Georg Simmel
Secrecy and adornment
(1908)
(1908)
[The] meaning [of adornment] is to single
the personality out, to emphasize it as outstanding in some sense but not by means of power manifestations, not by anything
that externally compels the other, but only through the pleasure
which is engendered in him and which, therefore, still has some
voluntary element in it.
One adorns oneself for oneself, but can do so only by adornment for others. It is one of the strangest sociological combinations that an act, which exclusively serves the emphasis and increased significance of the actor, nevertheless attains this goal just as exclusively in the pleasure, in the visual delight it offers to others, and in their gratitude.
One adorns oneself for oneself, but can do so only by adornment for others. It is one of the strangest sociological combinations that an act, which exclusively serves the emphasis and increased significance of the actor, nevertheless attains this goal just as exclusively in the pleasure, in the visual delight it offers to others, and in their gratitude.