She stands and moves within the invisible pentacle of her own virginity. She is an unbroken egg: she is a sealed vessel; she has inside her a magic space the entrance to which is shut tight with a plug of membrane; she is a closed system; she does not know how to shiver.
Women's sexy underwear is a minor but significant growth industry of late-twentieth-century Britain in the twilight of capitalism.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the rise of the lingerie industry in late-20th century Britain as a noteworthy aspect of capitalism.
Angela Carter's quote reflects on how women's sexy underwear became a notable and profitable sector in the British economy during the late-20th century, indicating broader themes of consumerism and the dynamics of capitalism. This growth industry not only demonstrates changing cultural attitudes towards sexuality and femininity but also illustrates how market forces shape personal identity and expression within the scope of capitalism.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a discussion on the evolution of women's rights and self-expression through fashion.
More from Angela Carter
All quotes βCities have sexes: London is a man, Paris a woman, and New York a well-adjusted transsexual.
Those are the voices of my brothers, darling; I love the company of wolves.
For most of human history, 'literature,' both fiction and poetry, has been narrated, not written β heard, not read. So fairy tales, folk tales, stories from the oral tradition, are all of them the most vital connection we have with the imaginations of the ordinary men and women whose labor created our world.
Iconic clothing has been secularized. . . . A guardsman in a dress uniform is ostensibly an icon of aggression; his coat is red as the blood he hopes to shed. Seen on a coat-hanger, with no man inside it, the uniform loses all its blustering significance and, to the innocent eye seduced by decorative colour and tactile braid, it is as abstract in symbolic information as a parasol to an Eskimo. It becomes simply magnificent.
To pin your hopes upon the future is to consign those hopes to a hypothesis, which is to say, a nothingness. Here and now is what we must contend with.
Similar quotes
There's never a new fashion but it's old.
To me, eyewear goes way beyond being a prescription. It's like makeup. It's the most incredible accessory. The shape of a frame or the color of lenses can change your whole appearance.
In Italy they take cheap cloth and make it look expensive, but I take expensive cloth and make it look cheap. They just don't understand.
Fashion has become a joke. The designers have forgotten that there are women inside the dresses.
Iβve always been about style for people, not βYouβre going to wear this outfit,β... It was the way you put yourself together and the imagination, not buying this number off the rack, but the way you wear it
She had a womanly instinct that clothes possess an influence more powerful over many than the worth of character or the magic of manners.