The Great Male Renunciation (French: Grande Renonciation masculine) is the historical phenomenon at the end of the 18th century in which wealthy Western men stopped using bright colours, elaborate shapes and variety in their dress, which were left to women’s clothing. Instead, men concentrated on minute differences of cut, and the quality of the plain cloth.Coined by the Anglo-German psychologist John Flügel in 1930, it is considered a major turning point in the history of clothing in which the men relinquished their claim to adornment and beauty. Flügel asserted that men “abandoned their claim to be considered beautiful” and “henceforth aimed at being only useful”. The Great Renunciation encouraged the establishment of the suit’s monopoly on male dress codes at the beginning of the 19th century.
History
The Great Male Renunciation began in the mid-18th century, inspired by the ideals of the Enlightenment; clothing that signaled aristocratic status fell out of style in favor of functional, utilitarian garments. The newfound practicality of men’s clothing also coincided with the...
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