Style and Charm

[storeynicholas]

Comedy begins in the feet. Great comedians from Charlie Chaplin to Jacques Tati to Rowan Atkinson have all relied upon this fact. Style begins in the heart: nothing more nor less than thinking of others. To my mind style in dress derives from the quality of the essential inner man. Raymond Chandler said that F Scott Fitzgerald had 'charm - as Keats would have understood the word' - a much misused word to be sure. What I mean by it is the desire and ability to set people at ease - meaning, in terms of dress, for the time, place, event and company, being perfectly appropriately dressed and here is a short anecdote, about this essential quality, to demonstrate my meaning. In the 1960s Gerald, Lord Gardiner was the head of the judiciary in Great Britain, holding the ancient and magnificent title Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain. Once he attended a social event for aspiring young lawyers to which his son invited him. Father and son were talking together, when a vague acquaintance of the son wandered over and started talking. After a while the interloper (who told me this story) asked the elderly man what job he did and Lord Gardiner replied, pointing at his son, "Oh, I'm in the law, like him."

[Costi]

At a certain point in his "Treatise on Elegant Living" Balzac writes (paraphrasing) that in order to be elegant a man must have a beautiful soul. Being considerate towards others and behaving (implicitly dressing) such as not to make them feel uneasy is a direct corollary, I think. Conceit is not elegant. Dashing - maybe, but not elegant.

[RWS]

. . . . Being considerate towards others and . . . dressing . . . [so] as not to make them feel uneasy is a direct corollary, I think. Conceit is not elegant. . . .

Amen!

[alden]

Costi

The wonderful passages from Balzac enumerate and describe the different levels of "charm" la grace that an elegant man may possess...from "sufficient charm" la grace suffisante, "essential charm" la grace essentielle to "perfect or transcendent charm" la grace divine et concomitante

I will have to set down and translate this passage one day because it is remarkably a propos to this day (as most things Balzac wrote.)

Cheers

Michael

[storeynicholas]

At a certain point in his "Treatise on Elegant Living" Balzac writes (paraphrasing) that in order to be elegant a man must have a beautiful soul. Being considerate towards others and behaving (implicitly dressing) such as not to make them feel uneasy is a direct corollary, I think. Conceit is not elegant. Dashing - maybe, but not elegant.

Maybe 'dashing' is the nearest one can get to the modern meaning of 'charming' - as Keats would not have understood it!
NJS