--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Dress has never been at all a…" description: "\"Dress has never been at all a straightforward business: so much subterranean interest and complex feeling attaches to it. As a topic ... it has a flowe..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/689/elizabeth-bowen-1197_business_dress-has-never-been-at-all-a-straightfo_2880640.jpg" --- # Dress has never been at all a straightforward business: so… ![“Dress has never been at all a straightforward business: so much subterranean interest and complex feeling attaches to it. As a topic ... it has a flowery head but deep roots in the passion. On the subject of dress almost no one, for one or another reason, feels truly indifferent: if their own…” quote by Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/689/elizabeth-bowen-1197_business_dress-has-never-been-at-all-a-straightfo_2880640.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/689/elizabeth-bowen-1197_business_dress-has-never-been-at-all-a-straightfo_2880640.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/689/elizabeth-bowen-1197_business_dress-has-never-been-at-all-a-straightfo_2880640.jpg) > “Dress has never been at all a straightforward business: so much subterranean interest and complex feeling attaches to it. As a topic ... it has a flowery head but deep roots in the passion. On the subject of dress almost no one, for one or another reason, feels truly indifferent: if their own clothes do not concern them, somebody else's do. ... Ten minutes talk about clothes (except between perfect friends) tends to make everyone present either overbearing, guarded or touchy.” [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Clothing carries deep cultural and emotional significance beyond its practical function. **In simple terms:** Clothes hold hidden meanings. Key Takeaway Consider the cultural weight of fashion choices. Themes fashion identity culture Mood contemplative analytical Type critical introspective When to use this quote - shopping - wardrobe planning - cultural studies - media critique Key Concepts symbolism social status psychology Questions to Reflect On - How does your clothing reflect your identity? - What emotions do certain outfits evoke? A Different Perspective People may dismiss fashion as trivial. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Business](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/business/) [Clothes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/clothes/) [Clothes Concern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/clothes-concern-2310354/) [Complexes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/complexes/) [Concern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/concern/) [Deep roots](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/deep-roots/) [Dress Reason](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dress-reason-2310355/) [Dresses](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dresses/) [Fashion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fashion/) [Feelings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/feelings/) [Feels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/feels/) [Guarded](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/guarded/) [Ifs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ifs/) [Indifferent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/indifferent/) [Indifferent Clothes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/indifferent-clothes-2310352/) [Interest](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/interest/) [Minutes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/minutes/) [Overbearing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/overbearing/) [Passion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/passion/) [Perfect](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/perfect/) [Reason](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reason/) [Roots](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/roots/) [Straightforward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/straightforward/) [Subject Dress](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/subject-dress-3990118/) [Subjects](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/subjects/) [Talk Clothes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/talk-clothes-260527/) [Ten](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ten/) [Topics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/topics/) [Touchy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/touchy/) ## Related quotes > [On the subject of dress almost no one, for one or another reason, feels truly indifferent: if their own clothes do not concern them,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/on-the-subject-of-dress-almost-no-one-for-one-or-another-reason-feels/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [Hair and shoes say it all. Everything in between is forgivable as long as you keep it simple. Trying to talk with your clothes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-owens/hair-and-shoes-say-it-all-everything-in-between-is-forgivable-as-long/) [Rick Owens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-owens/) > [God knows we're gonna talk about your clothes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toby-keith/god-knows-we-re-gonna-talk-about-your-clothes/) [Toby Keith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toby-keith/) > [I usually talk about clothes in terms of a story rather than a colour.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alessandro-michele/i-usually-talk-about-clothes-in-terms-of-a-story-rather-than-a-colour/) [Alessandro Michele](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alessandro-michele/) > [A boyfriend or a girlfriend may be fun, but cannot become a door to the deepest that is hidden in each and everyone. With…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rajneesh/a-boyfriend-or-a-girlfriend-may-be-fun-but-cannot-become-a-door-to/) [Rajneesh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rajneesh/) > [Cultural legacies are powerful forces. They have deep roots and long lives. They persist, generation after generation, virtually intact, even as the economic and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-gladwell/cultural-legacies-are-powerful-forces-they-have-deep-roots-and-long/) [Malcolm Gladwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-gladwell/) > [The unsparing savagery of stories like the Robber Bridegroom is a sharp reminder that fairy tales belong to the childhood of culture as much…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maria-tatar/the-unsparing-savagery-of-stories-like-the-robber-bridegroom-is-a/) [Maria Tatar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maria-tatar/) > [Because the soul has such deep roots in personal and social life and its values run so contrary to modern concerns, caring for the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-more/because-the-soul-has-such-deep-roots-in-personal-and-social-life-and/) [Thomas More](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-more/) > [I am a strong believer that as one moves toward the future, the strongest and clearest way to do it is if you have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cesar-pelli/i-am-a-strong-believer-that-as-one-moves-toward-the-future-the/) [Cesar Pelli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cesar-pelli/) > [The belief that we can manage the Earth and improve on Nature is probably the ultimate expression of human conceit, but it has deep…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rene-dubos/the-belief-that-we-can-manage-the-earth-and-improve-on-nature-is/) [Rene Dubos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rene-dubos/) > [We have deep roots in Arkansas, and I'll always be a Razorback.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mike-huckabee/we-have-deep-roots-in-arkansas-and-i-ll-always-be-a-razorback/) [Mike Huckabee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mike-huckabee/) > [God the Father's a deep root; the Son's the shoot that breaks into the world; the Spirit spreads the beauty & fragrance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tertullian/god-the-father-s-a-deep-root-the-son-s-the-shoot-that-breaks-into-the/) [Tertullian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tertullian/) > [Deep roots are not reached by the frost.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/deep-roots-are-not-reached-by-the-frost/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [There rise authors now and then, who seem proof against the mutability of language, because they have rooted themselves in the unchanging principles of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/washington-irving/there-rise-authors-now-and-then-who-seem-proof-against-the-mutability/) [Washington Irving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/washington-irving/) > [“To have deep roots in a place means having dead buried there. It is almost that literal, the dead forming your bond to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julene-bair/to-have-deep-roots-in-a-place-means-having-dead-buried-there-it-is/) [Julene Bair](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julene-bair/) ## More by Elizabeth Bowen > [Temperamentally, the writer exists on happenings, on contacts, conflicts, action and reaction, speed, pressure, tension. Were he acontemplative purely, he would not write.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/temperamentally-the-writer-exists-on-happenings-on-contacts-conflicts/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [“Are you really an orphan? Yes, I am, said Portia a shade shortly. Are you? No, not at present, but I suppose it's a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/are-you-really-an-orphan-yes-i-am-said-portia-a-shade-shortly-are-you/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [It is not our exalted feelings, it is our sentiments that build the necessary home.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/it-is-not-our-exalted-feelings-it-is-our-sentiments-that-build-the/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [Every love has a poetic relevance of its own; each love brings to light only what to it is relevant. Outside lies the junk-yard…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/every-love-has-a-poetic-relevance-of-its-own-each-love-brings-to/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [without fiction, either life would be insufficient or the winds from the north would blow too cold.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/without-fiction-either-life-would-be-insufficient-or-the-winds-from/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [One's sentiments -- call them that -- one's fidelities are so instinctive that one hardly knows they exist: only when they are betrayed or,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/one-s-sentiments-call-them-that-one-s-fidelities-are-so-instinctive/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [Only in a house where one has learnt to be lonely does one have this solicitude for things. One's relation to them, the daily…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/only-in-a-house-where-one-has-learnt-to-be-lonely-does-one-have-this/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [To walk into history is to be free at once, to be at large among people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/to-walk-into-history-is-to-be-free-at-once-to-be-at-large-among-people/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [The wish to lead out one's lover must be a tribal feeling; the wish to be seen as loved is part of one's self-respect.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/the-wish-to-lead-out-one-s-lover-must-be-a-tribal-feeling-the-wish-to/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [Convention was our safeguard: could one have stronger?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/convention-was-our-safeguard-could-one-have-stronger/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [“First love, with its frantic haughty imagination, swings its object clear of the everyday, over the rut of living, making him all looks, silences,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/first-love-with-its-frantic-haughty-imagination-swings-its-object/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [to leap is not only to leap, it is to hit the ground somewhere.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/to-leap-is-not-only-to-leap-it-is-to-hit-the-ground-somewhere/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [That is partly why women marry - to keep up the fiction of being in the hub of things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/that-is-partly-why-women-marry-to-keep-up-the-fiction-of-being-in-the/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [“But Miss Pym gave an impression, somehow, of having been attacked from within .”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/but-miss-pym-gave-an-impression-somehow-of-having-been-attacked-from/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) > [rudeness to Mrs. Dosely was like dropping a pat of butter on to a hot plate - it slid and melted away.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-bowen/rudeness-to-mrs-dosely-was-like-dropping-a-pat-of-butter-on-to-a-hot/) [Elizabeth Bowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) [Explore all 275 Elizabeth Bowen quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-bowen/) ## More Business quotes > [Companies with cultures that celebrate diverse opinions and encourage the exchange of ideas have an advantage when solving difficult problems. A company that doesn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doug-mcmillon/companies-with-cultures-that-celebrate-diverse-opinions-and-encourage/) [Doug McMillon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doug-mcmillon/) > [You can laugh at me, but I understand show business.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ksenia-sobchak/you-can-laugh-at-me-but-i-understand-show-business/) [Ksenia Sobchak](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ksenia-sobchak/) > [“Start a business, not a startup”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/start-a-business-not-a-startup/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Take some books and read; that’s an immense help; and books are always good company if you have the right sort.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louisa-may-alcott/take-some-books-and-read-that-s-an-immense-help-and-books-are-always/) [Louisa May Alcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louisa-may-alcott/) > [I'm a business first and foremost so whatever my business is, it's separate from my personal. It's like whatever I do business wise, it's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/snoop-dogg/i-m-a-business-first-and-foremost-so-whatever-my-business-is-it-s/) [Snoop Dogg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/snoop-dogg/) > [Many early-stage entrepreneurs make one simple mistake: Describing this 'big picture' in vague concepts and words.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sunil-nagaraj/many-early-stage-entrepreneurs-make-one-simple-mistake-describing/) [Sunil Nagaraj](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sunil-nagaraj/) > [Nobody has a crystal ball, and part of evolving a business plan is to say, 'I might have said we're going left, but I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ryan-kavanaugh/nobody-has-a-crystal-ball-and-part-of-evolving-a-business-plan-is-to/) [Ryan Kavanaugh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ryan-kavanaugh/) > [I think a business guy is different from an artist. They walk different paths. Artists create the best outputs when they're having fun. 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