“Frivolity – The maddening name which is given to a whole series of preoccupations that are really entirely legitimate, corresponding as they do to real needs.”
Footnote in On Dandyism And George Brummell by Jules Barbey D’Aurevilly (1845), translation by George Walden (2002)
Reminds me of Pete Meaden’s definition of mod: “The art of clean living under difficult circumstances.” I think.