Sprezzatura

[Highlander]

Now this is a fashion that cracks me up. Ironically, after living in Italy for three years, I see someone has already assumed my desired role of Fashion Assassin for this latest rage:

http://www.getthegouge.com/insider/w...ies.asp?ID=483

I really can't understand how so many people take the extra time to look like they just rolled out of bed. Comical to say the least.

~Highlander

 

[negusnegas]

I don't know if I have always misunderstood the very essence of Sprezzatura, but I always assumed it had more to do with making style look effortless rather than looking like a hobo. I.e. you wear the clothes with a little bit of ur own swag. Of course it's all bullshit, but at least it's your bullshit. Also I do believe the actual work Sprezzatura is sort of an old school Italian word that most of the younger generation don't even use. Just my two cents.

Ars Est Celare Artem?

 

[mishon]

Originally Posted by negusnegas

I don't know if I have always misunderstood the very essence of Sprezzatura, but I always assumed it had more to do with making style look effortless rather than looking like a hobo. I.e. you wear the clothes with a little bit of ur own swag. Of course it's all bullshit, but at least it's your bullshit. Also I do believe the actual work Sprezzatura is sort of an old school Italian word that most of the younger generation don't even use. Just my two cents.

Ars Est Celare Artem?
Pretty much on point here. I would describe it as "stylish with ease". I am not sure how much usage the word gets in Italian, but it is often used on SF.

 

[Parker]

I didn't realize looking cool was the first rule of combat for a Marine.

 

[PandArts]

Originally Posted by negusnegas

I don't know if I have always misunderstood the very essence of Sprezzatura, but I always assumed it had more to do with making style look effortless rather than looking like a hobo. I.e. you wear the clothes with a little bit of ur own swag. Of course it's all bullshit, but at least it's your bullshit. Also I do believe the actual work Sprezzatura is sort of an old school Italian word that most of the younger generation don't even use. Just my two cents.

Ars Est Celare Artem?

That's what I always thought too. So, just to make sure I hadn't lost it I looked it up and found this definition from Wikipedia:

Sprezzatura, is a term that originates from Castiglione's The Book of the Courtier. It is defined as "a certain nonchalance, so as to conceal all art and make whatever one does or says appear to be without effort and almost without any thought about it."[1]That is to say, it is the ability of the courtier to display "an easy facility in accomplishing difficult actions which hides the conscious effort that went into them."[2]Sprezzatura has also been described "as a form of defensive irony: the ability to disguise what one really desires, feels, thinks, and means or intends behind a mask of apparent reticence and nonchalance."[3]

 

[voxsartoria]

I am too fastidious ever to start my day in this state, but on a good day, when I have been either very busy or very slothful, a bit of sprezzatura emerges and surprises me in a passing reflection.

I try not to look too hard, though, because it then gets ruined.

- B

 

[well-kept]

I think by definition it is not something you can try to achieve. Try and you've just violated the spirit.

In art, some have it and others never will. Think Velazquez, John Singer Sargent, etc. In music, Glenn Gould, Hendrix... It's akin to the dictum, "If you have to ask, you can't afford it."

 

[mensimageconsultant]

The clothing pictured is not "cool," but it's a good rant-read.

Recent studies conducted at very serious research centers across the country report that 85% of women say they make a qualitative judgment of a man within the first 10 seconds of meeting him.

Not that that's false - probably 14.99% of the other respondents aren't being honest - but source?