From sumptuary laws to silent luxury: historical evolution of classism in fashion and its new narratives of sustainability and equality
Keywords:
Classism in fashion, social distinction, symbolic exclusion, sustainable consumption, circular fashion, social justiceAbstract
This article examines classism in contemporary fashion and its persistence under emerging discourses of sustainability and inclusion. Through a documentary and theoretical review, it explores fashion’s evolution as a language of social distinction and its reconfiguration within the digital and sustainable frameworks of the twenty-first century. Drawing on the classical theories of Veblen, Bourdieu, Lipovetsky, and Entwistle, the study analyzes the symbolic mechanisms through which fashion continues to reproduce class hierarchies while performing inclusivity. The findings reveal that privilege-oriented aesthetics—such as quiet luxury and elite minimalism—along with digital consumption dynamics, reinforce new forms of symbolic exclusion grounded in cultural and media capital. Likewise, sustainability appears as an ambivalent construct: while advocating ethical and social responsibility, it frequently operates as a marker of moral and economic distinction. Nevertheless, circular, decolonial, and inclusive fashion initiatives open alternative pathways to rethink the relationship between fashion, consumption, and social justice. The study concludes that, although fashion still functions as a mechanism of symbolic power, it holds the potential to evolve into a field of cultural redistribution and the pursuit of aesthetic and material equality.
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