Surely it is not difficult to imagine that one whose upbringing did not concentrate on elegant clothing, such an escape is a condicio sine qua non to be able to set foot on the path to elegance?Alden wrote:The species of Fop that interests us with respect to a discussion of elegance is known in our argot as "Charlie." Blinded by many of the intellectual limitations of a standard, run of the mill Troggie, Charlie has escaped from the deepest pits of bad taste and has seen enough of the light to desire more of its glow. His intense desire, his wanting so badly to appear, to belong, to be something makes him a notorious pretender and notable arriviste. Ambition and ego are his ultimate undoing. And unlike the "rich" of the nouveau riche, he has a decided taste for bespoke.
Spotting Charlie is quite easy and once again there are Charlie channels on the internet where you can listen to their discourse. Charlie knows that elegance exists, he thinks of it as being stylish or beautiful, and therefore desirable. But ornamenting oneself with stylish and beautiful things renders only distant facsimiles of elegance.
Charlie studies everything, and consequently his look is "studied." Charlie conspires to be elegant on the cheap, and his look is cheapened. Charlie does everything he can to imitate the elegant, and his look is an imitation. Charlie asks advice from everyone and anyone, but is incapable of the first step towards elegance which consists in interrogating oneself.
Charlie cannot conceive that elegance radiates from within, and is always seeking the magic pill that will transform him into the prince he imagines lives under the skin of the beast he sees in the mirror each day. To his constant dismay, no artisan possesses the magic formula, the Ring as it were, so he wanders hopelessly to any and all who will take him as a client. He is always dissatisfied and despite all his travail it never occurs to Charlie to imagine that the magic pill does not exist. It never occurs to him to simply see himself in the mirror, and see a prince if he desires it to be!
The mere conclusion that I have escaped/ am escaping leads me to being particularly proud of my ambition to study and understand elegance. I joined this forum to learn more about the subject and share anything that I feel will benefit fellow members. I feel that is the essence and -to a certain extent- the reason why fora exist. I feel that studying the wonderful articles written by Etutee and others in the archive of featured articles helps me understand the concept of elegance, without copying everything and anything I read. However, the article about shoes is what I use to build my shoe wardrobe. On my search for shoes which are depicted in that article is how I discovered Edward Green, Crockett & Jones, etc. Companies which I would have discovered later or not at all, because of the exclusivity of those brands here in Holland.
I do understand that elegance radiates from within (does that disqualify me as a charlie?
), but how is it that one does discern between ornamenting oneself with stylish and beautiful things (which) renders only distant facsimiles of elegance. and commissioning those stylish and beautiful things in order to build a wardrobe that is well balanced and suited for one's needs? I would hazard to guess that all needs radiate from within?Rather than 'always being dissatisfied' I would think of a purchase as 'another step on the way to build a well balanced wardrobe'. Both equal to the same effect: namely the strive to add more items to ones wardrobe. I imagine that the goal is perhaps different in that the road of the Charlie is to never end where the road of the Elegant Gentleman has a destiny which is set: 'the complete mastery of fundamentals which can lead to individual expressions of elegance' as formulated on the index page of the lounge.
Please do share your thoughts on the subject.