The Great Male Renunciation 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 British 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.
The Great Male Renunciation and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race
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The Great Male Renunciation 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 British 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.