The Death of Clothing
I'm reading a book right now called "The Sum of Small Things: A Theory of the Aspirational Class."
In theory (so to speak), it's a followup to Thorstein Veblen's "Theory of the Leisure Class" from the 1890s. Veblen is the one who coined the term "conspicuous consumption" (as well as conspicuous leisure and others). The author of Sum argues that the elite have shifted to
inconspicuous consumption.
In other words, flashy clothes and cars have ceased to be status symbols. The new status symbols that define the elite are much less noticeable and usually much more expensive. They include things like college educations and lots of insurance (health insurance, of course, but as you go up the ladder, other forms too), breastfeeding, nannies, and so forth.
The breastfeeding chapter is fascinating on how and why breastfeeding became the province of the elite and how, as it turns out, there is no evidence that breastfeeding is actually better for a child. But among elite women on the coasts, that is gospel, and rates are hugely different in California vs Alabama and France.