Forbes & Lomax
- A $220 light switch is popular among ultrawealthy homeowners, The New York Times reported.
- The light switch is part of the growing quiet luxury trend.
- In comments left on the piece, Times readers made light of the switch's price tag.
What comes to mind when you think of quiet luxury? Perhaps a logo-less designer handbag or a perfectly tailored suit. But a $220 light switch probably wasn't on your stealth wealth bingo card.
The "Invisible Light switch," which takes design cues from the 1930s and is distributed by English design company Forbes & Lomax, is one of the latest status symbols among the ultrawealthy, as noted in a recent New York Times piece.
Or, as David Hottenroth, a partner at the architectural firm Hottenroth & Joseph, said of the light switches to The Times: "They're house jewelry." Typical light switches, which can sell for just a few dollars, have hardly been described in such a way.
Many Times readers weren't sold on the pricey switch. The story has received over 1100 comments.
One commenter from Buffalo, New York, called BKB , wrote: "When I showed my husband the light switches, he almost fell off his chair laughing. He said they looked just like the ones they used to sell for $.85 at the hardware store in Brooklyn when he was a kid 75 years ago."
That wasn't the only commenter who thought these lights looked familiar.
A commenter called Dave from Lafayette, Colorado, wrote: "Those Forbes and Lomax light switches look exactly like they were salvaged from WWII-era electronic test equipment. I remember the shift thirty years ago to 'soft touch', rocker-style light switches that made my old 1970s stubby post switches look positively outdated (not that I care). " He added. "Everything old is eventually new again."
Another commenter from New York, called J, wrote that the switch was "hideous looking (subjective, I know)," and "lacks even the basic functionality expected of a middle to upper-middle class home like smart home functionality or even a simple dimmer function."
While the light switch, on its own, doesn't function as a dimmer, dimmers can be added as additions alongside the switch, per the Forbes & Lomax website.
In recent months, quiet luxury has been on the rise — a sharp shift away from the exuberant styles emerging from the Covid-19 pandemic. In today's uncertain climate, the ultrawealthy may not face serious economic woes, but they seem less inclined to flaunt their wealth nonetheless.
"As insensitive as fashion can be sometimes be, it is still acutely attuned to social dynamics," Lorna Hall, director of fashion intelligence at trend-forecasting firm WGSN, previously told Insider. "When huge bits of the population are struggling to hang onto or heat their homes, flaunting extreme expressions of wealth looks tone-deaf."
Just because the styles may have gotten quieter — softer colors and logo-less designs — doesn't mean wealthy shoppers have settled for less expensive items. Bottega Veneta's woven textile bags, noticeably logo-less, have been particularly favored on the arms of many celebrities this year. The hit HBO show 'Succession,' which zeros in on a fictional wealthy family, has also ushered in conversations about discreet status symbols, with their characters flaunting items such as a $600 cashmere baseball cap.
Correction: July 26, 2023: An earlier version of this story included a photo of a single light switch from Forbes & Lomax. The image has been corrected to show the double light switch, which retails for about $220.