Safiyaa rejects the concept that newness is the one factor value shopping for.
That’s the factor about timeless style: it’s not about sticking to a strict uniform of neutrals or investing in a bit black gown simply because some style editor says it’s a wardrobe important. It’s about shopping for items that make sense past a single second, ones that may transfer via completely different phases of your life with out feeling like artifacts from a previous self. Lots of manufacturers declare to be designing for that. At Safiyaa, Daniela Karnuts really does.
