Friday, October 16, 2015

Room For Elaboration and Room for Luxury

    The next two parts of the sub-structure of Attire are Elaboration, and Luxury.  The reason I present them together, is that they so very often occur in tandem, that its tough to imagine something that expresses one fully, without expressing the other at all.  They tend to support each other, like a well devised team.  Elaboration, even when it involves humble materials, is conjoined to Luxury because the amount of labor involved lifts the humility of the textile to another level in our minds.  Or Luxury might express in a  dead simple garment completely covered in densely worked embroideries of differing materials, while conveying Elaboration in the level of its decorative detail.
     Elaboration in this context encompasses more than the slathering on of detail.  It is also about working a conception to its most extreme expression.  So while a garment might be relatively unadorned, it manifests the Elaboration idea when it is at the utter maximum that materials and technology can allow.  Particularly when the idea being put forth is one that is physically large Luxury comes into play, because of the expenditure of materials involved.
    Luxury takes center stage when the textiles used are evidently costly, the fitting is at a level of precision that even the unschooled can see, or the decorative elements, and finishes are precious things like furs, metals, and pearls.
    So take a look at these examples below.  Each one expresses both Elaboration, and Luxury in some combination, and you will see how hard it is to pull them completely away from each other.


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