I've Decided That Upper East Side Grandmothers Are the Blueprint—25 Buys I Want

"Old money," "steal wealth,” and "quiet luxury" are all buzzwords floating around right now. People are looking for a way to tap into these aesthetics, but many of them are looking right past the women who have already been doing it for decades: Upper East Side grandmothers. On a few recent scrolls through TikTok, I've noticed that this aesthetic is getting a lot of love, with fashion people piling on intentionally gaudy jewelry, oversize faux-fur coats, tweed jackets, and anything J.Crew.

In order to learn more about what an Upper East Side grandmother truly is, I tapped a local. Christina Grasso, creative director, told me, "I lived on the Upper East Side for years, and even still when I find myself Uptown, I love the way many older women dress and present themselves." She also gave me a bit of a capsule wardrobe to get the look, mentioning "a long faux-fur coat, a good pair of black cigarette pants, a crisp white button-down shirt or black turtleneck, pearls, and ballet flats." This honestly sounds like my kind of uniform, so I did some more digging and discovered a few pieces below that you must see if you're interested in embracing this aesthetic.

The Outfit Inspo

The simplest way to describe an Upper East Side grandmother is a woman who pairs a tweed jacket and Birkin bag with classic denim.

She lives for neutrals but isn't afraid of a pop of color, especially if that color is red. This outfit would definitely get her stamp of approval.

In her years of collecting fashion pieces and creating amazing outfits, she's learned how to play with proportions. When it comes to her sense of style, expect the unexpected.

The Shopping List

This post was published at an earlier date and has been updated.