Merchant bourgeois wealth, not the poor, first eroded aristocratic dress codes.

Evidence

The city, the point of departure for the earlier bourgeoisies and their networks of long-distance trade and productive organization, proved to be incapable of sustaining the economic recovery of those bourgeoisies situated where the merchant town had reached its highest development: northern Italy, western Germany, the Netherlands, and the Baltic. The Absolutist State, under the hegemony of western European aristocracies, brought forth a new bourgeoisie. — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 177 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Elites lost a sustained battle to mark status through dress; A rising middle class multiplied the appropriation of others’ dress styles.; The Absolutist State, not the merchant town, created the modern bourgeoisie — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 177

Related

• The Absolutist State, not the merchant town, created the modern bourgeoisie (similarity 0.89)
• Sixteenth-century bourgeoisies were not lineal descendants of medieval ones (similarity 0.86)
• Italy’s communal bourgeoisie failed to transcend the economic-corporate phase and form a national state (similarity 0.82)
• The emergent middle class broke the old dress order by appropriating elite styles (similarity 0.80)
• A rising middle class multiplied the appropriation of others’ dress styles. (similarity 0.79)
• Elites lost a sustained battle to mark status through dress (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• A rising middle class multiplied the appropriation of others’ dress styles. #corroborates (0.65)
• The Absolutist State, not the merchant town, created the modern bourgeoisie #complicates (0.50) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 177