Re:Great Male Renunciation
by rsynnott on Monday October 23, 2023 @05:47AM
(#37983495)
Depends on the period, but you're probably generally talking upper middle class to upper class (and to some extent their domestic servants). The working and agricultural class simply couldn't afford fashion.
If you read Samuel Pepys' Diary, from the mid-17th century (highly recommended; it's a fascinating view into the surprisingly familiar/alien world of the past), you'll notice that as Sam goes from a middle-class civil servant to the upper-middle-class (largely through taking bribes, as was the fashion at the time), he starts going on more and more about fabrics.
If you read Samuel Pepys' Diary, from the mid-17th century (highly recommended; it's a fascinating view into the surprisingly familiar/alien world of the past), you'll notice that as Sam goes from a middle-class civil servant to the upper-middle-class (largely through taking bribes, as was the fashion at the time), he starts going on more and more about fabrics.