ELEGANCE, Class, Sophistication, Chic, Glamour, and Style

Cary Grant & Audrey Hepburn - image via the criterion collection

For the next six Mondays, I'm going to write about elegance, class, sophistication, chic, glamour, and style; words that are often used interchangeably when referring to attractive, well-dressed people, but which don't necessarily mean the same thing.

Today, I'll start with elegance. Elegance is defined as "the quality of being graceful in appearance or manner," and "the quality of being pleasingly ingenious and simple; neatness."

Who comes to mind when I think of elegance? Audrey Hepburn, Cary Grant, Grace Kelly, Fred Astaire, Jacqueline Kennedy, and Oscar de la Renta, to name a few. They all had elegance to spare. Living people? I can think of a handful that qualify; like Marella Agnelli, widow of former Fiat chairman Gianni Agnelli. Interior designer Barbara Barry comes to mind, as well as clothing designer Carolina Herrera. Regarding the younger generation, I think William and Kate are growing nicely into elegance. Compare a photo of the royal couple to one of Kimye, if you want to see the difference between elegance and...whatever.

And then, there are the elegant characters in some of my favorite books and movies; like Atticus Finch, in Harper Lee's classic, To Kill a Mockingbird, Guido Morris and Holly Sturgis in Laurie Colwin's Happy All The Time, and Diane Keaton's "Erica Barry," in Something's Gotta Give.

So, does elegance require lots of money? Not necessarily. I've seen ladies riding the bus, in simple dresses and pearls, who display a quiet elegance with very modest means. And of course, Atticus Finch was a small town lawyer and resident of the fictional Maycomb County, Alabama. Elegance is more of a mindset; an attitude of natural ease; refinement; integrity; simplicity.

Elegance is understated, impeccable, sublime; never flashy or showy. Big hair; big fake boobs; fake tans; ostentatious jewelry = not elegant. However, elegance is not stuffy or old fashioned; nor is it boring and humorless. Actually, it can be quite fresh and modern; especially these days when it is in such short supply.

Can elegance be learned? Absolutely; but it requires practice and discipline, because true elegance is authentic. It is a patina'd trait that must be fine tuned over time to become second nature. Diana Vreeland stated, "elegance is refusal." I believe that is true. It's all about weeding out the coarse, tasteless, and ugly; and embracing the fine and beautiful. There is just no forcing, or faking, elegance.

I love Guido Morris's description of his wife Holly, the epitome of serene elegance, in the book Happy All The Time -

The world and Holly were on excellent terms. It did not flare up and surprise her. It held no disappointments, alarms, or clubs with which to beat a citizen over the head.

and -

Holly's habits, her rituals, her opinions stood for the way she felt about the world-they expressed some grand conception of life and the placement of things in it. Her perfection and precision were a noble stand against sloppiness.

I especially love the last line-"her perfection and precision were a noble stand against sloppiness."-Because one thing that elegance definitely is NOT, is sloppy.

Who represents elegance to you? 

C