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industry supported and benefited the merchants , tailors , and craftsmen , its growth depended on consumerism .
An expression first used by sociologist Thorsetin Veblen , “ conspicuous consumption ” initially referred to the extravagant spending of princes who sought honor and fame for their houses . Later , it was “ demonstrated how new consumption habits , different from a ‘ feudal ’ model of spending and ‘ the values and attitudes associated with it ’ which were perceived as increasingly distant ‘ from the realities of life for the urbanized elites of late medieval Italy ,’ were spreading in cities , mainly in Renaissance Italian cities ’’ ( Cecchini ). In the Middle Ages , spending money on non-necessities was frowned upon , and extravagant spending was limited to the nobility . During the Renaissance , a cultural shift occurred such that lavish spending was encouraged among all who comprised the social elite . The mindset of consumption drove many to spend a substantial portion of their wealth on clothing . Maintaining the wardrobes of the family required serious financial investments . It was the duty of the family patriarch to invest wisely in material goods that clothed his family members and he took pride in doing it well ( Currie , Ch . 3 ). However , as much as “ forty percent of a patrician family ’ s income was devoted to clothing ” ( Rublack 6 ). A ledger of personal expenses dating to the mid-15th century indicates that a member of the Sanudo family , a noble Venetian family , spent four times more on clothing than he did on food over a two-month period and three times more than he was paid in salary as an ambassador for the Venetian republic ( Cecchini ). Matteo Botti , a high-ranking diplomat , required an extensive and elaborate wardrobe to move through the courts of Europe . Although appearances were important to his success as a diplomat , he struggled financially to keep up with his wardrobe expenses and managed to
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