Most scientists believe that in the good times the peasant had the opportunity to follow fashion. Virestad parish does not follow fashion. My purpose is to try to understand something of the mechanism that made Virestad do so: that I will do by analyzing the results in relation to the concept of status. My main source is estate inventories. Here I examine the status markers and differences in what they invested in clothes and jewelry in relation to the estate's proceeds. The lower the balance, the more percentage they need to put on clothes. As for silver, it is not possible to draw these conclusions. Those who spent more than 100 daler also have a balance of 700 daler or more. Finer and more clothing also afford more jewelry. Men and women spends the same amount in clothing and jewelry. Several parameters measures the status in clothing. 1. Materials is important. 2. The amount of material is significant. 3. Some clothes are of high value. 4. The numbers of clothes have meaning. 5. Color has meaning. 6. Old clothes have a lower value. That Virestad parish would have stagnated in fashion because of bad times and lack of money is not true. I believe that most of the peasants had more than enough to afford to replace their clothes to the more modern. Here are other mechanisms that retain a more old-fashioned dress. Status is one. In the estate inventories you can clearly see the differents of status markers.

This study examines patterns of consumption during the 1780s in Öjaby and Virestad parishes. I have examined the clothes and jewelry in estate inventories using the concept of status. Then I have used Pierre Bourdieu's theories to understand fashion mechanisms. I have identified five different groups, each distinguished by their formal wear. Men have similar clothes but in Virestad they have more items and more silver. Four people were divergent, they choose other materials and models. The women in the various parishes had differed significantly. In Öjaby women had more modern clothing and less jewelry in comparison, with Virestad. It is clearly visible that the people in the probate area in Virestad were spending more money compared to what they owned to be able to maintain a certain level of status. Status indications in clothes and jewelry were important in Virestad. Here is a more peasant-dominated culture which apparently made clothing more conservative. In both parishes people with a smaller percentage of balance spend more to maintain a certain standard. In Virestad women spent more than men on clothes in Öjaby it is the opposite. Dressing nicely seems important, after first set of clothing more expensive were purchased. Silver, number of clothes, expensive clothes, different material and color are factors that are available when the people created their wardrobe. Those with a high balance had several expensive items to show off their status with. Interesting is also that people continued to renew their wardrobe throughout their working life.