The Emperor's New Clothes...Or Not

In the tale by Hans Christian Andersen, a vain emperor transforms into an embarrassed public figure with the presentation of his new suit, or lack thereof. 

The story begins with an emperor who's more concerned about his clothing, than his troops. He hires 2 swindlers who promise to weave him the best suit ever imagined. The garment is supposedly made of cloth that is invisible to those who are unworthy or "unusually stupid". During the process the emperor and all of his men play along as if the suit is turning out to look magnificent, for they do not want to appear unfit. The emperor wears the finished outfit at a procession. However, a little boy cries out that the emperor isn't wearing anything at all. As rumors spread, the emperor believes he has no clothes on, but continues down the procession with his head held high.

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To the emperor the clothes symbolize power. He thought he was wearing an outfit that was invisible to people who were unfit. As Daniel Yim stated, people can express their values through their clothing. His values of achievement and power were attempted to be displayed through his fashion. But, to the people the suit represents foolishness and arrogance. The emperor went so out of his way to look better than everyone else and it failed miserably.

A positive interpretation of the tale is that the emperor is now humbled by his efforts to be superior. The innocence of a little boy enabled him to realize how senseless he looked. Perhaps through the shameful experience, he would change his superficial ways.  A negative interpretation could be the deception of the swindlers that caused the emperor so much embarrassment. They took advantage of a person who had enough money to provide them a vast amount of materials. The swindlers targeted his desire to look good with trickery and deception. 

Street vendor selling imitation bags

Either way this story relates to several modern day issues. Divisions in class will be addressed first. The emperor was in a much higher class than the people he served. His affluence enabled his interest in buying clothes. Therefore, he was able to spend large quantities of money to purchase cloth for his invisible outfit. In the real world, people in higher classes are mainly the ones that are able to purchase luxury, name brand items whenever they choose to do so. High end clothing and accessories can be equated with your social status. The items you purchase are a visual cue as to your socioeconomic status. Since everyone can't afford these top notch items they turn to street merchants who sell imitation products. The purchasing of replicated items can then be related to people posing to be who they are not, or the fashion industry's dilemma of copy cats who sell for less.



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