I just came across this video of an absolutely beautiful Roman cavalry helmet which inspired me to share some thoughts on the subject of aesthetics:
Humans do not experience the world as purely rational creatures. Before we understand an idea or a concept we see it and form an intuition about what it represents. This extends into literally everything, even (or especially) warfare. Men have spent thousands of years turning weapons, armor and uniforms into objects of beauty when most people these days believe that functionality is enough and that it’s silly to go to great lengths just for purely cosmetic reasons. That's the bugman way of thinking.
The culture with the stronger aesthetic has an enormous advantage because it makes its vision of life desirable. People want to belong to what appears beautiful, vital and heroic.
Everything in life is about aesthetics and so in order to win you must embrace aesthetics.