Vreeland, Chanel, and Mrs. G.
Aug. 4th, 2000 12:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
zenbroOn my short list of people I actually admire is a woman I work with. She's a 74 year old attorney, well-respected in her field, and extremely resilient. She fled Nazi Germany with her family, graduated from London School of Economics in 1947 and then Yale Law in 1952. She's also authored several books on the legal rights of children and the mother of four children.
But that's just her resume. I know her personally as a highly principled and caring individual, a classy dresser with a sharp mind, a gentle yet solid negotiator. In the ten-plus years I've known her, I have always wanted to incorporate her self-knowing and poised style.
After her husband died recently, her niece stopped by the office to chat. On her way out, she turned to Mrs. G. in an apparent gesture of sympathy and asked," So, do you think you'd like to come over sometime?"
Mrs. G. gave a short laugh, smiled and said simply, "No, I don't think so." The niece was a little stunned, but hugged her and then left.
Doesn't that fucking rock? Obviously Mrs. G. knows life is too short for bullshit, and actually demonstrates it, elegantly and effectively.
Diana Vreeland once said "elegance is refusal." You have to know where to edit your life, in order to get the most out of it. Why put up with a mediocre situation if you're not getting any benefit from it?
Chanel once said, "People think the opposite of luxury is poverty. It is not. It is vulgarity."
What does that mean? Well, I think luxury in life comes from simply bearing witness to yourself, acknowledging what you find, owning it, working with it, enhancing it, changing it.
But what did she mean by vulgarity? I think she was saying that poverty of the spirit lies in excess without connoisseurship, information without working wisdom, stimulation without sensuality.
So Chanel rocks. She was a fucking zen master. She was a jet black iron cannonball speeding through the night. (According to her biography, she was also a raving bitch.)
Hey, just because I admire people doesn't necessarily mean I want to eat lunch with them...
But that's just her resume. I know her personally as a highly principled and caring individual, a classy dresser with a sharp mind, a gentle yet solid negotiator. In the ten-plus years I've known her, I have always wanted to incorporate her self-knowing and poised style.
After her husband died recently, her niece stopped by the office to chat. On her way out, she turned to Mrs. G. in an apparent gesture of sympathy and asked," So, do you think you'd like to come over sometime?"
Mrs. G. gave a short laugh, smiled and said simply, "No, I don't think so." The niece was a little stunned, but hugged her and then left.
Doesn't that fucking rock? Obviously Mrs. G. knows life is too short for bullshit, and actually demonstrates it, elegantly and effectively.
Diana Vreeland once said "elegance is refusal." You have to know where to edit your life, in order to get the most out of it. Why put up with a mediocre situation if you're not getting any benefit from it?
Chanel once said, "People think the opposite of luxury is poverty. It is not. It is vulgarity."
What does that mean? Well, I think luxury in life comes from simply bearing witness to yourself, acknowledging what you find, owning it, working with it, enhancing it, changing it.
But what did she mean by vulgarity? I think she was saying that poverty of the spirit lies in excess without connoisseurship, information without working wisdom, stimulation without sensuality.
So Chanel rocks. She was a fucking zen master. She was a jet black iron cannonball speeding through the night. (According to her biography, she was also a raving bitch.)
Hey, just because I admire people doesn't necessarily mean I want to eat lunch with them...
