Everyone's Second Favorite Game - Is It or Isn't It SPREZZATURA (pics and comments)

[NewYorkIslander]

Ah spezzatura. The definition of which will be debated well into the next century, or at least as long as there is the internet. So, lets discuss this element of men's dress, pointing out which particular looks are spezzed up, and what makes them that way. Started from WAYWT pic:

Discuss, and please add more pics of what you think is spezz, and why.

 

[Trifon]

Sprezzatura. How come so many misspell it btw?

 

[Metlin]

I wouldn't be caught dead wearing that, but you seem to wear it with an uncaring ease. Isn't that what sprez is all about?

 

[Baron]

As to sprez, it's best understood as a dÃ

gagÃ

element in an otherwise "correct" ensemble. If everything about the outfit is unconventional, casual, whatever, it's something else entirely. And honestly, this picture is really bad. I didn't want to get into that in the other thread, but the color and fade of the jeans, the hole in the thigh, the shirt collar, the jacket, the overall drab and unharmonious color scheme...this is no bueno. You've posted much better, and that's not saying much. I'm sure there's such a thing as casual sprezzatura, but again, you'd start with something conventional and then go from there. I still think it's best to think in terms of "charmingly incorrect" variations on a theme.

 

[NewYorkIslander]

Originally Posted by Trifon

Sprezzatura. How come so many misspell it btw?

Isn't that the point of it...

 

[Metlin]

Originally Posted by NewYorkRanger

Isn't that the point of it...

Aren't you a teacher?

 

[TRINI]

I personally think that sprezzatura is something that is really contextual, in this case, a certain stylized Italian lifestyle, and when taken out of this context, looks either sloppy, contrived or costumish.

 

[Macallan]

B/c your wearing jeans, it seems you have thought about the look
Whereas, a wear of trousers (any colour, ideally with a bit of 'wear') looks more sprez

 

[SpooPoker]

 

[MBreinin]

^^^^^^^^

 

[Metlin]

Originally Posted by SpooPoker

http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/3789/spoo.jpg

Your hands look rather, umm, effeminate in that picture.

 

[Sazerac]

Total sprezzatura.

The idea here is that the ensemble is unstudied and casual yet eminently put together. The hole in the faded jeans offsets the relative formality of the jacket's cut. And yet the tones of the colors, the faded blues, the worn browns, fit together beautifully.

Interestingly, what sets the look apart as exceptional is the fact that it's a double breasted number, something 99% of us here would never even consider wearing with jeans. In this case, that's precisely what makes it sprezzatura and not just a guy in faded jeans wearing an odd jacket. (Not that there's anything wrong with that.)

In my view, the looks in the WAYWRN thread sometime come off as too mannered and overwrought. It's like we all know the rules well enough to confidently break them, then we all break them in the same exact way. Stripes with checks, unmatched pocket square, wicked socks. Don't get me wrong, I'm guilty of that myself virtually every time I get dressed. If my wife doesn't say, "that doesn't go together," then I know I've done something wrong.

But this kind of rule breaking, such as it is, lacks the true insouciance that makes sprezzatura really and truly sprezzatura.

 

[Threadbearer]

Originally Posted by Trifon

Sprezzatura. How come so many misspell it btw?
To count as sprez, the misspelling must be creative and intentional without appearing to be either. You could unbutton just one of the S's in the word "misspelling," for example, or you could roll up one of the L's.

Thus endeth the lesson.

 

[in stitches]

Originally Posted by SpooPoker

nice job with photoshop you had me for a minute

 

[NewYorkIslander]

Originally Posted by MBreinin

^^^^^^^^

yes,