Courtesy of Kilian Appleby

A member of New Haven’s punk scene, Kilian Appleby, known online as LOWLuxury, collects and creates video content about an unlikely subsection of fashion: punk-influenced designer clothing.

With a base of over 9,000 subscribers, Appleby has cultivated a small but deeply invested community of punk fashion enthusiasts who follow his commentary on punk brands and his analyses of luxury pieces from his collection.

“My style is a natural outcropping of punk and hardcore music to me, and those things are settled in within New Haven,” said Appleby. “To me, this is my home regardless of anything, and I’d love to see it grow in terms of the kinds of things I’m into.”

According to Appleby, New Haven is a city with deep punk roots with venues like Toad’s Place, Cafe Nine and Three Sheets, which have historically hosted punk bands.

Appleby began playing in punk bands when he was 12. His early interest in punk music, as well as his upbringing in New Haven, have greatly inspired his fashion identity.

Appleby’s journey into creating fashion content began in 2020, when he launched his YouTube channel, initially making videos on how to authenticate pieces of designer clothing.

As Appleby expanded his content, he found a subject matter that was little explored and one that his background in punk music gave him a deeper connection to: luxury fashion label and art project, Enfants Riches Déprimés.

Founded in 2012, the Paris- and LA-based luxury fashion house Enfants Riches Déprimés — French for “depressed rich kids” — places its rebellious, art-house narrative at the forefront of its brand. According to its founder, Henri Alexander Levy, ERD is “elitist, nihilist couture” with references to violence, politics, religion, drugs and, of course, subversive music. ERD’s pieces are often hand-made and produced in small numbers; this business model pushes prices high in a slow fashion model.

The brand sells a breadth of clothing pieces for a breadth of prices: $700 t-shirts, $95,000 haute couture jackets, blood-red cowboy boots, cashmere nooses and more. These prices and the contentious subject matter of ERD garments have given the brand both recognition and criticism.

ERD’s high price points and rebellious ethos have drawn the attention of several high-profile celebrities who embody the brand’s nihilistic, punk-infused aesthetic, like Kanye West, Jared Leto and Playboi Carti.

“If the king vamp himself, Playboi Carti, wears ERD, then it has to be good,” wrote self-described Playboi Carti superfan Henry Zhang ’26.

Not everyone agrees.

Miles Parkhurst ’27 thinks that ERD sells “very aesthetically pleasing products” that are “far too expensive for almost anyone who has a grunge aesthetic by necessity.”

Through his YouTube channel, however, Appleby demystifies ERD’s pieces, offering viewers, including those who may not be able to access ERD’s pieces themselves, a close look at the brand’s detailed craftsmanship and the punk influences behind the designs.

The brand has a single flagship store in Paris, which, according to Levy, is meant to make visitors feel as uncomfortable as possible.

“[Brands like ERD] are intentionally difficult to understand, and that makes a certain type of person like it more,” said Appleby. “Like the Stark family with Chrome Hearts, Henri, the founder of ERD. They almost become more than designers. They become tastemakers in a way.”

Using his lived experiences and cultural knowledge of New Haven’s punk music scene, Appleby provides references to pieces that not even the brands behind them disclose. For instance, a recent video points out Death from Above 1979 and Minor Threat as just two of the bands from which ERD has pulled graphics.

This democratization of information has helped Appleby build a loyal community of followers.

Appleby’s interest in fashion and ERD began when he confronted workplace dress codes and sought out ways to express his punk-influenced individuality within a corporate setting. Thus, when Appleby discovered ERD and its blasé-chic yet abrasive references to staples of punk culture, he said he felt an immediate connection.

Since creating his YouTube channel, Appleby has balanced content creation with both a day job and a gig consistently playing punk music in bands, now alongside the New Haven-based collective, Dagwood.

“On the content side, you have to get into it if you really like it and you like what you’re doing because it’s slow,” Appleby said. “But regardless of what your goal is, having an original point of view, that’s literally the most valuable thing … Whether you’re creating content, clothes themselves, a business connected to fashion, figuring out what your stance or angle is, is absolutely base-level.”

In the past year, as Appleby’s channel has gained traction, he has begun to study viewership trends to understand how to better serve his audience. ERD’s recent rise to prominence has spawned a host of other labels, such as Paly Hollywood and Marking Distance, which have created their own spin on hyper-luxury.

Noting these new trends, Appleby is flexible and intentional with his content. He has a backlog of previously-edited videos that are waiting to be published as he strategizes the order of their release.

“If you look at my uploads, it’s a pretty predictable pattern of when I’m covering smaller brands, versus a known brand which we don’t talk about as much, versus ERD which we cover more often,” he said. “I’m always cycling. I’m always watching.”

Appleby said that his content gives residents of mid-market cities, such as Chicago and New Haven, the ability to experience his niche of luxury fashion, even if they don’t have access to  direct retailers. From his videos, viewers can get a sense of how these high-end garments will feel and fit, inviting them to an otherwise exclusive fashion community.

Appleby is clear-eyed about the future of fashion content and his role in it. He hopes to see more accessible physical locations for high-fashion brands in places like New Haven, where his niche of luxury fashion is not yet readily available to consumers.

2nd Street, a luxury consignment shop that has carried Enfants Riches Déprimés at several of its other stores, is slated to open a location on Elm Street in the near future.