Craft and veneration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKBTtVTT3qA&feature=youtu.be See V&R Chapter 5 for the ethical reasoning that affirms the moral standing of a company like Freed. Some excellent stills here of the crafts people: https://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/freed-of-london-ballet-shoe-factory-east-london-hackney-documentary
A trend amongst collectors of sneakers is a turn to furniture (https://fashionista.com/2019/05/menswear-streetwear-rare-home-furniture). One seller observes: “As sneakers become more complex and conceptual I think guys are starting to notice details in other things and wanting to elevate their spaces as well.” Pure Hume. The economy is driven by the refinement of the arts…
Today’s op-ed from BOF is most welcome (https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/opinion/op-ed-notes-on-the-met-gucci-and-the-death-of-camp?). A typical op-ed about fashion invokes inclusivity and egalitarianism, democracy and subversion, globalism and the “voice of the street.” It’s a nice change to see the 2019 Met Gala has brought the aristocratic out in Eugene Rabkin. Dozens of pieces will be written about camp over…
Civilisation grows as play, contends Huizinga (V&R Chapter 6). One of his strongest examples is the play character of courts, judges, and trials. Here is an excellent article on clothing choices at recent trials in the US (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/25/fashion/anna-sorokin-elizabeth-holmes-card-b-court-fashion.html). Huizinga would think the defendants are entering into the spirit of the game.
V&R loves Roger Caillois! His work on games adds to the reflections of Huizinga (V&R Chapter 6), which I think analytically potent. Whilst Huizinga dwells on the attributes an activity must have to be a game, Caillois thinks about the classification of games. He identifies four: competition, chance, mimickry, and vertigo. These categories, respectively,…
Just came across this excellent video on the cultural and political significance of clothes, and especially jeans. It’s a video hosted by the brilliant and prolific Scots historian, Niall Ferguson. Enjoy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUXqSm3TWrI&t=9s
Scotsman Niall Ferguson is one of the most famous living historians and his TV programme Empire can be found on youtube. Each episode is full of interesting stuff. The first includes a segment where Ferguson argues that the impetus for empire began with the British lust for clothes from India. At the time, India…
Smith explores the relationship between religion, justice, and the economy. To do so, I show the great moral and economic theorist made use of anthropology. It would be fascinating to tease out his sources and his influence as there is an uncanny similarity between his ideas and twentieth century French anthropology: Contracts and Solemnities in…
Hanfu is a small but growing trend in Chinese fashion to reclaim the garments and look of old and eradicated aristocratic China. Burke, Scheler, and Kolnai would not be remotely surprised that young Chinese people find this alluring. Nor would David Hume. The look has much in common with what in the West might…
The Murderer Comes Home