Literary notes about Modish (AI summary)
The word “modish” has appeared in literature both as a marker of superficiality and a subtle critique of societal trends. In Emerson’s work, for example, modish qualities are equated with shallow, worldly alliances that betray the true spirit of friendship [1]. This ironic edge is also found in Thomas Jefferson’s remark, where even “agreeable Negligence” is elevated to the status of modish behavior [2]. Meanwhile, writers like Addison and the compilers of Chekhov’s stories use the term to describe aspects of physical appearance and attire—ranging from the measurements of a petticoat or a commode’s proportion to the choice of a jacket or hat—thereby linking fashion to personal identity and social acceptability [3][4]. Samuel Richardson and William Congreve similarly suggest that modish taste, whether in dress or in urban manners, carries both a charm and a subtle warning against the erosion of deeper values [5][6].
- I hate the prostitution of the name of friendship to signify modish and worldly alliances.
— from Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson by Ralph Waldo Emerson - The Fashionable World is grown free and easie; our Manners sit more loose upon us: Nothing is so modish as an agreeable Negligence.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - Her Commode was not half a Foot high, and her Petticoat within some Yards of a modish Circumference.
— from The Spectator, Volume 1 by Joseph Addison and Sir Richard Steele - Nor did she notice any more that she hadn't an elaborate hat or a modish jacket.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov - Judge then, if to me a lady of the modish taste could have been tolerable.
— from Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded by Samuel Richardson - But I tell you ’tis not modish to know relations in town.
— from The Way of the World by William Congreve
