To be in the right place at the right time: a boon, a mindset, a stroke of luck. But to post from the right place at the right time? That’s the not-so-subtle flex of summer 2025, as a certain set of upwardly mobile Instagrammers has figured out.
The sunny carousels from the South of France and Capri have taken a backseat to well-timed “dumps” from the sidelines of the season’s buzziest happenings—a series of gondola selfies from the weekend of the Bezos wedding, for example, or a collection of ombré-hued, Mediterranean sunsets that couldn’t have come from anywhere besides the star-studded maiden voyage of the Ritz-Carlton’s Luminara yacht. The opulence of Paris’ legendary Le Bristol is all well and good, but effortlessly posting from your suite during the nuptials of Instagram executive Charles Porch—that’s the sort of move that might cement your place within society’s inner sanctum.
“Posting from the right place has always been important, but posting from the right place at the right time is a new form of status signaling,” says Sara Wilson, founder of the digital strategy consultancy SW Projects, and a former fashion and lifestyle partnerships whiz at Instagram. “What’s changed is the sophistication of the timing.” With the Bezos wedding, it wasn’t just about being in Venice. “It was about being in Venice that week. The location becomes a wink to those in the know.”
Case in point: Scooter Braun’s recent reel, an amalgam of scenes from in and around the Venice canals featuring goblets of red wine, morning-after IV drips, and several Where’s Waldo-style cameos from Usher. Notably absent: candid photos of Mr. and Mrs. Amazon, “likely because of strict no-photo policies,” Wilson says. “As a result, the images around the wedding events took on a new importance. It’s what I call ‘proximity posting’—when the location becomes the flex because the actual event can’t be shown.”
There’s value in subtlety. While TikTok peddles in guides that offer step-by-step instructions to procure, for example, the “top one percent” of pizza in Italy (whatever that means), less is more in the brave new world of Instagram, where a well-timed and cropped cocktail shot—is that coaster from the Gritti Palace?—communicates more than your aperitivo of choice.
“There’s a sort of shorthand that people in the know have developed, where it’s obvious that they’re at a trendy bar in Mexico City or an exclusive beach in Italy because of certain visual cues,” says Patrick Janelle, founder of the social media and talent agencies Untitled Social and Untitled Secret. “It’s the opposite of explicit. The more coy and discreet you can be while still being public about what you’re doing—that’s the line that everyone is trying to walk.”
In a world where your internet following is its own form of currency, if you’re in the room where it happens (or adjacent to it), there’s something to be gained from crowing about it to your flock, albeit artfully.
“We see this every year with the Met Gala,” Janelle says. “Anyone who’s close to the Mark Hotel is going to post something from there, even if they’re watching the live feed at their apartment in their pajamas. The fact that you’re posting from this location where so much activity is happening means that you’re going to get more eyeballs on it because of the halo effect.” And, perhaps, more followers.
Proximity posting can also signify possession of what money can’t buy. “It’s a not-so-subtle status flex: ‘I’m part of an in-crowd that gets invited to things you can’t buy your way into,’” Wilson says. “In a world where luxury is increasingly accessible through social media, true exclusivity isn’t about what you can afford. It’s about who you know and where you’re invited. These posts are essentially saying, ‘I have social capital, not just financial capital.’ ”
There are other ways to be in with the in-crowd. In June, Dior invited a coterie of celebrities, influencers, and fashion industry insiders to its Close Friends Instagram list; they were the first to see images, including Andy Warhol’s portraits of Jean-Michel Basquiat and Lee Radziwill, that inspired its new era under creative director Jonathan Anderson. Without the proverbial trumpet of a global press release, it felt like a scented note slipped under your door—a bit of intrigue, something worthy of your attention (if you were among the chosen few).
“It feels like we’re eons away from the era of the wedding hashtag,” Wilson says. “Now we’re in the anti-hashtag era, where the sophistication lies in not spelling it out.”
That said, the highest echelon of status may entail not engaging at all. “It’s cheugy, essentially, to want to be seen,” says Sarissa Thrower, a strategic communications and trends expert who previously worked at Instagram. “The younger you are, the less likely you are to geotag. It’s almost cringey to do it in real time—Look who I’m with, look what I’m doing.” Instead, she says, “The cool kids are leaning more toward being offline.” Meanwhile, the most monied of them all are letting others do the talking (and peacocking). The date of Jeff Bezos’s last feed post? February 20th.
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