The language of silence

[Costi]

Silence is meaningful, unless it is the silence of the void. But we are not always trained to LISTEN to it. When we do, we create the substance that fills in the silence, we put in a bit of ourselves, like growing the handles of a jigsaw puzzle piece that will allow it to connect to the others and give them a sense. If the picture is complete, we admire it from a distance. But if we are invited to fill in with bits of our own imagination, then we are involved, we participate, we are IN the picture, not outside of it.
This happens in acting, in painting, in literature. In architecture, too – a neutral interspace adds value to an object and gives it room to breathe. It happens in music, too – like Arthur Schnabel used to say, the music is not in playing the notes, anyone can do that with training; the art is in the pauses between the notes.
I think the same may apply to dress – some cloths, some garments, some styles just speak too much. Or too loudly. They are over-tailored, over-accessorized, over-coordinated, over-coloured. They give us no break, they try too hard to persuade, to say it all, to make sure the message gets across. They leave no room for interpretation. They admit no argument. They stir no curiosity, they leave no mistery. We are not drawn to them – on the contrary, we feel assaulted and become defensive; or we give in like subjects of hypnosis. But a quiet cloth with intrinsic depth, a subtle pattern with the right scale, a simple cut that envelops the body but doesn’t imprison it, an interesting accent of colour, a style that suggests rather than cry out loud – these things invite us to imagine, to fill in, to co-create. This generates empathy, interest, curiosity - not just for the clothes, but for the wearer, too. They are like a line from a poem to which we feel invited to find a rhyme.
It is an art to leave some things unsaid and to make silence significant. From this point of view, style is silence, because it is not what you see – the man, the clothes – but what you understand, what you read between the lines, what you imagine and attribute to the picture you see. Without silence, there is no style; make room for it when you dress.

God is silent.

[storeynicholas]

Anice piece, Costi, and I am sure that there is much truth in it. We live in too much noise (of various kinds). However,we could do with a bit more of a stir around here these days!
NJS

[Costi]

After such a long silence...
I recently came across a remarkable recording of Claude Debussy’s famous impressionist musical approach to Maurice Maeterlink’s symbolist play “Pelleas et Melisande”. As I read the booklet accompanying the CD’s explaining the background of Debussy’s choice and mode, I learned that what attracted him to Maeterlink’s play was the indefinite setting, the unfinished sentence typical of one of the characters, the allusive, imprecise speech of another, the ambiguous sense that leaves room for interpretation. Definite dramatic action librettos, that only required the consecrated “setting to music”, did not inspire him – or, rather, the quality of work he produced under such inspiration was unsatisfactory. In his own words, he could only write music to a text that left some things unsaid, that left ROOM for the music to carry on where words stopped.
Silence itself plays a great part both in the text and in the music – towards the end one of the characters has a wonderful line: “L’ame humaine est tres silencieuse” (“The soul is a creature of silence” sounds a well-inspired English translation).
Beyond the ideal illustration of the principle in the original post, what I find fascinating is the fact that Debussy would not have written the beautiful music had the manner of Maeterlink’s text not inspired him to. Mere suggestion is much more powerful than clear statement, because it involves and inspires others. I believe it is worth reflecting on how this applies in love, in dress or in art – and, why not, check out how Debussy did it.

[Costi]

We shouldn't try to think of dress as an expression of Style, just like Debussy understood his music mustn't be an expression of Maeterlink's words in the example above. Dress is best used to put Style into evidence, like a veil whose translucence discloses the presence of natural light, not as an opaque curtain or, worse, as a stroboscope of neon lights that dazzle the eye with artificial flashes. And that is the silence of dress.

[Costi]

Silence is also indispendable in finding the Style within us. Proust puts it nicely: "It is not possible to say interesting things, because interesting is what the underground worker who repairs the electrical wiring is doing while you talk. And you cannot hear him unless you keep silent."
Style is our unique pattern of inner wiring. Block out the background noise of dress books, stylists, merchants and rules and you will start hearing the inside music that has been there all along.

[carl browne]

The Duke of Windsor was too loud--but only when he was at his worst. This was true of his clothes as well as his politics.

I'm also reminded of the notoriously taciturn Calvin Coolidge. There's a story of a woman telling Silent Cal at dinner she had bet a friend that she could persuade him to utter three words. His response, "you lose."

C

[Jordan Marc]

Carl:

Was there ever a time when the Duke of Windsor was at his best? Turning his back on England and accepting an invitation to hobnob with Hitler wasn't a highpoint, nor was charging a high fee to hosts and hostesses for the Duke and Duchess to turn up at their parties, and the saddest of all was the interview of the royal couple conducted by Edward R. Murrow on Person to Person in the bygone days of black-and-white tee vee. Man and wife sat on the floor of their New York apartment
playing jax--a kid's game, for crissakes--it was pathetic.

JMB

[storeynicholas]

What is jax, JMB?
NJS

[rodes]

JMB,I gently ask for more respectful discourse.

[Edward Bainbridge]

Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacks
Short video explanation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwmCInS2pIM

[storeynicholas]

Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacks
Short video explanation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwmCInS2pIM

Thanks for that - it was the spelling that threw me 'jax' - not a bad game and you do need to sit on the floor to play it satisfactorily - but I have always preferred conkers or marbles, myself; especially conkers, since it has been banned in schools as a 'health hazard'.
NJS

[Jordan Marc]

For any members of the lounge who might be interested in viewing the appalling behavior of royalty, demogogues, politicians, mobsters and other assorted riff-raff, the Museum of Broadcasting located in New York City is a fount of information from the early days of television. 20th Century Fox had an even greater archive than the museum in Movietone News, but it was sold off to a university in the south because the chairman of the board at Fox saw no benefit to preserving the priceless treasuretrove of newsreels. The entertainment industry is littered with corporate idiots.

JMB

[storeynicholas]

For any members of the lounge who might be interested in viewing the appalling behavior of royalty, demogogues, politicians, mobsters and other assorted riff-raff, the Museum of Broadcasting located in New York City is a fount of information from the early days of television. 20th Century Fox had an even greater archive than the museum in Movietone News, but it was sold off to a university in the south because the chairman of the board at Fox saw no benefit to preserving the priceless treasuretrove of newsreels. The entertainment industry is littered with corporate idiots.

JMB

If the Fox newsreels weren't dumped but sold to a university, as you say then there they will be catalogued and preserved, I am not sure that I see how this is idiotic. I suppose that Fox saw no commercial benefit in retention of the material but recognized its worth to others and that seems responsible behaviour.

So far as the Duke is concerned, I begin to feel sorry for him: he made a big mistake and damaged a record of remarkable service; for this he paid a heavy price and he did not, ultimately, run off and become a Nazi at all. As for playing games well where's the harm in that? I expect that he had his Jacks' suit on that day. The USA nearly adopted the Duke and Duchess and held them in deep affection. His life was covered in a pall of tragedy: let him RIP now.
NJS

[Costi]

Silence is golden... particularly with respect to those who can no longer stand for themselves. Who knows what's on the other side? Better to find friends than enemies, no matter where one ends up!
I often wonder whether there is any amount of self- satisfaction in pointing out the shortcomings or weaknesses of those who made themselves worthy of admiration for one thing or another. "Oh, he may have been a great dresser, BUT...!".
Silence can be generous, too - perhaps we can add that to the list of virtues.

[Jordan Marc]

Nicholas:

The Movietone Newsreel archieve was sold to the university in the south, and the chairman of the board at Fox was given a check to do with as he pleased. It wasn't an endowment, not by any means, just rank greed.

Long story short, the value of the newsreels could neither be estimated in terms of monetary value nor
the importance of the footage frame by frame. This was filmmaking at its best, as history unfolded right before the men and women glued to the cameras. The footage was kept in immaculate condition for decades. It was, in its own way, as significant as the Constitution written in Philadephia, though a good deal more worldly. The cans of film never should have been trucked off to a university without the means and the attention required to preserve the footage in pristine condition. It was a travesty!

JMB