Origin 250px|Diderot in red gown, by Dmitry Levitzky, 1773 The effect was inspired by Diderot's relationship with a dressing gown he had acquired from the funds bestowed upon him by Catherine the Great in exchange for his library in 1765. He first described this effect in his essay "Regrets on Parting with My Old Dressing Gown" . at the time . Here he tells how the gift of a beautiful scarlet dressing gown leads to unexpected results, eventually plunging him into debt. Initially pleased with the gift, Diderot came to rue his new garment. Compared to his elegant new dressing gown, the rest of his possessions began to seem tawdry and he became dissatisfied that they did not live up to the elegance and style of his new possession. He replaced his old straw chair, for example, with an armchair covered in Moroccan leather; his old desk was replaced with an expensive new writing table; his formerly beloved prints were replaced with more costly prints, and so on. "I was absolute master of my old dressing gown", Diderot writes, "but I have become a slave to my new one … Beware of the contamination of sudden wealth. The poor man may take his ease without thinking of appearances, but the rich man is always under a strain".
Origin 250px|Diderot in red gown, by Dmitry Levitzky, 1773 The effect was first described in Diderot's essay "Regrets on Parting with My Old Dressing Gown" . Here he tells how the gift of a beautiful scarlet dressing gown leads to unexpected results, eventually plunging him into debt. Initially pleased with the gift, Diderot came to rue his new garment. Compared to his elegant new dressing gown, the rest of his possessions began to seem tawdry and he became dissatisfied that they did not live up to the elegance and style of his new possession. He replaced his old straw chair, for example, with an armchair covered in Moroccan leather; his old desk was replaced with an expensive new writing table; his formerly beloved prints were replaced with more costly prints, and so on. "I was absolute master of my old dressing gown", Diderot writes, "but I have become a slave to my new one … Beware of the contamination of sudden wealth. The poor man may take his ease without thinking of appearances, but the rich man is always under a strain".
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inspired by Diderot's relationship with a dressing gown he had acquired from the funds bestowed upon him by Catherine the Great in exchange for his library in 1765. He first described this effect in his
first described in Diderot's
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. at the time