Newly Modest
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The fashion pendulum inexorably swings. Now, prompted in part by lack of money or perhaps fear of too offensive ostentation restraint becomes the byword.
“Over the past two decades, fashion and society have descended to levels of vulgarity previously undreamed of,” says fashion historian Brenda Polan, a professor at the London College of Fashion. “We have seen wanton, exhibitionistic clothes, flashy, over-decorated accessories and ugly shoes, straight out of a fetishist’s most lurid fantasy. Now penitence, in the shape of the New Modesty, moderation and, dare we say it, fiscal prudence, is a natural reaction. It’s a bit like taking the veil after a life of self-indulgence in the hope that you can squeeze into Heaven after all.”
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