Hearts Set on This World—Acting Fashionably

Abstract

Fashion is about behavior, not just clothing. In The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer’s Prioress is as fashionable as a nun can be, and far more fashionable than she should be. She pays quite a bit of attention to her clothing, she wears jewelry that she shouldn’t (including that famous brooch with “Love conquers all” inscribed on it), and she keeps little dogs whom she feeds wastel bread, the finely milled white bread available only to the rich. (Ironically, today’s expensive whole-grain bread would have been peasant fare in the Middle Ages, whereas medieval aristocrats would have appreciated the texture and color of WonderBread.)