08 August 2010

The Roitfeld Kiddies

Vanity Fair has announced their 2010 International Best Dressed List and both Roitfeld kids Julia and Vladimir Restoin-Roitfeld are on it. They hardly belong up there with Kate, Carine and Pharrell (yes, he's in the list!). Julia gets tartier with every new outfit; and Vlad Vlad, while cute and all that (pity about the horriblah girlfriend), is merely as well dressed as any of those young men in the international fashion flock - they are a legion. Attractive doesn't mean well dressed, just as well dressed doesn't mean stylish, nor stylish, chic. I wish these list makers would get these definitions straight and not make lists more meaningless than they already are.

6 comments:

  1. i am lost. they do overlap right? are we splitting follicles? Prease educate Beauty.

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  2. Beauty: Nope not splitting follicles. Do they overlap? A bit, I suppose, and these things are hard to classify but I'll try. IMHO:
    1. attractive: jay chou might be attractive, but he's badly dressed, someone should kill the stylist, hairdresser etc. jay chou is attractive despite being badly dressed, or perversely, attractive because he is badly dressed.
    2. well-dressed: i think this has to do with being correct, appropriate, polished, co-ordinated, fashionable - anna wintour might be well-dressed, but she's not stylish, in a way that isabella blow was stylish. well-dressed has to do with grooming, and i think sadly, money.
    3. stylish: has to do with personal taste, therefore eccentricity, irony, humour all enter - you could say lady gaga is stylish, but well-dressed? probably not. gwyneth is well dressed, karl lagerfeld is stylish. Stylish can be assembled from thrift, and does not necessarily mean rich.
    4. chic: i think this means well-dressed but with a parisian inflection (as opposed to italian, singaporean etc). Carine, catherine deneuve, inez de la fressange all are chic... and french! I think this is hardest to achieve. Chic is not pretty, because carine's daughter is not chic at all, just attractive.
    Hope this is a bit clearer.

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  3. so in that sense maggie cheung is evolving from stylish to chic by prolonged stay & immersion in french culture, oui? and i agree: chic is the hardest to achieve & sustain. it's almost like a state of grace...

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  4. Anon: That's a good example!
    Ms Cheung really is evolving into a true blue ms chic - not pretty anymore, thin, chain smoking, challenging, intellectual... Once i saw her in the Marais, round about lunch and she was cycling about the shops (looking for food i'm guessing) and she was so chic - in a black turtle neck, under a puffa vest, hair in a tight ponytail, with big black shades, thoroughly self possessed. Chic!
    And i like the way you've put it - it is a state of grace isn't it?

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  5. i really like this post!
    -kiki

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  6. Dear Kiki: Thank you for your kind comment! Tell me what you like about this?

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