Stephen Bayley Quotes (11 Quotes)


    Fashion is the most intense expression of the phenomenon of neomania, which has grown ever since the birth of capitalism. Neomania assumes that purchasing the new is the same as acquiring value. If the purchase of a new garment coincides with the wearing out of an old one, then obviously there is no fashion. If a garment is worn beyond the moment of its natural replacement, there is pauperization. Fashion flourishes on surplus, when someone buys more than he or she needs.

    As the twentieth century ends, commerce and culture are coming closer together. The distinction between life and art has been eroded by fifty years of enhanced communications, ever-improving reproduction technologies and increasing wealth.

    Where do architects and designers get their ideas The answer, of course, is mainly from other architects and designers, so is it mere casuistry to distinguish between tradition and plagiarism.

    Taste is more to do with manners than appearances. Taste is both myth and reality; it is not a style.

    It is Margaret Thatcher's fault, ... Inspired by busy little demons, she slashed and burnt her way through the old order. Sentiment was given short shrift, as short as the trade unions nothing including old-fashioned industry was to obstruct economic progress. Making things was slow. There were quicker ways to get rich...


    Everyone has taste, yet it is more of a taboo subject than sex or money. The reason for this is simple claims about your attitudes to or achievements in the carnal and financial arenas can be disputed only by your lover and your financial advisers, whereas by making statements about your taste you expose body and soul to terrible scrutiny. Taste is a merciless betrayer of social and cultural attitudes. Thus, while anybody will tell you as much (and perhaps more than) you want to know about their triumphs in bed and at the bank, it is taste that gets people's nerves tingling.

    We have a relationship of cheerful antagonism. I enjoy twisting his tail and he enjoys wagging his finger at me.

    In an age robbed of religious symbols, going to the shops replaces going to the church. We have a free choice, but at a price. We can win experience, but never achieve innocence. Marx knew that the epic activities of the modern world involve not lance and sword but dry goods.

    It is the fragrant lack of practicality that makes high-heeled shoes so fascinating in terms of static mechanics they induce a sort of insecurity which some find titillating.

    The assumption must be that those who can see value only in tradition, or versions of it, deny man's ability to adapt to changing circumstances.

    Interior design is a travesty of the architectural process and a frightening condemnation of the credulity, helplessness and gullibilty of the most formidable consumers --the rich.


    More Stephen Bayley Quotations (Based on Topics)


    Money & Wealth - Business & Commerce - Sense & Perception - Communism & Marxism - Value - Birth - Relationship - Progress - Life - Fashion - Custom & Convention - Reality - Age - Innocence - Design - Christianity - Sign & Symbol - Reasoning - Appearances - View All Stephen Bayley Quotations

    Related Authors


    Walter Pater - Stanley Crouch - Roland Barthes - Rex Reed - M. H. Abrams - Joel Siegel - James Wolcott - Henry Louis Gates - Christopher Ricks - Alphonse Karr


Authors (by First Name)

A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M
N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z

Other Inspiring Sections