The Couch Caricature: Howard Wolowitz as the Modern Macaroni
Fashion and Satire are two phenomenon's that inform social attitude. Both rely on a relationship between the individual and the audience that can tread novel topics, but the push and pull of such allows them to be consumed and then digested. The product is a healthy representation of cultural discourse. In eighteenth century, caricatures were a popular type of visual media that was consumed for the purpose of humour. Typically, they featured relevant character of society that were etched or drawn in provocative manner. Irreverent jokes and preposterous proportions translated the social sensibilities of their time. Characters from the Royal Family, Politicians and Socialites were typical faces spotted in the depicted scenes that were published by the print sellers and distributed in swathes in London and throughout the UK. Caricatures were common place and because of their visual nature, the boundaries that confined social discourse to the literate were broken. Depictions of metropolitan life usually ridiculed the fashionable. Humorous takes on cultural currencies such as clothing and beauty were ways in which they challenged social order as it was “no longer imagined as being restricted to the moneyed elite.” (Donald and British Museum, 2002, pg. 2). Ludacris shapes, distortions of the body and bold patterns or colours were lampooned by caricaturists to exhibit the contemporary follies of fashion. The visually pleasing and satirically stimulating nature of these prints allowed their widespread success, and arguably, could be described now as original memeification of fashion.
A reoccurring personality depicted by caricaturists in the eighteenth century was the Macaroni, aka the fashion fool. According to Welsford’s conclusions, “the Fool is an unabashed glutton and coward and knave.” (Welsford, 1968, pg. 318). He is the comic man and exists as a necessary figure in society but not that of the main character, perhaps a side man that relies on his own flawed judgement. In Fashion terms, the fool is overindulgent; a chump whose clothing choice is ultimately camp in nature in a quest to mask his lack of confidence behind bold styling. Arguably, this is the epitome of the Macaroni men of the 18th century. Just as ‘punk’s or ‘hipsters’ are considered a cohesive sub-genre of contemporary culture, the ‘macaroni’ was widely recognised in the daily life of the Georgians (Mcneil, 2018, pg. 13). The term became a pejorative for the men that were considered fashion fools of their day and precursor to the “dandy” that were seen later in the Edwardian and Victorian period. Print that feature this persona forms the most substantial body of sub-grouped caricatures published in the late 18th century, with a collection of such being catalogued in the British Museum in 1883 and later revised in 1935 (Mcneil, 2018, pg.37). Just as i-D publishes punks in its magazines, publishers printed Macaroni caricatures and sold them nationally. Perhaps we could consider them the first printed subculture in fashion? Their styling was defined by alluded effeminacy, a theme which was found not only in their clothing but their care for personal grooming. Wigs were a subject of fascination that was persistently lampooned, as well as conspicuous suits, tight breeches and ornate accessorizing. In most caricatures featuring the ‘macaroni’, their illustrated body structure and posture is one that disregards respect unlike that found in other forms of portraiture. Their lack of height, raunchy gestures or awkward dimensions were translations of their apparent absence of sense or knowledge and a “series of male poses... that had previously indicated an august and noble persona now represented ‘conceit’” (Mcneil, 2018, pg.226). Here, satire is the voice that reads the novel, and the digestion of such by an eager audience placed the macaroni man as the fashion fool of the 18th century.
Who is the modern translation of the ‘Macaroni’ man? We could look at characteristics of menswear that mirrors the macaroni that is rooted in fine tailoring and sartorial suave but most of the time, these stylistic roles permit a male trope rooted in status that is hard to ridicule. That is bar one, and that is the Nerd. The nerd is a trope that has been the butt end of teasing since the 1950s; his know-it-all attitude and unintentional ignorance to social cues permits a consensus of criticism in popular culture. His style rests in awkward adolescence that is constantly lampooned at the expense of his clothing choices. Often affiliated with superheroes and science, the Nerds bravado relies on his pop culture know and attentiveness to detail. Caricatures of them are often digested through popular visual mediums like Film or TV (however it doesn't mean that this trope is lost in illustration, see Fig 1). One of the most famous depictions of Nerd subculture is the American TV show The Big Bang Theory (TBBT). As I trudged through the many episodes to find some references of each character's fashion choices, it soon hit me that there is one character that we can draw direct comparisons between them and the macaroni, and that is Mr Howard Wolowitz.
One of Lacan’s reflection is on the conveniences of the unconscious and makes the proposition that “the unconscious is also a kind of memory, in the sense of a symbolic history of the signifiers that have determined the subject in the course of his life;” (Evans, 2003, pg. 219) . We can apply this to the classification of the Macaroni and Howard alike. Most Macaroni prints are of middle to upper class men that found their fuss, attention and anxiety to their appearance diminished their success in their respected professions. Perhaps the symbolic value held by conspicuous value in a society precautious to allude any sense of self-indulgence, determined the Macaroni’s placement as the butt end of a joke. Contextually, he is weakest link of the group. His job as an Engineer instead of theoretical physicist gives the other characters plenty of material to ridicule him. Often, this is the butt of many one-liners from other characters on the show, especially his genius counterpart Sheldon Cooper who unconsciously is the meanest of them all. Perhaps the most visually obvious factor that classifies Howard Wolowitz as the modern Macaroni is his perfectly assembled outfit. There are six key components that create the characters composition: a turtle-neck top, button-up shirt, skinny trousers, bold belt buckle, clean vans and a neat bowl cut to finish the look. Could we argue that maybe Howard’s fashion choices are an effort to subvert the signifiers that have determined him at the bottom of the joke chain. Because of Howards working and social environments, the social codes of behaviour, one being fashion, fail to reach him. The sartorial references to Star Trek and various other cult franchises could be him trying to use his cultural capital to shake people's memory off his work and instead refer their subconscious to his flashy fashion statements.
A significant evidential folly of both Howard and the Macaroni is their testament to the tightness of their trousers (see figure 1). Both are fashioned in garments that leave little to the imagination. Howard can usually be seen in a garishly coloured pair of skinny jeans that, at hope, are elasticated for ease of movement. The jeans are typically adorned with a graphic buckled belt that is cohesive with the outfits colour story. As with the Macaroni, they are usually portrayed in caricatures with a similarly figure-hugging silhouette. An outstanding example of the importance of skintight clothing is Mathew Darley’s ‘The Protecting Macaroni’ (see figure 2). Here, the main Macaroni’s milliner is lacing him up in what seems to be some stays (a typically female undergarment) in order to obtain the desired silhouette. His stomach is being sucked in to match the proportions of his hips and that, along with his tight breeches, streamlines himself a fashionable figure. His milliners narrow clothing is also that of the macaroni man therefor not only is it commentating on beauty standards between the macaroni men, but also the type of people that influenced macaroni fashions. Just as a fashion designer that wears their own designs could define the aesthetic ethos of their brand, the milliner in this caricature is the original macaroni man that is dressing an eager customer indulging in what he thinks is desirable and therefor “protecting” the macaroni as if it was a dying species. Women's tight lacing was a subject notoriously lampooned by caricaturists due to the nature of its superficiality and absurd practices. This caricature is a commentary on the ridiculous ideals of fashioning the body. Now, as much as we laugh at the awkwardness of Howard’s trousers, we also feel a similar sentiment to that of the Macaroni. Their fashionable satisfaction found in of what we would perhaps consider a physical discomfort encourages a rational chuckle, as surely it's better to wear comfortable clothing? This is classic example of what Critchley would explain to be the Superiority theory, where the audience laughs due their educated insolence (Critchley, 2002). Here the difference between the laughing and the laughed at is their awkward self – ignorance that the fashionable ideal does not need to come at the expense of physical discomfort.
If jokes are a social repression (Critchley, 2002), then in a culture that is so enamoured by consumerism perhaps we are jealous of both the Macaroni’s and Howard's indulgence in luxury. Now of course, these come in different forms. For Howard, his conspicuous consumption is embodied by his collection of belt buckles and vans. In ‘The Hawkin Excitation’ (Season 5, episode 21), Howard taunts Sheldon with the task of cleaning his belt buckles. A random task for those with a normal collection of belts, but as we discover, Howard’s collection is so large and lavish that when laid out it takes up most of his bed (see figure 3). In this moment of the episode there is a generated laughed for the ridiculousness of the sheer scale of belt buckles owned by Howard. The humour in this is found in its incongruity. As discussed before, his trousers are extremely tight which would make one question why a belt isn’t even needed! And if it is, why does he need that many? How many pairs of trousers does he have? Does he wear more than one at a time? If we look at jokes as a result social repression, then in a culture that is so enamoured by consumerism perhaps we are jealous Howards luxurious indulgence of belt buckles. Or perhaps we are laughing through a feeling of superiority as there is a ubiquitous social judgement that belt buckles worn by the sub-genre of ‘nerds’ is not as ‘cool’ as they think it is. We can almost directly compare this to the social reaction to the Macaroni men. There are many examples of men of this fashion being drawn to garishly shiny décoratifs. The print ‘coup de Bouton’ by William Humphrey depicts the familiarly slim figured man blinding a fashionable young lady with his phenomenally opulent steel buttons (see figure 4). The adoption of darker coloured fabric for the middle and upper class in the 18th century men pushed the macaroni's to adopt a mentality towards ornamentation that was ‘the shinier, the better’ (Hoskin, 2014). Steel buttons were the macaroni’s version of belt buckles (see figure 5) a nod to not only the cultural capital possessed by the individual, but also their vulgar arrogance to wear such “fine clothing that had once conveyed dignity and rank.” (Mcneil, 2018, pg.226). Both leave the intended audience with a feeling of superiority over their opulent attempt at facile fashion.
To conclude, fashion and satire both are tools in which critique in cultural discourse can be translated through. In the 18th century, caricatures of the Macaroni mocked their extravagant fashion and perceived vanity. Today, Howard Wolowitz in The Big Bang Theory serves as the epitome of the modern Macaroni, with his tight trousers, flashy belt buckles, and eccentric style. Both figures become subjects of ridicule through caricatures, reflecting anxieties around self-expression and consumption. Through this satirical lens, fashion’s extremes are exposed and questioned, emphasizing how the interplay between fashion and satire continues to shape cultural perceptions of identity and taste.
A reoccurring personality depicted by caricaturists in the eighteenth century was the Macaroni, aka the fashion fool. According to Welsford’s conclusions, “the Fool is an unabashed glutton and coward and knave.” (Welsford, 1968, pg. 318). He is the comic man and exists as a necessary figure in society but not that of the main character, perhaps a side man that relies on his own flawed judgement. In Fashion terms, the fool is overindulgent; a chump whose clothing choice is ultimately camp in nature in a quest to mask his lack of confidence behind bold styling. Arguably, this is the epitome of the Macaroni men of the 18th century. Just as ‘punk’s or ‘hipsters’ are considered a cohesive sub-genre of contemporary culture, the ‘macaroni’ was widely recognised in the daily life of the Georgians (Mcneil, 2018, pg. 13). The term became a pejorative for the men that were considered fashion fools of their day and precursor to the “dandy” that were seen later in the Edwardian and Victorian period. Print that feature this persona forms the most substantial body of sub-grouped caricatures published in the late 18th century, with a collection of such being catalogued in the British Museum in 1883 and later revised in 1935 (Mcneil, 2018, pg.37). Just as i-D publishes punks in its magazines, publishers printed Macaroni caricatures and sold them nationally. Perhaps we could consider them the first printed subculture in fashion? Their styling was defined by alluded effeminacy, a theme which was found not only in their clothing but their care for personal grooming. Wigs were a subject of fascination that was persistently lampooned, as well as conspicuous suits, tight breeches and ornate accessorizing. In most caricatures featuring the ‘macaroni’, their illustrated body structure and posture is one that disregards respect unlike that found in other forms of portraiture. Their lack of height, raunchy gestures or awkward dimensions were translations of their apparent absence of sense or knowledge and a “series of male poses... that had previously indicated an august and noble persona now represented ‘conceit’” (Mcneil, 2018, pg.226). Here, satire is the voice that reads the novel, and the digestion of such by an eager audience placed the macaroni man as the fashion fool of the 18th century.
Who is the modern translation of the ‘Macaroni’ man? We could look at characteristics of menswear that mirrors the macaroni that is rooted in fine tailoring and sartorial suave but most of the time, these stylistic roles permit a male trope rooted in status that is hard to ridicule. That is bar one, and that is the Nerd. The nerd is a trope that has been the butt end of teasing since the 1950s; his know-it-all attitude and unintentional ignorance to social cues permits a consensus of criticism in popular culture. His style rests in awkward adolescence that is constantly lampooned at the expense of his clothing choices. Often affiliated with superheroes and science, the Nerds bravado relies on his pop culture know and attentiveness to detail. Caricatures of them are often digested through popular visual mediums like Film or TV (however it doesn't mean that this trope is lost in illustration, see Fig 1). One of the most famous depictions of Nerd subculture is the American TV show The Big Bang Theory (TBBT). As I trudged through the many episodes to find some references of each character's fashion choices, it soon hit me that there is one character that we can draw direct comparisons between them and the macaroni, and that is Mr Howard Wolowitz.
One of Lacan’s reflection is on the conveniences of the unconscious and makes the proposition that “the unconscious is also a kind of memory, in the sense of a symbolic history of the signifiers that have determined the subject in the course of his life;” (Evans, 2003, pg. 219) . We can apply this to the classification of the Macaroni and Howard alike. Most Macaroni prints are of middle to upper class men that found their fuss, attention and anxiety to their appearance diminished their success in their respected professions. Perhaps the symbolic value held by conspicuous value in a society precautious to allude any sense of self-indulgence, determined the Macaroni’s placement as the butt end of a joke. Contextually, he is weakest link of the group. His job as an Engineer instead of theoretical physicist gives the other characters plenty of material to ridicule him. Often, this is the butt of many one-liners from other characters on the show, especially his genius counterpart Sheldon Cooper who unconsciously is the meanest of them all. Perhaps the most visually obvious factor that classifies Howard Wolowitz as the modern Macaroni is his perfectly assembled outfit. There are six key components that create the characters composition: a turtle-neck top, button-up shirt, skinny trousers, bold belt buckle, clean vans and a neat bowl cut to finish the look. Could we argue that maybe Howard’s fashion choices are an effort to subvert the signifiers that have determined him at the bottom of the joke chain. Because of Howards working and social environments, the social codes of behaviour, one being fashion, fail to reach him. The sartorial references to Star Trek and various other cult franchises could be him trying to use his cultural capital to shake people's memory off his work and instead refer their subconscious to his flashy fashion statements.
A significant evidential folly of both Howard and the Macaroni is their testament to the tightness of their trousers (see figure 1). Both are fashioned in garments that leave little to the imagination. Howard can usually be seen in a garishly coloured pair of skinny jeans that, at hope, are elasticated for ease of movement. The jeans are typically adorned with a graphic buckled belt that is cohesive with the outfits colour story. As with the Macaroni, they are usually portrayed in caricatures with a similarly figure-hugging silhouette. An outstanding example of the importance of skintight clothing is Mathew Darley’s ‘The Protecting Macaroni’ (see figure 2). Here, the main Macaroni’s milliner is lacing him up in what seems to be some stays (a typically female undergarment) in order to obtain the desired silhouette. His stomach is being sucked in to match the proportions of his hips and that, along with his tight breeches, streamlines himself a fashionable figure. His milliners narrow clothing is also that of the macaroni man therefor not only is it commentating on beauty standards between the macaroni men, but also the type of people that influenced macaroni fashions. Just as a fashion designer that wears their own designs could define the aesthetic ethos of their brand, the milliner in this caricature is the original macaroni man that is dressing an eager customer indulging in what he thinks is desirable and therefor “protecting” the macaroni as if it was a dying species. Women's tight lacing was a subject notoriously lampooned by caricaturists due to the nature of its superficiality and absurd practices. This caricature is a commentary on the ridiculous ideals of fashioning the body. Now, as much as we laugh at the awkwardness of Howard’s trousers, we also feel a similar sentiment to that of the Macaroni. Their fashionable satisfaction found in of what we would perhaps consider a physical discomfort encourages a rational chuckle, as surely it's better to wear comfortable clothing? This is classic example of what Critchley would explain to be the Superiority theory, where the audience laughs due their educated insolence (Critchley, 2002). Here the difference between the laughing and the laughed at is their awkward self – ignorance that the fashionable ideal does not need to come at the expense of physical discomfort.
If jokes are a social repression (Critchley, 2002), then in a culture that is so enamoured by consumerism perhaps we are jealous of both the Macaroni’s and Howard's indulgence in luxury. Now of course, these come in different forms. For Howard, his conspicuous consumption is embodied by his collection of belt buckles and vans. In ‘The Hawkin Excitation’ (Season 5, episode 21), Howard taunts Sheldon with the task of cleaning his belt buckles. A random task for those with a normal collection of belts, but as we discover, Howard’s collection is so large and lavish that when laid out it takes up most of his bed (see figure 3). In this moment of the episode there is a generated laughed for the ridiculousness of the sheer scale of belt buckles owned by Howard. The humour in this is found in its incongruity. As discussed before, his trousers are extremely tight which would make one question why a belt isn’t even needed! And if it is, why does he need that many? How many pairs of trousers does he have? Does he wear more than one at a time? If we look at jokes as a result social repression, then in a culture that is so enamoured by consumerism perhaps we are jealous Howards luxurious indulgence of belt buckles. Or perhaps we are laughing through a feeling of superiority as there is a ubiquitous social judgement that belt buckles worn by the sub-genre of ‘nerds’ is not as ‘cool’ as they think it is. We can almost directly compare this to the social reaction to the Macaroni men. There are many examples of men of this fashion being drawn to garishly shiny décoratifs. The print ‘coup de Bouton’ by William Humphrey depicts the familiarly slim figured man blinding a fashionable young lady with his phenomenally opulent steel buttons (see figure 4). The adoption of darker coloured fabric for the middle and upper class in the 18th century men pushed the macaroni's to adopt a mentality towards ornamentation that was ‘the shinier, the better’ (Hoskin, 2014). Steel buttons were the macaroni’s version of belt buckles (see figure 5) a nod to not only the cultural capital possessed by the individual, but also their vulgar arrogance to wear such “fine clothing that had once conveyed dignity and rank.” (Mcneil, 2018, pg.226). Both leave the intended audience with a feeling of superiority over their opulent attempt at facile fashion.
To conclude, fashion and satire both are tools in which critique in cultural discourse can be translated through. In the 18th century, caricatures of the Macaroni mocked their extravagant fashion and perceived vanity. Today, Howard Wolowitz in The Big Bang Theory serves as the epitome of the modern Macaroni, with his tight trousers, flashy belt buckles, and eccentric style. Both figures become subjects of ridicule through caricatures, reflecting anxieties around self-expression and consumption. Through this satirical lens, fashion’s extremes are exposed and questioned, emphasizing how the interplay between fashion and satire continues to shape cultural perceptions of identity and taste.
Left: ‘A Slice of Gloster Cheese by James Gillray, June 1795
Right: Howard Wolowitz
‘The Protecting Macaroni’ by Mathew Darly, 1772
Howard Wolowitz (left) and Sheldon Cooper (right) in ‘The Hawkin Excitation’ (season 5, episode 21)
‘Coup de Bouton’ by William Humphrey, 1777
‘Buckles and Buttons’ by Mathew Darly, 1777