I went looking for quotes using the word gorgeous.

I see that both William Wordsworth and John Milton make reference to “the gorgeous East.”  Milton in particular talks about showering kings with pearls and gold.

This I think is an inadvertent nod to the etymology of gorgeous.

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The word gorgeous appeared in English from French about 500 years ago.

Today we could look at someone who was stark naked and call them gorgeous, but back then gorgeous meant elegantly dressed and adorned.

It was the fashionable togs that made one gorgeous less than the face or body.

The reason for this seems to predate the word’s entry into English.  Although the OED can tell us when gorgeous first appeared, it doesn’t reveal much about where the word came from.

For this you can go to Wordnik which relies in part on the American Heritage Dictionary.

Here we learn that the word carried a meaning of a love of jewelry.

Further, we can see that the French word for “throat” is gorge and so gorgeous may specifically refer to a beautiful piece of jewelry hung about one’s neck.

Hence a necklace.

The Century Dictionary also at Wordnik takes us in s slightly different direction. Instead of thinking about necklaces they suggest the fancy neck ruffles that used to be a necessary part of fashionable dress.