Recently appearance has been on my mind a lot. Unnecessarily so, I think. Nevertheless, my thoughts of appearance have taken on new perspectives since moving to Italy, the ‘country capital’ of the style world.
Italian fashion and our (the British Erasmus collective) opinions on it is quite a common topic of conversation; it is mostly quite conservative, with little variation in style even amongst youngsters and students, unlike British universities, or Newcastle anyway. But then every so often a few people will have a quirky twist to the conventional style, a dash of bright colour or an alternative way of wearing something. To me, that’s what style is - taking whatever you like from what is around you and then adding your own personality to it. And with Italians, it seems as though many appear to make little effort to put details into what they wear, and are quite unbothered about their appearance…maybe they really are just elegant and stylish, or maybe they just want everyone else to think that. Because when you look closer, the details are more obvious, the subtlety of a mother’s make up, the shine of an old man’s shoes or the tailoring of a young lady’s coat. If there was a way to describe their style in general, I think it would be the old saying ‘less is more’.
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| a nice photograph, completely unrelated to text |
As vain, shallow and sometimes trivial the topic of appearance can be, thinking about it has helped me draw some conclusions about other aspects of my life – ‘less is more’ is often a good thing to keep in mind. Or as Thoreau puts it, ‘Our life is frittered away by detail…simplify, simplify.’ Simplicity often helps calm, serenity and relaxation, and with these comes the space to enjoy life, which afterall, is what we’re all here for.
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