The word for today is…

frippery (noun) – 1. Pretentious, showy finery.
2. Pretentious elegance; ostentation.
3. Something trivial or nonessential.

Source : The Free Dictionary

Etymology : 1560s, “old clothes, cast-off garments,” from Middle French friperie “old clothes, an old clothes shop,” from Old French freperie, feuperie “old rags, rubbish, old clothes” (13th century), from frepe, feupe “fringe; rags, old clothes,” from Late Latin faluppa “chip, splinter, straw, fiber.” The notion is of “things worn down, clothes rubbed to rags.” The ironic meaning “finery” (but with overtones of tawdriness) dates from 1630s.

Peter is a fourth-generation New Zealander, with his mother's and father's folks having arrived in New Zealand in the 1870s. He lives in Lower Hutt with his wife, some cats and assorted computers. His...