The Ladies Who Lunch are back, but for a new generation of shopaholic socialites, lunch is just the beginning.

There are green juice breakfasts and Champagne dinners; private tours of the Sistine Chapel, La Scala and Frieze; resort hopping on the Italian coast; afternoon tea at designers’ homes, and front-row seats at fashion shows, right next to the brand ambassador actors and K-pop stars.

The world’s richest are back on the grand tour. But instead of roaming around 18th century Europe fueled by an aristocratic family fortune, today’s Beautiful People (also called the BPs) are traveling the world and soaking up culture courtesy of big luxury brands. The brands are wining and dining them, taking them on cultural adventures and offering up “once in a lifetime” experiences.

For years, since well before the pandemic, the top 2 to 4 percent of customers have been driving 40 percent of sales, sometimes more, at the big retailers and brands. In tough times for luxury they need these big spenders now more than ever, and they’re giving them whatever they want.

Some would argue that it’s about time. “These are the brands’ true customers, giving feedback on the collections the moment a show ends and preordering 15 runway looks at a time,” says one fashion insider, referring to the VVIC or very very important customer.

“In the old days, these customers would have to sit down with the store director to make their order, but not anymore. And they don’t want to attend special client shows either. They want to be front row at the big show, where the action is,” the person adds.

Amrita Banta, managing director of Agility Research & Strategy, a consulting firm that advises luxury brands on how to treat high-net worth clients, says rich shoppers want “recognition — and something out-of-the-ordinary. They want experiences and discovery.”

A “New Language of Affluence”

Banta argues that luxury today “isn’t just about what you sell, but how you connect” and many brands need to learn “the new language of affluence.” Brands also have to speak to a variety of VVICs — old money, nouveau riches, as well as the second- and third-generation wealthy.

“You might have crypto millionaires who suddenly made a whole lot of money, while others’ wealth has moved down generations. We can’t put them all in one basket,” Banta adds.

He isn’t alone. Mark Miller, chief strategy officer at the brand agency Team One, says the global rich have moved beyond asking, “What do I own?” to “Who am I becoming?”

Influential customers, he adds, are not just measuring value by accumulation, “but by how they contribute to the world and develop themselves in the process,” hence the brands and retailers trying to outdo each other by creating special moments.

The Rich Are Different

In the old days, there wasn’t as much money sloshing around, and everyone knew who fashion’s top customers were.

They were Truman Capote’s Swans — women including Babe Paley, CZ Guest and Marella Agnelli. In the ‘80s, the BPs arrived — including Ivana and Blaine Trump, Gayfryd Steinberg, Caroline Roehm, Susan Gutfreund, Carolina Herrera, Nan Kempner and Princess Caroline of Monaco — jet-setting and hanging around with Karl Lagerfeld, Yves Saint Laurent, Valentino Garavani and Oscar de la Renta, and partying with Calvin Klein.

As the years passed, there were more rich insiders, with a new generation getting MBAs, starting brands, managing the family business and making millions. Meanwhile, international wealth has rocketed, and there are fashion lovers everywhere.

“You’ve never even heard of these people,” says one luxury brand executive, “but they are the most sought-after clients in the world.” Some of their money is old but most of it is new — from tech, finance, art, film, real estate and manufacturing.

With an annual spend ranging from $1 million to the multimillions, these VVIPs are quite a catch for brands. But they’re also busy professionals spending their money on art, automobiles, real estate, health, wellness, travel and private education for their kids.

“They already have their own things going on,” says one retail executive. “They come to Paris on a private jet, they have their own security, they stay at the Ritz. These are the people who make the fashion world go around, and they want to be entertained.”

At Your Service

As a result, the brands have become concierge services, wedding-style planners and cultural companions on these trips around the world.

Mytheresa has been courting these top clients for years, offering “memorable, money-can’t-buy” experiences in places ranging from Venice and Paris to Aspen. The company currently organizes around 10 big trips a year, and more intimate ones in between.

Last October, Mytheresa’s top clients traveled to Milan, where they had cocktails at Camparino in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II; took in a performance of the ballet “La Dame aux camélias” at La Scala, and went on a private tour of the Cenacolo Vinciano, to see Leonardo Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper.”

The year before, Mytheresa whisked its top clients to Rome and gave them a private tour of the Valentino archive and the new Spazio Musja museum, which houses the collection of the late businessman and art lover Ovidio Jacorossi. They were also able to shop an exclusive capsule of all-pink Valentino summer looks.

Dinner was at Pierluigi, a restaurant near Campo de’ Fiori famous for its fish dishes, while lunch the following day was at Dal Bolognese. The dress code was “urban Riviera.”

More recent trips have included afternoon tea with Guillaume Henry, artistic director of Patou, at his Paris apartment, a tour of the Alaïa factory and archives outside Venice, and a visit to the Oasi Zegna, a vast forest and biodiverse expanse in the Italian alps near Ermenegildo Zegna‘s original wool mill.

During that alpine trip, guests took a ride on the oldest chairlift in Italy, with a choir singing in the background. That was followed by lunch at Villa Zegna, where the family spends its Christmases. But, more than anything else, the guests loved the orange cake — a Zegna family recipe — which they had for dessert.

“From the beginning, our approach has been about how we get that really deep emotional connection with our client, how we create that level of loyalty that is above and beyond anything transactional,” says Amber Pepper, chief customer experience officer and a member of the senior leadership team at Mytheresa.

In its pre-pandemic heyday, Matches was courting customers, too, and even referred to its trips as “the Grand Tour.” On one, customers sailed between a trio of Italian hotels on a 1930s yacht that had been transformed into a pop-up resortwear shop.

The yacht started at Il Pellicano in Porto Ercole, Tuscany, moved on to La Posta Vecchia, outside Rome, and finally to Il Mezzatorre on the island of Ischia.

In the next weeks, Burberry will be taking a handful of international customers on a trip to Highgrove, King Charles’ private home and gardens in Gloucestershire, England, to mark the launch of the brand’s latest collaboration with the estate.

“We want them to experience the fullness of the environment and the extraordinary home of Their Majesties, King Charles and Queen Camilla,” says Josh Schulman, chief executive officer of Burberry, which commissioned the artist Helen Bullock to create a capsule collection inspired by the king’s flowers, trees and honeybees.

On Home Turf

Between all that jet-setting, the VVICs are able to call on their personal stylists provided by the brands and retailers. At Farfetch, those stylists and personal shoppers cater to the VVICs’ every whim, working their phones and keyboards 24/7.

So far this year, Farfetch’s fashion concierge service has tracked down millions of dollars’ worth of Birkin bags and high-end watches. The company sold a Patek Philippe earlier this year for $870,000, and recently arranged for one client’s $650,000 order for more than 100 pairs of made-to-order shoes — from a single brand.

“These are often extremely busy people, and the more that we can do to make their lives easier, the better,” says Stephen Eggleston, chief commercial officer of Farfetch.

Meanwhile, the major brands are hosting special appointments at their showrooms all year round.

“They welcome you with Champagne, vodka and caviar and let you choose the exotic skins for your handbag. You can also buy couture, one-of-a-kind pieces. Sometimes, you take them away on the same day — like cash and carry,” says one customer, with a smile.

The Big League

But the fashion shows, showroom appointments and 24/7 styling support pale in comparison to the destination couture jewelry events, which one industry insider describes as “the highest expression of luxury. Everything else is junior varsity.”

Brands including Dior, Chanel and Van Cleef & Arpels take over major luxury hotels such as Villa d’Este on Lake Como, where Chanel just staged its cruise 2026 show, or Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes, with its “Tender Is the Night” mystique, and long list of celebrity, political and aristo guests over the years. At these events, guests bring ballgowns — usually couture — layer on their new jewels and watch the fireworks after a long day of shopping, and chatting with the jewelry designer under the blue skies of the Côte d’Azur. The brands bring around 200 pieces, worth multimillions of dollars, and the sell-throughs are usually 100 percent.

Earlier this month Bulgari invited its top clients to Taormina, Sicily, where under a starry sky it showed off its latest collection at the San Domenico Palace, followed by a dinner at the Grand Hotel Timeo and ending with a performance and high jewelry show at the iconic Teatro Greco.

Even the jewelers’ smaller events in Place Vendôme are a spectacle. “They shut their shops and invite the VVICs for dinners, special events and a first look at the new collections,” says the retail executive, adding that fashion has a lot to learn from the high-end jewelry world.

“The fashion world was so closed for so long. But it’s finally opening up — really opening up — to these customers, who are the real influencers,” the executive adds.

Just don’t expect a lot of publicly shared selfies.

These Ladies Who Lunch may be driving the fashion world more than ever, but they’re doing it privately. Discretion is everything. No one wants the criminal gangs, divorce attorneys or, heaven forbid, the tax man chasing after those Dior diamonds.

Unlike social media influencers, these ladies have no one to impress — except for each other. They have turned the tables on an entire industry, and with millionaires multiplying from Scottsdale, Ariz., to India’s Silicon Valley, there is more disruption to come.