Clothes Symbol Analysis

Clothes, simply put, tell the world who the wearer is, including (and for many in the novel, most importantly) how wealthy they are. As such, clothing and accessories are their own sort of language, one that denotes a person’s economic standing, family ties, history, and, ultimately, whether or not they have taste. For instance, Eleanor and her Bible study friends regularly scorn well-off Asian people who line up outside of luxury brand boutiques like Gucci, Chanel, and Dior. Wearing this level of designer clothing, the women quip, certainly shows the wearers have money, but per the women, the wearers have no taste, since the brands are considered pedestrian. Alternatively, people like Astrid are fashion icons because they wear custom-made couture garments from next season’s collection and make bold fashion choices, such as pairing those custom and wildly expensive pieces with vintage garments. Each couture piece can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, highlighting how rich Astrid is, while her love of vintage pieces causes others to remark on her “timeless” and “effortless” style. The clothes truly make the woman in the ultrawealthy circle Rachel finds herself trying to navigate.

For her part, Rachel has no idea how to either speak or understand this language. She packs what she thinks are perfectly acceptable vacation pieces: linen shift dresses, denim skirts, some slacks, sandals, and her nice pearl earrings. However, her clothing choices become fodder for other women to mock her behind her back—especially as, thanks to others’ generosity, she begins acquiring and wearing more designer garments. For instance, when she shows up to Colin and Araminta’s wedding reception in an expensive designer dress that Peik Lin bought for her as a gift, women gossip that she must already be working to drain Nick’s bank account. The fact that Rachel arrives in Singapore wearing clothing from American department stores overshadows every other clothing choice Rachel makes: others see her department store dresses as evidence that she has no money, taste, or experience with wealth, and suddenly showing up in a designer dress isn’t enough to make up for any of her supposed faults.