CONSPICUOUS CHOICE OF GARMENT AMONG ESTONIAN ELITE AT THE PRESIDENTIAL INDEPENDENCE DAY RECEPTION 2012

Jelena Golubeva 6 December 2013

The goal of the Master Thesis

• Has the Estonian elite developed its own elite taste or is it still conspicuous

in its choice of garment?

•  Estonian Presidential Independence Day Reception 2012. Ideal case study.

Theoretical framework

•  Karl Marx: Commodity Fetishism

• Max Weber: Class Domination

•  Pierre Bourdieu: Construction of Taste

•  Thorsten Veblen: Conspicuous

Consumption

• Georg Simmel: Fashion as Means of Class Distinction

Methodology

•  Research Design: Case study

•  Population: Current Estonian elite

•  Sampling and Sample: Married people and couples participating in the Reception; women individuals

• Data collection: Broadcast from ETV

•  Expert interviews with photographs

•  Photo analysis and respective expert comments

Results

Results

•  Economic elite: Conspicuous Consumption as a way to show off

•  Political elite: Social status

• Military elite: Status, Norms of dress code and Comfort

•  Cultural elite: Self-actualization and Fashion sense

Results

• Desire to mark group identity through the purchase of luxury items

•  Conspicuous consumption for the sake of showing off

•  Indication of trend of conspicuous dressing

Conclusion

•  Constant attempt to show superiority and distinction of the class through luxury items

•  Resonance of the collective behavioral patterns developed in earlier times

•  Potential for the further investigation

Examples

Examples

Thank you for your attention!