Changing Luxury. The Dress and the Diffusion of Fashion Trends in the Crown of Aragon (13th-15th Centuries)

Abstract

The physical appearance of the person was already in the late Middle Ages the first indication of social status, but in a period more urbanized and linked that the ones who came before, refinement of clothing became a fact with economic, political and cultural connotations of great significance. The same increase in social mobility also led to the fact that it was not enough to invest large sums in the image, but that it were necessary to be attentive to changes in what we call “fashion”. The origins of this phenomenon can be placed in these times when traditional ruling classes were looking for new elements of differentiation against the upstarts. All this is analyzed here using the example of the Crown of Aragon between the 13th and 15th centuries.