In this weekend's WSJ magazine, there is a article about Bernard-Henri Lévy. The following quote has stuck in my mind, wending its way through my mental circuitry, creating a bit of an inner stir:
Fashion is a language, and what is interesting about fashion today is that there is no longer fashion. That is, there is an appropriation of fashion by people in the street. There was a time when you saw a woman who was a high-fashion model, who was a caricature, a cartoon of real life. But now people are more free with their fashion. The most interesting people make their own fashion out of what designers offer them. Women on the street have become hackers of the fashion world. They break the code; they undo and redo. It is the democratization of fashion today that interests me.
Fashion communicates a relationship to the world, to one's body. What is the reply to the old philosophical inquiry between soul and body: Are they at war? Are they in harmony? Are they friends or enemies? There are moments in life, in the day, where the two are at war, moments where they are in harmony, days when you feel at war with your body, and days your body is your friend. Fashion says that. Style says that.
Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704364004576132202535791500.html#ixzz1FAVcPI8k
Levy really manages to capture the essence of much of what I have been thinking about fashion and style of late, and condense it far more eloquently than I could.
Comments
8 responses to “The Essence of Style”
LOVE this! I have, I will admit, a bit of a crush on Bernard-Henri Lévy. Reason #75 of why I wouldn’t mind being Daphne Guiness. I wonder if his relationship with her has him thinking more about fashion.
Thanks for sharing this, Mardel!
I think a lot of people have been talking about what he mentions in the first paragraph, the democratization and remix of fashion. But he says it so beautifully.
I’ve always admired people who develop a “uniform” early on, and keep their own distinctive style. In a way, this is easier for men than women. I do think the best style comes out when mind and body are in harmony.
Bel, I will admit to having a bit of a crush on Bernard-Henri as well, and I think he just managed to synthesize a whole cultural style-blogging issue beautifully. I also think I really have to read Lacan.
Pseu, that is it exactly! I think a lot of people have been talking about this, and we both read blogs that address just this issue, but he synthesizes it all down to its core so beautifully, that my head just keeps coming back to his words.
I too have admired people who have defined a uniform that fits them and allows them to be themselves and maintain their own distinctive style, but it also seems to me that more people adapt a uniform as a kind of cop out and it doesnt really work in any kind of harmonious way, but seems to constrain them somehow. The trick is all in the difference between the two extremes and probably how comfortable one is with oneself.
Mardel, thank you for sharing the Lévy article, it’s really interesting and I like what he says about style. That’s the kind of style I want for myself, something simple and easy, yet distinctive.
My friend Anne, the one I traveled with to Paris in 2005, gave me this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Simple-Isnt-Easy-Personal-Fantastic/dp/0061093947
Simple Isn’t Easy by Olvia Goldsmith and Amy Fine Collins. It’s all about how to develop a personal uniform you embellish with various accessories that mark your style.
The book helped me settle on the notion of a personal uniform. Then I dropped the ball. You are right that the uniform can be a cop out — constraining. What I’m realizing is that uniform or not, style takes engagement of yourself — time, thoughts, active experimentation. To engage, you need to feel good about yourself.
BHL seems to have conflated fashion with style, IMO. I like the last para, and would like to hear him differentiate fashion from style.
I’m a devotee of the “personal uniform” approach and that also helps me keep a much smaller closet than when I was all over the place.
Susan, I like that point about style taking engagement with yourself, and yes you probably have to basically accept yourself overall to actively engage. I need to think about this more.
Duchesse, I think you are right about that, but many people seem to conflate fashion and style. I sometimes wonder if the distinctions are becoming more blurred, or if my idea of style, which I would say BHL has, as separate from fashion, will fall by the wayside.