William Butler Yeats said that "We are happy when for everything inside us there is a corresponding something outside us."
This simple idea is, if looked at with a magnifying glass, a really profound view into our nature as humans, which, in today's world is for many lost. In the past, it was clear that things used to have symbolic value, the more important something was, the more rare and valuable materials it was made from and a lot of craftsmanship was put into it. The crowns of kings were made from the most precious gold and stones, religious artifacts were embellished with the most precious materials one could get and craftsmen would put hours of labor into intricate models. The same happened with clothes; festive attire was made from special fabrics and was adorned with details for which one had to put in a lot of work. There was a clear idea that special occasions and special achievements require a physical context that matched them.
What people understood back then (and a good group still does today) is that as humans, we are body and soul. Surely, even in the past, many people were told not to look at the material world and they did not, but things of rarity were still appreciated.
As we moved into an industrial age, placing value on things started to be seen more and more as a sign of vanity and superficiality. And, while it can be very well argued that it is more valuable to place importance on your inner experiences, this focus has led to a collapse in beauty and value. Surely, many things, things of small value can have a lot of value if we associate them with something. Sometimes, the cheapest of objects can have the highest value for us if it is connected to a person, emotion or moment.
But, in other instances, if you want to express high personal value, achieved in one way or another, would it not be expected to want the best? In this sense, would you not want to wear the best clothes, to offer the most amazing jewelry you can, to be surrounded by things that raise your emotions and, as Yeats said, express on the outside what is on the inside?
As an example of this concept, in the baroque era, people used to be tremendously poor and yet, the churches built in that time are overwhelmingly rich. The idea behind them was not to brag about how much money the religious leaders had, but to reflect the strength of the divine and to create in those who would enter the church a spiritual experience. In a time of darkness, an explosion of light and magic would give people hope; it would place something more than this world in front of their eyes.
In the Netflix series The Crown, focusing on the life of Queen Elizabeth II, one of the most important scenes takes place in the 5 th episode, when Edward, the Duke of Windsor (Alex Jennings), the man who abdicated his role as king, gazes on a tiny television picture of his niece's coronation. In his home outside of Paris, the Duke is throwing a party for his guests and comments on the ceremony. "Oils and oaths. Orbs and scepters," says Edward, "Symbol upon symbol. An unfathomable web of arcane mystery and liturgy. Blurring so many lines no clergyman or historian or lawyer could ever untangle any of it."
"It's crazy," a voice from the crowd says.
"On the contrary," replies the former king. "It's perfectly sane. Who wants transparency when you can have magic? Who wants prose when you can have poetry? Pull away the veil and what are you left with? An ordinary young woman of modest ability and little imagination. But wrap her up like this, anoint her with oil, and hey, presto, what do you have?" Pause.
"A goddess."
And, indeed, so much of the symbolic world within us would be of little importance to the world without its outside expression. Sometimes, as the scene from The Crown teaches us, the "Smoke and Mirrors" (as this is the title of the episode) can be like the Great Wizard of Oz. Sometimes, it can work backwards too: place much of value on the material and the outside and you will gain a significant change on the inside. This is why, in fashion, some labels are so sought after. Luxury labels express values and people want to be associated with those values and to enter in relations with others based on these.
The outside expression of the inside is meant to be a connector. Not so much one with your own self, as you already have the experience embedded in yourself, but as a way of making the invisible visible. In some ways, things are similar to art in that they take something that is ungraspable and make it solid.
Sometimes, the smallest of things have the biggest value, sometimes the most expensive and exclusive things are worth close to nothing, but what we cannot ignore is that things do have value. And we should make the best of that.
Fraquoh and Franchomme
Further reading:
What differentiates luxury goods? What defines luxury goods? Rethinking luxuryP.S. We want to hear from you! What do you make of the immaterial value of things? Do you use things as symbols? What is your relation to big brands? Share your feedback, questions or thoughts in the comments below! For more articles on style, fashion tips and cultural insights, you can subscribe to Attire Club via e-mail or follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram!
