[gknoy]

I read this article years ago, and it's worth re-reading... ergo, not clickbait.

The author talks about how it __appears__ wasteful to buy expensive clothes when you're poor, but it's all about __signalling__ to others that you're someone that should not be ignored. It profoundly changed the way I thought about the "people buying expensive things they can't afford" idea when I read it.

At the risk of quoting too much, this is the part that really was memorable for me, and is worth reading more than once in the original article:

  I remember my mother taking a next door neighbor down to the 
  social service agency.  The elderly woman had been denied benefits .... 
  The woman had been denied in the genteel bureaucratic way — lots 
  of waiting, forms, and deadlines she could not quite navigate. 

  I watched my mother put on her best ... outfit.  

  It took half a day but ... my mother’s performance ... got done 
  what the elderly lady next door had not been able to get done 
  in over a year. I learned, watching my mother, that ... 
  we had to pay to signal to gatekeepers that we were worthy of engaging. 
  It meant dressing well and speaking well. It might not work. 
  It likely wouldn't work but on the off chance that it would, you had to try.

Sure, there are stupid people that buy things they don't need. However, sometimes the things we think of as "luxury" are necessary for Getting Things Done. Hell, this is the reason I have a suit in my closet that I've worn rarely (job interviews). Expensive accessories and a Nice Outfit can help people ensure that they aren't discriminated against for being "low-class".