The London Lounge

A Dozen Aesthetic Maxims for the Young

by

G. Bruce Boyer

I wrote these maxims (after La Rochefoucauld) not to educate (presumptuous), but to provoke (laudable).


1. An Aesthetic Theory: A counterfeiter can fool many, but few can fool the counterfeiter.

2. It seems impossible that aesthetic judgments can transcend the culture of the judge.

3. Creativity in design tends to be a dialogue between custom and innovation.

4. Taste is a peculiar sort of intelligence, and vice versa.

5. The style of studied nonchalance (sprezzatura) is the psychological triumph of grace over order.

6. Few men of style will admit an association with fashion.

7. Style is an abbreviated, simple way of saying complicated, profound things.

8. Real luxury is understanding quality, and having the time to enjoy it.

9. In th end, perhaps aesthetic judgments are only enthusiasms.

10. In matters of taste, if you can see the trees clearly enough, you don't have to see the forest.

11. Athletic clothing makes many people appear less athletic than almost anything they could wear.

12. In a world of plentiful choices, true taste is found in restraint.

All excellent and my absolute favourite is the last.
No. 4 is also great. It seems so obvious now - why didn't we think about it in these terms before? I am not completely convinced of the "viceversa", though...
No. 7 is (or should be) the raison d'etre of style.

Not bad, not bad. Some food for thought.

I humbly add two aesthetic pensees of my own (I'm somewhat obsessed with aesthetics):
> The degree of ornamental intricacy of a well-balanced object should be directly proportional to its size.
> In clothes, closer to the body should be light(er), Farther from the body, dark(er).