Well, the red silk is not precisely attached to the unclothed emperor here.
But the principle seems to be eerily akin to the one at work in the cappa-magna principle of pastoral self-justification in contemporary Catholicism: the barer the authority figures underneath the sartorial splendor, the longer the cappa magna grows, the more refulgent the costume becomes.
As if we can't see the correlation. Or the emptiness lurking inside, as the scarlet silk rolls forth, the lace bobs about, and the prancing and bowing commence.
The illustration is from Dr. Mezmer's World of Bad Psychology website.
