Sprezzatura: my observations...

"He had that supreme elegance of being, quite simply, what he was."

-C. Albaret describing Marcel Proust

Style, chic, presence, sex appeal: whatever you call it, you can discuss it here.
Frederic Leighton
Posts: 551
Joined: Tue Jan 22, 2013 8:42 pm
Location: London
Contact:

Sun Apr 07, 2013 8:13 pm

hectorm wrote:And what about this?
Well, and then what about this? :wink:
hectorm
Posts: 1667
Joined: Sun Jul 10, 2011 2:12 pm
Location: Washington DC
Contact:

Sun Apr 07, 2013 9:20 pm

Well, while I don't see any story behind our friend Luca (justifying his sprezzatura), at least the Pearly King is using his for a good cause. What do you think?
davidhuh
Posts: 2030
Joined: Sat Jan 23, 2010 9:47 am
Contact:

Sun Apr 07, 2013 10:39 pm

hectorm wrote:Well, while I don't see any story behind our friend Luca (justifying his sprezzatura), at least the Pearly King is using his for a good cause. What do you think?
Dear Hectorm,

I happened to meet this young gentleman a couple of times. He is a very nice, well educated young man enjoying his youth and his sense for colour. And secretly, I would wish my youthful experiments would have been that good :D

cheers, David
hectorm
Posts: 1667
Joined: Sun Jul 10, 2011 2:12 pm
Location: Washington DC
Contact:

Mon Apr 08, 2013 12:20 am

Dear David,
I never doubted for a second that young Luca wasn't the nicest of gentlemen. Moreover, I'm glad to hear that the outcome seen in this picture (I confess I deliberately chose a rather extreme one) is just the harmless result of some youthful experimentation and not of some traumatic experience that has him trying way too hard most of the time.
davidhuh
Posts: 2030
Joined: Sat Jan 23, 2010 9:47 am
Contact:

Tue Apr 09, 2013 12:00 am

hectorm wrote:I'm glad to hear that the outcome seen in this picture (I confess I deliberately chose a rather extreme one) is just the harmless result of some youthful experimentation and not of some traumatic experience that has him trying way too hard most of the time.
Dear Hectorm,

this young man lives in Italy, Milano mostly, where far bella figura follows other standards than the conformism prevailing in London or North America. He is about 30 years old, and of course, he should not dress like his father (who's style is a reference) - this I would consider, hm, inappropriate or ridiculous.

If I would see other young men his age dressing the way he does, I would cry "hooray!" - tailoring has a future :D
He speaks to another generation, and he is a very credible ambassador for the craft.

cheers, David
hectorm
Posts: 1667
Joined: Sun Jul 10, 2011 2:12 pm
Location: Washington DC
Contact:

Tue Apr 09, 2013 7:48 pm

David, you have valid points of view and you expressed them very eloquently. Thank you for putting this old fogey into context.
I see as many 30 y.o. dressing like young Luca (at least trying) as I see older men dressing like Don Mariano. This is to say: very few.
If there is a path leading from the way Luca looks to the way Don Mariano looks (not exactly the path through which I followed my elders and became interested in the craft) then, as you said, there´s future out there.
By the way, I would enjoy seeing (or at least reading) about those not-so-perfect youthful experiments of yours. :D
davidhuh
Posts: 2030
Joined: Sat Jan 23, 2010 9:47 am
Contact:

Tue Apr 09, 2013 9:36 pm

hectorm wrote: By the way, I would enjoy seeing (or at least reading) about those not-so-perfect youthful experiments of yours. :D
Dear Hectorm,
there are chapters in every man's life that shall better remain unpublished 8) . What I can say is that everything started with me insisting on wearing a tie as a twelve year old on Sundays when nobody else around me did :)

cheers, david
Costi
Posts: 2963
Joined: Tue Dec 20, 2005 6:29 pm
Location: Switzerland
Contact:

Tue Apr 30, 2013 12:03 am

hectorm wrote:...just the harmless result of some youthful experimentation and not of some traumatic experience that has him trying way too hard most of the time.
Hectorm, I took another look at Loos's photograph. Not looking at the clothes, but at the eyes and expression of both. I'm not sure where I see (more) trauma...
I am at a point where I can appreciate both these kinds of image. They are different, but each has its own charm. If you can really be permeated by Palestrina's gentle sobriety, you can't possibly dismiss Haendel's whirly flourishes. It's less about being restrained or baroque and more about doing it well.
hectorm
Posts: 1667
Joined: Sun Jul 10, 2011 2:12 pm
Location: Washington DC
Contact:

Wed May 01, 2013 4:28 pm

Costi wrote: Hectorm, I took another look at Loos's photograph. Not looking at the clothes, but at the eyes and expression of both. I'm not sure where I see (more) trauma...
You´re right! Very good observation. While Luca´s eyes look at ease with his life and environment, Loos´s are a bit tense and defensive (?) Although I believe that part of this could be due to the evolution in the art of photographic portraiture.
Costi wrote: I am at a point where I can appreciate both these kinds of image. They are different, but each has its own charm. If you can really be permeated by Palestrina's gentle sobriety, you can't possibly dismiss Haendel's whirly flourishes. It's less about being restrained or baroque and more about doing it well.
Now you got me cornered. If I say that Luca´s style is questionable and too staged then I would look narrow minded and unappreciative. Mmmh...
Since you laid a comparison between his style and Haendel´s flourishes, here I send an image of the young fellow in question ¨caught¨ in the act of composing his daily baroque merengue. :)

Image
Frederic Leighton
Posts: 551
Joined: Tue Jan 22, 2013 8:42 pm
Location: London
Contact:

Wed May 01, 2013 7:45 pm

hectorm wrote:While Luca´s eyes look at ease with his life and environment, Loos´s are a bit tense and defensive (?) Although I believe that part of this could be due to the evolution in the art of photographic portraiture.
I find that Loos has a penetrating gaze, even in this earlier photographic portrait. I can easily recognize that same attitude that would eventually evolve in this, in this and in this.
Last edited by Frederic Leighton on Wed May 01, 2013 9:53 pm, edited 2 times in total.
hectorm
Posts: 1667
Joined: Sun Jul 10, 2011 2:12 pm
Location: Washington DC
Contact:

Wed May 01, 2013 9:35 pm

Frederic Leighton wrote: I find that Loos has a penetrating gaze, even in this earlier photographic portrait.
An intense gaze indeed. Not knowing him well I wasn´t sure whether there was a general attitude of anxiety behind the look in his eyes, therefore I added the question mark after tense and defensive.
Notwithstanding, his choices of clothes seem to be clearly premeditated and he surely knows that he is being observed.
pur_sang
Posts: 178
Joined: Thu Sep 24, 2009 7:09 pm
Contact:

Tue Jul 16, 2013 6:42 pm

Luca is a very stylish gentleman.

Although I think his marvelous play on colours are already enough (jacket, shirt, tie, trousers combinations), the extra accessorizing is becoming tedious.
Frederic Leighton
Posts: 551
Joined: Tue Jan 22, 2013 8:42 pm
Location: London
Contact:

Fri Aug 22, 2014 8:41 am

More Cocteau (below) and some Poulenc (here).

Regards,
f

Image
ethandesu
Posts: 31
Joined: Thu Feb 08, 2007 12:21 am
Location: Tokyo
Contact:

Mon Nov 03, 2014 5:37 am

On this point I must play devil's advocate, and I offer in my defense that I have been daily assaulted by both those overtly conscious of appearing "sprezz", and those so nauseatingly pretentious that any misconduct with the 'rules of classical dressing' becomes akin to a personal attack on their propriety.
In the time I have been involved in this industry of menswear, I have seen that the pendulum seems to swing very far to either side of balanced by those prone to judge. While it is true that many take the idea of appearing effortless too far, and lose any semblance of being natural in their dress, there are as many who react with such abhorrence to any slighting of their standards of dress that it makes me wonder what trauma they experienced early in life to cause it.
Appearing effortless is a great thing. I don't know if I necessarily achieve such - it is hard to judge your own appearance accurately - but the man whose dress I most respect, Fred Astaire, always looked so beautifully comfortable in his own wardrobe. He wasnt dull, and sometimes his cuff buttons were undone, but he always achieved looking just like Fred Astaire. Being entirely militant about never undoing a button unecessarily or wearing a certain shade of brown while in the city, so entirely robs the act of dressing any joy you might experience that the rules become a crutch. Some men peacock - that is their personality. Some do it more naturally than others, some are more succesful at it than others. There is no blanket rule that can be applied in saying one affectation is good and another bad, nor is there any assurance that by dressing within the realms of boring sobriety that one can escape causing offence.
A great friend and mentor, G.Bruce Boyer, once wrote me to the effect that dressing should be a joyous thing. It is a hobby we are allowed to partake of, and a means of self expression for men. He is wonderfully well dressed, and always looks just like himself when he dresses.
So - be wary of swinging too far either way. A lack of affectation may end up being just as damning as too much.

Ethandesu
alden
Posts: 8214
Joined: Tue Jan 18, 2005 11:58 am
Contact:

Mon Nov 03, 2014 12:17 pm

Ethan

Great to see you back.

Yes. dressing should be a joyous, fun moment of self expression. The very last thing it should be is serious. The latest statistics prove there is way too much serious going on in the world these days.

Dressing is the silent poetry we share with the world every day.

Cheers
Post Reply
  • Information
  • Who is online

    Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest