But size isn't everything, and the quality of the fabrics counted for a great deal too, and this is where the king could set himself above his court by using extravagant fabric and expensive decorations.
Also, this is postwar, so the extreme austerity has ended and there's a new excitement about the indulgence of fashion and clothes — Dior's New Look in Paris, for example, which Ann and Kit would have worshipped, with its full skirts and extravagant use of fabrics.
The fabrics were the most extravagant seen since World War II, as was the ample bust line.
And well before fashion magazines concocted the notion of power dressing, the extravagant Louis XIV draped himself in fabrics embroidered with gold and silver threads and embellished with diamonds in keeping with the Christian moral tradition that emphasized hierarchical rank through clothing.
Christian Dior's 1947 New Look was a nostalgic – and extravagant – glance back at a prewar period where fabric rationing was about as far from the collective consciousness as women going out to work.
Designers take over a mansion and volunteer their time, talent and fabric samples to redo rooms both extravagant and closet-like, raising money for good causes and hoping to catch a few new clients in the process.
Here they seem extravagant and bold, yet they also resemble large bolts of fabric, unrolled, with the starts and stops of the printer creating trompe l'oeil folds.
Among the more extravagant looks there is always room for the basic signature beige fabric bags with the brown multi "c" logo — as well as the best-selling, light-hearted "Poppy" range.
For the same reason, when fabrics or materials are rare or costly, styles that require them in excessive, extravagant amounts become particularly fashionable as can be seen in the 16th-century vogue for slashing outer garments to reveal a second layer of luxurious fabric underneath.
These extravagant animal acts at the circus seem like an age-old tradition that has been part of the fabric of society for eons.
