What is seen and what is not seen

Perhaps relevant to our discussion below on why people buy luxury goods:

Real glamour requires a receptive audience. You can only be glamorous if others perceive you that way. Feeling glamorous, on the other hand, means that your mental picture of yourself is one that you would find glamorous. You become the audience for your own glamour, creating a image of yourself that veils your flaws. Defying the ultimate intimacy, you somehow manage to turn yourself into an alluring Other. As for actual others, they may see something different.

Of course, reading Postrel in the wake of The Last Psychiatrist puts a different twist on things.