ABSTRACT
Conspicuous consumption is no recent phenomenon. Preoccupations with status-seeking consumption on the part of the rich and powerful are found in the earliest societies, and the extravagances and excesses of ruling élites have been well documented. Sumptuary laws were often introduced to suppress excessive ostentatious display (Hunt 1966: 17-39), but, for the most part, the conspicuous display of aristocracies in the early modern period was tolerated by Church and State alike as a necessary part of the marriage between ascribed status and economic power.
