Gilding the market : luxury and fashion in fourteenth-century Italy - Stuard, Susan Mosher (Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006)
"Focusing on the luxury trade in fashionable wear and accessories in Venice, Florence, and other towns in Italy, Gilding the Market investigates a major shift in patterns of consumption at the height of medieval prosperity, which, more remarkably, continued through the subsequent era of plague, return of plague, and increased warfare. A fine sensitivity to the demands of "le pompe," that is, the public display of private wealth, infected town life. The quest for luxuries affected markets by enlarging exchange activity and encouraging retail trades. As both consumers and tradesmen, local goldsmiths, long-distance traders, bankers, and money changers played important roles in creating this new age of fashion."--BOOK JACKET.
1. Introduction -- 2. Desirable wares -- 3. Gravitas and consumption -- 4. Curbing women's excesses -- 5. Costs of luxuries -- 6. Shops and trades -- 7. Marketmakers -- 8. Conclusion.
Includes bibliographical references (p. [233]-311) and index.
Keywords: Luxury goods industry -- Italy -- History -- To 1500.; Luxuries -- Italy -- History -- To 1500.; Clothing and dress -- Italy -- History -- Medieval, 500-1500.; Fashion -- Italy -- History -- To 1500.; Consumption (Economics) -- Italy -- History -- To 1500.; Italy -- Economic conditions