Aristocratic Power

Crown of Christian V (1671) kept at Rosenborg Castle, Copenhagen

The term "aristocracy" means “rule of the best” and was originally a type of government in which the most prominent and wealthy citizens rule. This resulted in kingship with kings acknowledging the best military heroes by giving them noblemen status and a gift of land. This circle of kings and nobles was the basis of aristocracy. Aristocrats originally valued prudence, discretion and other virtues. By the 1700’s aristocracy had become a combination of noblemen and simply general wealth. The term now often refers to the highest economic class.

Traditional Western Class Rank

•Monarchy / Royal Aristocracy: Total ownership & political power

•Aristocracy: Historic wealth and ownership, social power and influence, companions of royalty and examples of civilized life

•Asset class: Old or new ownership and resources, lack of need to work or maintain assets to any extent (employs labour and house service)

•Merchant class / Bourgeoisie: Business ownership and normally home ownership both of which must be maintained

•Service class / Petite Bourgeoisie: Partial ownership in tools, educational resources, greater skill such as an engineer, doctors, lawyers and teachers

•Working class / Proletariat laborers: No business or tool ownership, just work, normally debted property

•Lower class: lack of ownership, lack of consistent work, lack of or limited education or skill as a resource to obtain work

•Poverty: complete lack of all asset or resources

•The pastoral exception: The provincial pastoral life challenges the class system because most farmers own their entire livelihood but there was also the wandering peasant who came to the city in the industrial revolution and created the working class and lower classes

Read more on noble ranking

The basis for aristocratic life was filling time with something other than work, which originally meant making a good use of time through development of auxiliary skills and cultivation.

Aristocracy originally set example for others in society, advocating virtue and noblesse oblige. They have historically regarded power as responsibility and ownership as stewardship for future generations. Some argue that by the 1700’s the life of leisure took over and that after the revolution entire resources were depleted in 3 generations.

Fashionable Aristocrats

Countess Castiglione, Italian lover of Napoleon, photographed her closet in the 1860's

Countess Marie-Laure de Noailles of the Villa Noailles

Countess Jacqueline de Ribes,

"The Most Stylish Woman in the World"

Aristocracy today? Fabricated royal descent is more common than pedigreed royalty and aristocracy. 150 million Americans (about half) have some traceable European royal or aristocratic descent, mostly from the original Americans who received land grants. Princely titles are active in many European countries that generate a jet set class with some living on name alone. Below left Charlotte Casiraghi of Monaco.

Above right, Jamie Johnson's Born Rich, 2003. In the United States where new money is almost all there is, second and third generation wealth qualifies as influential. Read more about American Wasps here and the prep tradition here. See Wasp films and costumes here.

There is also the question of a need for an ongoing myth of aristocracy seen in the celebrity who occasionally follow the aristocratic code of giving back.

The aristocratic life in fashion media. In the capitalist cult of the object, media glorifies the luxurious and excessive life of the aristocrat over refinement, taste and virtue, which were the greater values of the ruling class. The images evident in fashion media are referential to the most problematic era of aristocracy, the mid 18th century. They are suggest the life of play and leisure.

Steven Meisel, Dolce & Gabanna, 2007

Lanvin, F 2009

Steven Meisel, 4 Days in LA, Versace, 2001

Fashion, Faith, Freedom

The recent denial of French citizenship to a man who forced his wife to wear a burqa raises the larger question about laws of fashion and freedom of expression.

The International Society for Human Rights issued this promotion below advocating that women should be free to dress as they like and in contemporary ways.

The larger question is not the clothing but the willingness of the wearer and the values the clothes represent.

Designer Hussein Chalayan's burqas of S 1998

If women willingly wear full coverage clothing then most agree it should be allowed. The French denial of the burqa however denies Islamic women who willingly want to be covered. By contrast, France permits full coverage clothing for both Catholic nuns and Hassidic Jews. The US permits all clothing expressions including the Mormons, who were held accountable for breaking laws of marriage but not dress.

The nun, Pop magazine, September 2008

The Hasidic Jew, Gaultier F 1993

Mormons, Big Love, 2008

Fashion: Protection & Status

“Clothes are not for triumph but defense, hast thou always worn them perforce and as a consequence of Man’s fall…?” Thomas Carlyle

Pistoletto, 1967

Clothing is normally considered the basic forms, unadorned and destined to be laundry. Fashion however has an aesthetic appreciation for the design and the presentation. Two of the most important texts on fashion are "Protection" by John Flugel from the Psychology of Clothes, 1950 and & "Fashion" by Georg Simmel from 1904.

The essential basis for the form of clothing is the human body. Clothing covers the body and takes shape in human scale. In “Protection,” John Flugel describes clothing as protection against physical danger. The idea of wearing clothing for protection is more directly related to the need in cold climates, evident in the use of fur.

Fur in 1900 and 2009 by Dennis Basso. Wile fur is still used to cover the body the meaning has changed due to contemporary interest in animal rights.

Most people however wear more clothes each day than they actually need for protection . We have also sought clothing for protection from enemies such as armor. There are also examples of clothing which is intended to protect from sporting accidents or animal threat.

Armor

13th century European Crusades metal armor compared with 19th century Korak fiber and metal armor.

Dolce & Gabbana S 2007 and Hussein Chalayan, S 2000

Sport

Hermès, 2008

Rasmus Motensen, 2007

From protection to ornament

Michael Kors F 2009 and Chanel Haute Couture SS 2009

Fugel also describes clothing as protection against imaginary dangers such as magic or spirits. The author speculates that some of the first clothing may have been ornamental items to protect from negative psychological threats. He suggests that clothing began as a utilitarian thing but like art it gradually was transformed into decorative. The idea of clothing with psychological power – such as luck or supernatural blessing – is still practiced by some.

The military uniform does not physically protect but provides a sense of community and recognition on the battlefield. William Richard Rumbold by George Romney and Balmain S 2009

We widely associate certain aspects of clothing with certain personalities. Soft collars are for soft people while firm collars are for firm business men. Black is associated with evil and white with innocence while color coordinates to emotional expression. Covering the body is modest. Thick and stiff clothing suggests protection and uprightness. Tightness varies by how much it reveals of the body.

Balenciaga by Nick Knight, 2003

Clothing also provides a comfort, putting personal things closest to the body. We are inclined to cover ourselves with unnecessary outerwear when we are not comfortable or feel our clothing is not like those around us. The author also suggests that our love needs may also be expressed by how much clothing we wear or our feelings of hot or cold. Clothes are womb like in their complete coverage. Clothes are also more commonly associated with the formation of the concept of mother and woman.

Georg Simmel was a German sociologist who was one of the first to identify fashion as a social system in 1904.

He analyzed “animal man” at the turn of the 20th century and suggested that fashion only happens when formal societies with class structures exist. Primitive societies do not have fashion as a social system of change. He believed that capitalism created the defensive elite class that used clothing to separate themselves from the lower classes.

Fashion is a tool for both union and segregation.

What Simmel found is imitation dominants social groups. Lower classes try to imitate upper classes and stay up with the codes which were made more available through fashion magazines.

There are however strange “classics” that endure and resist change. These are known as clothing codes while seasonal forms are fashion codes. Simmel also suggested that fashion had the ability to absorb any content or style. So while fashion may seem “natural” to us, it is a social construction that we can deconstruct.

Fashion & Power

Kate Moss photographed by Nick Knight

The question of fashion and power is a question of socio-political structures. We can look at what powerful people wear and see some similarities. Below the Queen of England with members of the G-20 in London, 2009. Suits dominate with the exception of the Arabic member in bisht and two women in dresses. But considering fashion & power is not limited to what powerful people wear, it is considering how fashion is used to negotiate power.

Fashion

-a thing: clothing that is planned by design and aesthetically valued for its construction
-a social system: the cycle of popularity (“in fashion”), which includes any object

Power

-a thing: a position of rank and control
-a social system: the arbitration of rank and control

Together fashion and power are systems for social negotiation.

Importantly, a uniform is associated with military power or a fashion brand with wealthy consumers but the object alone, even when considered to have status, is not power.

We can think of fashion in terms of non branded clothing codes in relation to both fashion and power. Below jeans or a uniform are low in power associations while a suit and luxury clothes are high in power associations.

The aristocratic court is said to have started the change of fashion, continued by French society.

Raymundo de Larrain and Comtesse Jacqueline de Ribes, 1961 “Most Stylish Woman in the World,” by Town & Coutnry, 1983

Today the fashion world is headquartered in New York and is a large system of events.

Power designers behind the scene are responsible for a minimum of two collections a year, more if they create both couture and ready to wear.

Karl Lagerfeld, 2009

The avant garde designers challenge the power of fashion in function and status.

Hussein Chalayan

Designers are now functioning as brands, so that their power is not only influencing style but also the market and revenue.

Massimo Gammacurta, YSL, 2008

The fashion image has a powerful influence on culture, not only encouraging consumers to buy but also contributing to the collective consciousness and aesthetic trends. Fashion editorials negotiate social systems and subcultures through styling.

Controversial photo of Lara Stone by Steven Klein in black makeup for Paris Vogue, Oct 2009

The celebrity endorsement is economic power

Gwyneth Paltrow for Tod's, 2006

There is also the question of democratization of fashion in mass, unadorned forms as well as a lack of interest in fashion as power.

Individuals can work outside the system of fashion or subculture and express personal style that results in respected power.

Tavi of Style Rookie by Tommy Ton for Vogue Paris

Subculture & Fashion

Vivienne Westwood in London's punk era

If the power of fashion is too strong... the fashion victim!

There is also the potential to shape fashion and society through purchase power and the choices to support ethical fashion and sustainability.