In an extremely interesting article, Eugene Rabkin mulls over the changing face of luxury (https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/luxury-fashion-appeal-lost-today/). Luxury houses have long sought to shift product but avoid brand dilution. The balance has often been difficult. The new strategy is going swimmingly, the only real cost, justice. Supreme led the way: keep cheap stuff scarce. Rabkin…
Adam Smith’s 1759 The Theory of Moral Sentiments is beyond a classic. To my mind, it is one of the most astute books ever written. One of his many brilliant contributions to ethical theory is his analysis of the spectator. It is the idea that our lives are monitored by the sense we have that…
Recently gave a paper on disenchantment at the old Catholic seminary in the north of England, Ushaw College. The seminary buildings have been absorbed by Durham University. Ushaw is a huge, barn of a place, with a beautiful chapel by Pugin. One room was hosting an excellent temporary exhibition of Arts & Crafts inspired…
Liverpool Football Club has announced that its players and officials will be kitted out in bespoke suits locally made in the city and invoking classic British suit lines. Excellent decision stylistically and morally! https://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/announcements/359932-liverpool-fc-signature-bespoke-partnership
Perhaps no revolution in history brought so much misery and brutality to people’s lives than the Russian. Apart from the carnage, there was also a drabness to help crush the spirit. Here are a few pictures of the last ball thrown by the Czars: http://www.openculture.com/2019/07/the-romanovs-last-spectacular-ball-brought-to-life-in-color-photographs-1903.html Another cost was fashion. How sad that no one…
Arguably, the master of fashion, here is a super review of an exhibit in Madrid that draws out the religious and Spanish character of Balenciaga’s creations: http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20190724-what-inspired-the-master-of-fashion It’s a very good read and some lucky enough to be in Madrid will get to see the beautiful clothes he made.
I am just back from ten days in County Durham, a place I strongly recommend. The main attraction is the city of Durham with its Romanesque cathedral and prestigious university. The city is very old and the university prettily spread about in charming lanes around the cathedral. Close by is Bowes Museum, a purpose…
Three brief profiles of Englishmen at the peak of the fashion establishment. Each of them worthy expositors of Hume’s civilisational goal, the refinement of the arts and sciences. I love this passage from an interview with Edward Enninful, editor of British Vogue: “I used to spend all my money on books I couldn’t afford…
In my latest post over at Law & Liberty (https://www.lawliberty.org/2019/06/28/commercial-civilization-apollonian-or-dionysian/) I try to show that Caillois’s account of us — members of a commercial civilisation — does not quite capture the totality of how commerce works. Caillois thinks we are Apollonian, rather than mask wearing Dionysians. Civilisation is the substitution of the norms of…
The great English intellectual, John Henry Newman, will be canonised in October. Here is a link to some super pictures of his rooms (scroll forward through the pictures): https://www.flickr.com/photos/catholicism/48143564827/in/photostream/ Very snug and charming.