1. CONSPICUOUS CHOICE OF GARMENT AMONG
ESTONIAN ELITE AT THE PRESIDENTIAL
INDEPENDENCE DAY RECEPTION 2012
Jelena Golubeva
6 December 2013

2. The goal of the Master Thesis
• Has the Estonian elite developed its
own elite taste or is it still conspicuous
in its choice of garment?
• Estonian Presidential Independence
Day Reception 2012. Ideal case study.

3. Theoretical framework
• Karl Marx: Commodity Fetishism
• Max Weber: Class Domination
• Pierre Bourdieu: Construction of Taste
• Thorsten Veblen: Conspicuous
Consumption
• Georg Simmel: Fashion as Means of Class
Distinction

4. Methodology
• Research Design: Case study
• Population: Current Estonian elite
• Sampling and Sample: Married people and
couples participating in the Reception;
women individuals
• Data collection: Broadcast from ETV
• Expert interviews with photographs
• Photo analysis and respective expert
comments

5. Results

6. Results
• Economic elite: Conspicuous Consumption
as a way to show off
• Political elite: Social status
• Military elite: Status, Norms of dress code
and Comfort
• Cultural elite: Self-actualization and
Fashion sense

7. Results
• Desire to mark group identity through
the purchase of luxury items
• Conspicuous consumption for the sake
of showing off
• Indication of trend of conspicuous
dressing

8. Conclusion
• Constant attempt to show superiority
and distinction of the class through
luxury items
• Resonance of the collective behavioral
patterns developed in earlier times
• Potential for the further investigation

9. Examples

10. Examples

11. Thank you for your attention!