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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Comment
Van Badham

In a world where superyachts are cringe and firing a rocket ship turns you into a dick joke, what’s a poor billionaire to do?

An unofficially installed poster featuring Elon Musk on a bus shelter in London in November 2025.
An unofficially installed poster featuring Elon Musk on a bus shelter in London in November 2025. Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty Images

Consider yourself forewarned, lads; while Reuters has catalogued the toys in the “luxury playbook” being marketed to new squillionaires, social media suggests there’s a new status symbol for the aspirational “alpha male”. And it’s not a Birkin-for-boys – even if Erling Haaland is wearing one.

We are in a moment where traditional status symbols have been upended by a reluctance to imbue objects – or relationships – with their heritage prestige. As a feminist, I propose, with pride, that women are to blame.

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