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Novembris 18., 2011
f | 22:08 Veblen argued that conspicuous waste accounted for change in fashion, but he also believed in a 'native taste' (that is, some kind of essential good taste) to which conspicuous wastefulness was actually abhorrent. It is abhorrent, he argued, because it is a 'psychological law' that we all 'abhor futility' - and to Veblen the stylistic oddities of fashion were manifestly futile. He explained fashion changes as a kind of restless attempt to get away from the ugliness of the imposed, irrational styles, which everyone instinct- ively did recognize to be ugly. For Veblen, then, the motor force of fashion was a wish, forever frustrated, finally to escape the tyranny of irrational change and perpetual ugliness. Fashion writers have never really challenged Veblen's explana- tions, and his analysis still dominates to this day. Yet his theory cannot account for the form that fashion changes take. Why did the bustle replace the crinoline, the leg of mutton sleeve the sloping shoulder?
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