Kim Kardashian flaunts her wealth to 344 million Instagram followers with ‘stealth’ status signals — but that can backfire spectacularly. Here's why

Today, she seems to have adopted a more subtle approach. Kardashian now combines luxury fashion with social justice messaging, like her selfie with a Louis Vuitton bag promoting a UNICEF fundraising initiative.

In May, she appeared in a striking yellow gown to promote her Broadway production Fear of 13, which is based on the true story of Nick Yarris, who was wrongfully convicted of rape and murder.

Of course, Kardashian fans were more interested in her eye-catching dress. On Instagram, Cosmopolitan India pointed out that Kardashian was wearing a vintage Dior gown by John Galliano while carrying a small Birkin bag. InStyle reported that the tiny Birkin bag alone was worth $100,000.

So, is Kardashian’s more subtle approach to luxury status symbols working in her favor?

How the 1% win fans while dripping wealth online

Moneywise reached out to Jesse D’Agostino at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management to find out how “stealth” status signaling works.

D’Agostino studies persuasion and status signaling on social media. She says it’s a perfect real-life lab because it involves intentional signaling. People purposefully choose to post specific images and status updates online, which means they’re likely sending a specific message.

More often than not, billionaires like Kardashian stage status symbols in posts. That’s when wealth signaling can backfire, like the backlash she faced when she featured the Louis Vuitton and Prada bags she received as gifts in 2023.

“When you’ve got the name Gucci on your chest, it’s obvious you want people to know ‘I’m wearing a Gucci T-shirt,’” D’Agostino said. “It’s very overt and people don’t like overt behavior.”

But there’s an equally big problem with stealth signaling: Sometimes a status symbol is so subtle that an audience doesn’t pick up on it, which defeats the whole point of signaling. For example, the same Gucci T-shirt — minus the branding on the front — may look like just a regular T-shirt.

D’Agostino teamed up with social psychologist Derek Rucker, a marketing professor at Kellogg, to investigate what works when it comes to subtle status signals. Their hypothesis: If a post includes a subtle status symbol like an elegant suit and a third party points it out (like, ‘Bro ate that Tom Ford suit!’) the original poster enjoys greater status. The bystander has drawn attention to the luxury item for them. That way, the original poster avoids a more unpleasant label: that of a show-off.

To test the theory, D’Agostino sourced real-life Instagram posts featuring quiet luxury. She kept the photos but altered captions, in some cases creating imaginary third-party comments. Then she recruited people online to look at the fake posts and answer survey questions about the person featured in each one — like whether they’d hire them for a job.