Percepciones de la apariencia castellana dentro de España y en Roma. Imagen, cultura material y estilos de vida comparados a finales del Antiguo Régimen

Abstract

The values of Enlightenment gave way to a different «culture of appearances» clearly expressed in dressing trends; thus the social and economic exteriorization of garments came to be the scenario for ideological struggle. Was the mental, socioeconomic and political development of the Castilian bourgeoisie adapted to the European pace or were these transformations in material culture, image and demand taken on belatedly, limited in their sociological scope and with fluctuations, showing more attachment to tradition than a step into modernity? Was the Spanish model of such changes similar to the increase in consumerism of the English nobility, did it follow the Romer or Parisian trends, or should we compare it with the bourgeoisie of Lisbon? The conclusion: changes and continuations: very different if we analyse the belongings of the privileged class along with those of the majority of the population. The slow growth of the urban middle class in the inland peninsula was slowing down the appearance of a new materialist civilization with more consumer habits, a fact that would hinder the relationship between the growth of demand and the origins of individualism. Its peculiarity lay in the slow speed of this transformation, which only became established around 1830.