QUASIMODO and the Origin of Hierarchy
Once upon a time, a rather long time ago, a strange client entered Monsieur Charmant’s tailor shop. Monsieur Charmant was known for his impeccable, tailor-made suits. But as soon as this client stepped inside, Monsieur Charmant knew this would be quite a challenge.
Quasimodo was there not only because he wanted a tailor-made suit. This suit had a very particular importance for him. It was the suit he would wear for Esmeralda, the woman he was hopelessly in love with. It was the suit he would wear to ask her.
Monsieur Charmant got to work, took his measurements, and they agreed to meet again a few weeks later for a first fitting. Quasimodo came back. Monsieur Charmant tried the suit on him, with quite some changes to be made.
This was the part Monsieur Charmant loved, and the reason his clients loved him. Whatever shape a man had, he never once thought it should be different. He thought only about how to make the suit fit the man in front of him.
A lot of chalk marks in the places that had to be arranged. And the next fitting was planned two weeks ahead. Quasimodo came back for the third time. The suit was a nearly perfect fit. A few final details, and it would be the most marvellous suit a man had ever worn.
He was so proud. That day Quasimodo was absolutely shining when he went to Esmeralda. People stared at him, astonished that their Quasimodo wore such a beautiful suit, and most of all one that fitted him perfectly.
But you know the story. It does not end well for him. That same day the crowd turned, and Quasimodo fell.
But in the crowd there was also a man who did not join the aggression. He had seen the suit made for this very particular man. Mr Castle, that day, was the one representative present of Castle, Emerald and Oswald, a large tailoring house. He was extremely interested to know who had made it, and so, before the crowd became a mob, he asked Quasimodo who had made him the most beautiful man of the moment.
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That is how C, E & O learned of a small tailor shop where Monsieur Charmant did wonders. They went to see him, and they made him an offer that was difficult to refuse. An offer to make it possible that more people than Quasimodo alone would wear such a suit. They would help Monsieur Charmant to offer this happiness to as many people as possible. Monsieur Charmant loved the idea that his kindness would spread amongst the many. That is how Monsieur Charmant was tricked into selling his little tailor shop. And with it, the design of Quasimodo’s suit. The Q-suit.
As soon as C, E & O owned the shop and the Q-suit design, they began producing it. En masse, as they say in Paris. No measuring, no craftsmanship, no patience, no fitting. And the fitting had been the only reason anyone had ever wanted it.
But then came the part that C, E & O always do best. They went looking for clients. Many, many clients. And they found them.
There was just that one little problem. The client did not fit the suit. That was easily solved. They explained to him that to have the right to wear such a beautiful suit, he would have to fit the suit. And so the first real client of C, E & O bowed his neck, lifted his left shoulder as far as he could, bent his knees, leaned forward a little, and with some effort he almost fitted into the Q-suit.
But how proud he was to be the one wearing the famous Q-suit. People looked at him and said, look at that, how wonderful, that suit fits this strange man. He must be a very important man. Because the way he looks would not make you think he could afford a suit that fits so well.
So people asked him where the suit came from. And C, E & O had more clients every day. And they all learned what you had to do to earn the right to wear such a beautiful suit. C, E & O saw the potential. They began making the suit in different qualities. Basic cloth for the many, nobler cloth for the ones who were special among the many. So there were the important people, and above them the specially important people, and above them the one and only, highest, most important of all.
That is how, from a simple man in love, an entire hierarchy soon invaded Paris, spread over France, and finally engulfed the world. We do not see it anymore. We do not see how we bend our knees, how we bow our heads and lift our left shoulder to fit the famous important-making Q-suit they made for us.
The strangest thing of all is that when we take off the suit, we still keep our knees bent, we still lean forward, we still keep our left shoulder up. We do not even need the suit anymore to fit the Q-design.
That is how Quasimodo stood at the origin of an entire hierarchical system. But he is not to blame that you and I choose to fit the suit, to have the right to be part of the game.
One of these every Tuesday until 28 December. If something here landed, write to me. I read everything.
