52. Style

One of my favorite blogs is The Sartorialist (peep the blogroll to the right). The blogger is a fashion photographer who takes pictures of folks on the street in his spare time and posts them online. The idea is to showcase great style. And great style has eluded me thus far in this life.

My grandmother has it. I think the woman in this photograph (copyright The Sartorialist 2009) has it. I do not have it. Jean Cocteau said that "Style is a simple way of saying complicated things." I read that on a New York City Subway car. I like it a lot.

Great style leaves you with the impression that a person put on everything they're wearing on purpose. There is no laundry day. They weren't running late. They're not wearing the things that didn't need to be ironed. They decided to wear what they're wearing. Almost as if they were wielding their clothes.

And what's most remarkable is that it doesn't have to be complicated. This woman is wearing jeans and a t-shirt. I wear jeans and t-shirts all the time, and I never look like this. I'm just covered in clothes.

As I get older, I've set for myself the goal of someday equaling my grandmother in flyness. I think I can do it. I just have to crack the style code. To figure out the difference between wearing one's clothes, and wielding one's wardrobe. It'd help if there were a set of rules I could follow, but there aren't. It's not a matter of matching this kind of top with that kind of bottom, or not. It's a matter of seeing in 3 dimensions I think. Not just color and fit, but feel.

I'm determined that it doesn't have to cost a lot of money either. Mostly because I don't have a bunch of money. I have some time though. And a sort of passion for making more out of the face I present to the world than I do now. As I have small successes here and there, maybe I'll post a few pics to the blog.