From court to promenade

Jay notes that the mid-19th century witnessed shift in the setting of “oracularcentric spectacle” from the “aristocratic court” to the “bourgeois equivalent in the massive sheet glass windows [of department stories] displaying a wealth of commodities to be coveted, and, if money allowed, consumed. Here the dandies’ quest to distinguish themselves by nuances of fashion, visual signifiers of taste and style, became a tantalizing possibilities for the masses . . . . Here the accelerated panoramic view of the railway journey was replicated as the consumer faced a bewildering plethora of possible commodities to buy.”