Defining Elegance

Now that I'm back from traveling, I can begin this in earnest.

Like any pursuit, I find it is best to understand exactly what is being sought. If we begin with the dictionary, we will find the following definition:

el·e·gant

  [el-i-guhnt] 

adjective

1.

tastefully fine or luxurious in dress, style, design, etc.: elegant furnishings.

2.

gracefully refined and dignified, as in tastes, habits, or literary style: an elegant young gentleman; anelegant prosodist.

3.

graceful in form or movement: an elegant wave of the hand.

4.

appropriate to refined taste: a man devoted to elegant pursuits.

5.

excellent; fine; superior: an absolutely elegant wine.

The first thing we notice is that elegance is incredibly subjective. Everything the definition encompasses - grace, style, design, habits, form - all of this is in the eye of the beholder. This can present a challenge, and certainly has for me.

Genevieve Antoine Dariaux, a favorite of mine, begins her book answering the same question. It takes her several pages, but she opens with this:

It is a sort of harmony that rather resembles beauty, with the difference that the latter is more often a gift of nature and the former the result of art.

The origin of elegance is easily traced. It springs and develops from the habits of a civilized culture. The word comes from the Latin eligere, which means 'to select'.

I like Madam Dariaux's take on the topic. 'To Select'...in the end, elegance is about selection, about choosing what you will and will not have in your life, about how you will present yourself and what you allow to influence you. This is why elegance is something that cannot be bought, and while it is easier to understand elegance if you have been raised with it, it's out of no one's reach.