yet no one seems genuinely impressed by it
You’re living in a bubble. Very many people are impressed, even if you and I aren’t. I never cared or knew about these things before. But my wife does know about brands and will point out when someone is wearing over £20000 in their outfit. My parents push me to buy an expensive car “because of how it appears” to have the more luxury brand car (even when I don’t care). My cousin says he has to go on holiday to fancy places to keep up with what other parents/kids talk about in their private school.
I think it is all nonsense as well, but the reason so many people still do it is because it absolutely works. Most people are certainly impressed even if you aren’t.
There’s plenty to learn about this if you want. But not understanding this at all and dismissing it is living in an ill-informed bubble. For Lemmy nerds the status might not come from Gucci shirts, but instead might come from Thinkpad laptops, more difficult to use Linux distros and socially liberal virtue signalling. Portraying status is part of the human condition and takes many forms (most of which are very absurd).
There’s a lot of social programming at play and it is particularly difficult for women to push back against the enormous pressure. Men get an easier pass for not looking pristine or in line with expectations.
That being said, my wife has changed her outlook in the past 2 years. She has discovered minimalism and anti-consumerism. I myself am much more of an advocate for function above all else.