EDITO ART AND CULTURE Cultural Committee Chairman RIALDistinctness or imitation? Understatement or extravagance? Playing Valéry Giscard d’Estaing with one’s appearance or remaining authentic? Elegance is at once movement, style and spirit, and the essence it seeks to express Cultural Committee transcends the trends of the moment. As Hubert de Givenchy once said, Franco Cologni “Jeanne Toussaint was not fashionable, she was elegant.” Arielle Dombasle Elegance clearly has an aesthetic quality but also a moral and intellectual one. However, it can become dangerous when it defies Hugues Gall conventions. Too much distinctiveness arouses anger. Daniela Giussani They say it is universal and timeless yet is it not a touch cultural Guillaume Pictet and changeable? Time blurs certain references, certain frontiers. Franceline Prat Perceptions shif, appreciation changes. A garment, a type of behavior Agatha Ruiz de la Prada or certain gestures are judged diferently in diferent times and contexts. Oliva Salviati We should relativize. Elegance is everywhere. It’s in the tiniest detail created by nature Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo and man; it’s in the heart of a landscape, in a feather or a leaf, in a piece Cyrille Vigneron of haute couture, fine jewelry or an exceptional timepiece. Yet at the The Duke of Wellington same time it remains, for some of us, out of reach like some inaccessible Xiaozhou Taillandier Xing grail. We endlessly admire the innate poise of a large feline, the naturally graceful way a woman holds her head; we envy the break of the dandy’s trousers and his impeccable mustache unfazed by rain or shine. If elegance is equilibrium, then are not those endowed with it virtuosos of balance? PIERRE RAINERO RIGHT PAGE Denis Darzacq, Yohji Yamamoto fashion show, 1997. 4 // ELEGANCE / NUMBER 42 p. 68 p. 86 p. 8 p. 34 p. 40 p. 94 p. 48 p. 58 p. 76 p. 102 p. 62 Editorial 4 // Portfolio 8 // On the Virtue of Elegance 34 // Dandies Past and Present 40 // The Touch of Beauty 48 // Design: Form and Function 58 // An Expressive Singularity 62 // p. 112 The Rhythm of Bodies, the Melody of Drapery 68 // ELEGANCE For Men Only 76 // Iris van Herpen: A Perfect Balance 86 // Elsie de Wolfe: High Priestess of Taste 94 // Through the Photographer’s Eye 102 // N ° 42 On and Of-Screen Elegance 112 ELEGANCE: SOME ARE BORN WITH IT, OTHERS HAVE TO WORK AT IT. ELEGANCE IS HARMONY AND PURITY, RIGHTNESS AND DISCRETION, LIGHTNESS OF TOUCH AND EASE OF MANNER. IT IS TIMELESS AND TRANSCENDS FASHION. IT IS OFTEN OBSERVED WHEN OUT AND ABOUT IN NATURE BUT IT’S ALSO SEEN IN MANMADE CREATIONS; ONE ADMIRES IT IN THE HANDSOME LINES OF AN AUTOMOBILE, IN THE MOVEMENTS OF A SRI LANKAN STILT FISHERMAN OR IN A GEISHA’S HAIRSTYLE. portfolio 12 // ELEGANCE / NUMBER 42 13 // ELEGANCE / NUMBER 42 22 // ELEGANCE / NUMBER 42 23 // ELEGANCE / NUMBER 42 24 // ELEGANCE / NUMBER 42 25 // ELEGANCE / NUMBER 42 30 // ELEGANCE / NUMBER 42 31 // ELEGANCE / NUMBER 42 > What might these gentlemen in frock coats, depicted here by Henri Félix Emmanuel > > In Columbus, Ohio, Topiary Park is the Perfectly fitting dresses, sumptuous jewels, > They are dignified, proud and dressed to Philippoteaux in 1839 afer a gouache by astonishing backdrop for a freshly trimmed doe-like eyes and highlighted lips: women the nines. They love fashion and preen in their Louis Carrogis Carmontelle from 1770, be and flufed poodle in a lion-like pose. Set to excel in the art of finery. When a world colorful outfits. Photographed in 1973–74 discussing? It could be anything: the layout compete in one of those famous American famous American photographer, a member by Ambroise Ngaimoko and in the 2000s by of the new gardens at Saint-Cloud or maybe dog shows, the pooch prances proudly amid of the Magnum Photos agency since 1986, Héctor Mediavilla, these men are sapeurs, their admiration for the charming demoiselles the park’s 54 human figures, eight boats, met an Emirati designer with a strong as members of Congo’s Société des walking along the paths below. In any case, ape and cat fashioned from branches and personality, the results went beyond Ambianceurs et des Personnes Élégantes these men in the country attire of the House leaves that are inspired by the Georges Seurat refinement to give an impression of ascension (SAPE) are known. Inspired by Western of Orléans are certainly taking a break painting, A Sunday Afernoon on the Island of and power: Steve McCurry and Abeer Al tailoring and English dandyism, the SAPE from protocol: the Marquis de Périgny has La Grande Jatte. A curious encounter between Suwaidi are all alone, or nearly, at Fairmont was founded in Brazzaville in the 1920s and his arm around the waist of the Chevalier two arts: canine grooming and topiary. the Palm, Dubai. continues today with an authentic joie de de Saint-Mars, and the Baron de Tourempré vivre spiced with a touch of provocation. is playing with a dog. > The panther, a noble feline with an > Escaping the humdrum of life, the traveler enchantingly agile and powerful silhouette, is charmed by all things foreign. Actions and is the perfect embodiment of elegance. tasks that may appear quotidian for those Its spotted fur, its eyes, its haughty gait and performing them become graceful dances the languid pose of its body at rest make when you are discovering a country, a custom it eminently seductive. Admired by painters, or a trade. At Weligama, in Sri Lanka, sculptors and photographers, it has even stilt fishermen spend hours perched on > been transformed into jewelry, becoming wooden poles tirelessly repeating the same “The Concours d’Élégance en Automobile a Cartier icon and a favorite animal of the choreography much to the delight of tourists combines the presentation of a team that Maison’s clients. and photojournalists. must always include a woman—the man plays an ancillary role, that of driver—and a car whose lines are undeniably elegant.” > Whether lef to its own devices or patiently > An autodidact and key figure in 20th- This definition, formulated by the Fédération sculpted by human hands, nature is a creator century architecture, the work of Luis Française des Véhicules d’Époque, France’s of elegant forms. At the Château de Hautefort Barragán is deeply rooted in his childhood. vintage car society, has remained unchanged in Dordogne, the French-style gardens and Born in Guadalajara, he spent part of it since the first competitions of the 1920s. English-style park of this old medieval castle on the family ranch, where he was steeped This national tradition of uniting famous are among the finest examples of in popular traditions, wide-open spaces, couturiers and classic automakers in a single landscaping in Périgord. Harmoniously bright colors, shadow and light, and the event has been emulated worldwide. In 2008, integrated with the surrounding landscape, clear language of forms and materials. the Maison Cartier created a similar event the building and its grounds are a pleasure These elements were ingeniously integrated in Mumbai, India: Cartier Travel with Style, to explore. into his buildings, as here in the Cuadra San now an annual classic. Cristóbal estate built in 1964-69 in Mexico City. Cartier is a creator of precious objects > < Her face painted white, lips red and nape for elegant women. This powder compact > Military uniforms are attractive. exposed, a geisha stands in her silk kimono. from the early 1930s, made in the London And when the wearer himself is good-looking, Her life, dedicated to the perfection of ateliers, has a style and formal purity many a lady may be of the mind to surrender. Japanese traditional arts, is all delicacy reminiscent of early modern architecture. Perhaps they’ll yield to these cadets from and refinement. Music, dance, poetry, The black curves of the lacquered compact the Belgian Royal Military School, whose literature and the tea ceremony, all subtly contrast with the lines of coral along charming uniforms have all the trappings studied with her “sisters” and long-standing the hinge and clasp. On the outside, it’s a of power. Back straight, head up, an companions, fill her days. More than a simple controlled interplay of matte and shininess; unflinching gaze and impeccably attired, escort, she is an accomplished, admired inside, the mirror ofers the lady a last glimpse military grooming is an art that aims and envied artist. of her powdered cheeks. to impress. 32 // ELEGANCE / NUMBER 42 33 // ELEGANCE / NUMBER 42 portfolio On the Virtue of Elegance In its most fundamental sense, elegance is a person’s unique manner of occupying space and time, of setting him or herself apart from the rest of the world, of “appearing,” as evoked in the “À une passante” poem by Charles Baudelaire: “A woman passed, lifing and swinging / With a pompous gesture the ornamental hem of her garment.” by Charles Pépin 34 // ELEGANCE / NUMBER 42 35 // ELEGANCE / NUMBER 42 legance is principally about movement; or, to put it another way, movement and freedom. Look at Charlotte Rampling in The Night Porter and James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause. It is impossible to conceive of elegance as simply conforming to norms of good taste; Eit is impossible to attain elegance simply by following. You have to set yourself apart from the rest of the world and, at the same time, from social conventions—conventions which you need to have assimilated before seeking freedom from them. But if elegance is only that then it could be mistaken for “cutting a fine figure,” in other words, for style. Elegance is style with the addition of a “moral” component.