The Most Luxurious Thing You Can Own Is Taste

One of my favorite corners of the internet is the wave of women sharing what they find incredibly/utterly/impossibly chic.

The lists are sometimes wonderfully personal and other times inspired by the women around them. Fresh flowers from the grocery store. Crisp white sheets. Handwritten thank-you notes. Tailored trousers. Reading in bed instead of scrolling. Arriving early. A beautiful tablescape.

What makes the trend so compelling isn’t the objects themselves. It’s what they reveal.

Taste. More specifically, She’s got good taste. Which is a high compliment in my book.

Open Instagram or TikTok and you’ll find countless recommendations for the same “must-have” handbag, the hotel everyone is booking or the impossible reservation at such-and-such swanky restaurant. The algorithm has become remarkably good at telling us what to want.

And yet, for all the options available to us, something else feels increasingly rare.

Again, taste.

Which got me thinking: if luxury is about access, taste is about discernment.

Written by a luxury copywriter helping brands and people live a little more deleesh.

Taste Reveals Itself in the Choices We Repeat

Taste has very little to do with price. Instead, it’s a glimpse into how someone moves through the world. How they’ve built their lives.

Taste is booking the hotel that fits the kind of trip you want to have, not the one everyone else is posting. It’s investing in the coat you’ll reach for each winter, not the one you’ll replace next season. It’s returning to the signature fragrance people associate with your presence. It’s filling your home with pieces that tell your story, not simply fit an aesthetic.

Good taste isn’t about having the most expensive wardrobe or the largest home.

It’s reflected in the books you reach for, the conversations you initiate, even the people you welcome into your life. (Women around the world are developing better taste in men, which may explain why so many of us are single. But I digress.)

Good taste is the words you choose and the way you make people feel.

None of these require sparing no expense, but they do require intention.

Because good taste is built through consistency. The neighborhood jeweler you’ve trusted for years. The flowers you buy simply because it’s Tuesday. The dinner parties where conversation lasts longer than dessert. The rituals that quietly make everyday life more beautiful…or deleesh.

Good taste isn't revealed by where you shop, live or travel. It isn’t revealed by what you collect. It's revealed by what you return to.

The Best Luxury Brands Know Exactly Who They Are

Luxury brands have always understood this. The ones that endure aren’t trying to be all things to all people.

Hermès has welcomed generations of new customers since its days as a harness maker, but the values that built the house—craftsmanship, quality and enduring design—remain unchanged.

Brunello Cucinelli has maintained its belief in understated elegance, exceptional materials and human dignity. While trends have come and gone, the brand remains rooted in clothing that feels timeless.

More than a century ago, The Ritz-Carlton revolutionized luxury hospitality. Today, its credo and corporate philosophy of genuine care and anticipatory service continues to define the guest experience.

These brands know who they are—and that clarity is part of their appeal. Their products and offerings may evolve. Their audiences expand. But their principles remain.

That kind of consistency is part of what makes them desirable. And the same is true of people.

The most interesting person in the room rarely seems preoccupied with being interesting. Their homes don’t feel assembled from someone else’s Pinterest board. Their wardrobes aren’t a collection of this season’s recommendations. Their travels reflect curiosity rather than checklists. Their choices carry a quiet consistency because they’re guided by something deeper than whatever happens to be popular that week.

That’s taste.

Good Taste Is an Exercise in Editing

As a writer, I’ve learned to suffer through my first draft. It’s just part of the process: putting pen to paper (or fingertips to keys) as fast as possible so my ideas don’t steal away. A first draft is never good, and certainly not client-ready. No, good writing is shaped in the edit.

There’s a reason authors devote space in their acknowledgements to thanking their editors—and they often cite how they’ve made them better writers. Because before it goes to print, every sentence has to earn its place. Every word must have purpose. The strongest pieces aren’t memorable because they say more. They’re memorable because they leave only what matters.

Taste works much the same way. It isn’t built by overconsumption, but rather restraint, selectivity, knowing what to leave out.

And like any worthwhile pursuit, it isn’t something you can buy. It develops over time, through observation and curiosity, through paying attention to what genuinely moves you and having the confidence to leave the rest behind. Perhaps that’s why good taste feels so…timeless. Because it isn’t interested in proving anything.

It doesn’t need to announce itself. It simply knows.

The person with taste isn’t asking, “What is everyone else buying?”

They’re asking a different question entirely: “Does this belong in my life?”

That question changes everything: what you wear, where you travel, what you collect and even the brands you admire. It frees you from chasing every recommendation because you’ve learned that not everything worth noticing is worth owning.

Good taste is passing on the trend that doesn’t fit your style.

It’s choosing the book, the chair, the fragrance or the city because it speaks to you, not because it pleases the crowd. And that’s what makes taste so…chic. It isn’t borrowed from someone else’s life, it’s built from your own. And perhaps that’s the most luxurious thing of all.

Luxury Follows. Taste Leads.

Luxury will always evolve.

New brands will emerge. New destinations will become fashionable. New restaurants will capture everyone’s attention.

Taste has never depended on keeping up. It has always depended on knowing yourself well enough to choose with intention.

It can’t be downloaded from someone else’s mood board or borrowed from an algorithm. It is cultivated through observation, curiosity and the quiet confidence to trust your own perspective.

Luxury may open the door, but taste determines what you bring inside.

Before you go…

If someone came to mind while reading this, send it to them. The best conversations often begin with, “This made me think of you.”

Then tell me in the comments: What do you find incredibly/utterly/impossibly chic?

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Delesia Watson is the founder of Life is Deleesh, a luxury copywriting studio. Based in New York City, she serves luxury clients worldwide, helping them convey a first-class approach across all brand touchpoints.