Conspicuous Consumption
buying expensive stuff specifically so people see you bought it.
Grounded in the research on Thorstein Veblen, The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899)
what it actually is
Spending money on visible stuff for the main purpose of signaling wealth and status — not because the thing is better or you even want it. The price tag IS the point. A $40 watch and a $40,000 watch tell the same time; one just shouts how much you could afford to waste. You're not buying the object, you're renting other people's eyeballs.
the origin
Economist Thorstein Veblen named it in 'The Theory of the Leisure Class' (1899). His insight: the rich didn't flex by working — they flexed by visibly NOT needing to. He called it conspicuous leisure and conspicuous consumption. He even spotted 'Veblen goods' — items where demand goes UP as the price rises, because expensiveness is the whole appeal.