the glass of fashion and the mold of form

the glass of fashion and the mold of form

A much-admired person. In Shakespeare's Hamlet, Ophelia refers to Hamlet as such. Look at that socialite—she is just the glass of fashion and the mold of form.
See also: and, fashion, form, glass, mold, of
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
See also:
  • shuffle off this mortal coil
  • (one's) gorge rises (at something)
  • gorge
  • your gorge rises
  • here's the rub
  • that's the rub
  • there is/lies the rub
  • there(in) lies the rub
  • therein
  • there's the rub
References in periodicals archive
Handsome and refined, the gallant Franklin's O/e Miss yearbook vita was notably captioned with the line "The Glass of Fashion and the Mold of Form"; and while Professor Blotner makes no mention of the source of the quotation (possibly thinking it too well-known to require citing), the phrase is taken from the despairing Ophelia's tribute to her "lost" Hamlet: The courtier's, soldier's, scholar's, eye, tongue, sword, Th' expectation and rose of the fair state, The glass of fashion and the mould of form (Hamlet 3.1.151-153)
Ophelia's Echo in Absalom, Absalom!