It works like this: if you worry that you might be accused of an -ism, get your defence in first by asserting that the accuser is an envoy of an ivory tower elite and you are merely a tribune of the people.
Are you so horribly spoilt that you don't even know your few slaves, or such a fat cat that you own more slaves than you can possibly remember?" The problem, for Seneca, is not that owning slaves is bad for the slaves, or that the rich man's wealth might be better spent feeding the hungry than buying another ivory-legged table.
Academics no longer live in ivory towers; short-term contracts, limited number of academic posts and funding opportunities, publish or perish attitude… and the list goes on, make it tough to progress.
For spring/summer 2015, shown on Friday morning at New York fashion week, they came in gold with looped crystals, covered in layers of ivory chiffon.
Commentators especially picked up on the idea that a coupling of this kind – ebony and ivory, living in perfect harmony, as someone else once sang – is still improbable in post-apartheid South Africa, even if Withers has said: "I'd be cautious to ever think of ourselves as a progressive band representing any sort of social change".
Related: Wildlife poaching has a huge impact on Africa, but our leaders are silent Across Africa, up to 30,000 elephants are estimated to be killed illegally each year to fuel the ivory trade.
Even ivory on pale skin can give a strobe-light effect and show through bias-cut dresses.
With a delicate colour palette of ivory, rose pink, pearly grey and the lightest of heather, these were clothes that demanded the immaculate lifestyle of the wealthy women who will buy them.
The first look here – a crepe ivory dress – was exquisite but would not have got on well with the greying snow.
His bank balance was only part of his wealth: he also owned several villas around Italy with prosperous estates and vineyards attached, as well as the usual trappings of the elite, such as 500 citrus-wood tables with ivory legs, all alike – perfect for lavish dinner parties at which he could entertain 1,000 of his closest friends.
Cheat's option: you can just wear a little black dress, but add something white, cream, ivory or crystal.
