Luxury waste requires a philanthropic framing to be performed publicly.

Evidence

Even Jeffree Star engages in some of these kinds of videos—well, not videos that depict Star shopping at thrift stores but videos in which he cleans out his closet. We don’t see Star literally cleaning out his closet, but we do hear him complain about the problems of simply having too much stuff, about his need to physically and spiritually “cleanse.” Star keeps his clothing in a “SECRET Black Vault” and, in a video in which he leads us on a tour of this clothing vault, from October 30, 2021, we hear him comment: “I can’t believe how much stuff I have… . I almost feel embarrassed. No one ever put me in check … and it’s no one’s fault, it’s my own … but this is a lot of shit, it’s overwhelming. It’s almost like another lifetime ago.” This waste isn’t just going to the landfill. Star tells us, “I’ve also donated a lot of clothes today to Goodwill.” The squandering of designer goods is inevitable, but the waste cannot be performed without some sense of social responsibility—of a philanthropic donation, of a gift that, unlike potlatch, signifies not a competitive equality but class distinction and difference out of a stream of interchangeable waste. — Grant Bollmer, Katherine Guinness, The Influencer Factory, 276

Categorization

• DEFINE: Sharpens the potlatch contrast: the influencer’s donation is class distinction, not Maussian competitive gift exchange.
• ADDENDUM: Directly extends the sacrifice essay’s treatment of gift economies — the influencer’s donation inverts sacrificial logic toward class signaling.