Can you be elegant if you’re not elegant looking?

[Anonymous]

Carolina Herrera and Diane Von Furstenberg are two examples of with what some may consider imperfect looks/body type but both women ooze elegance all the time.

[Anonymous]

It’s mostly about thin and classic clothes, but you can be heavier as long as your face is thin - even bony.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Carolina Herrera and Diane Von Furstenberg are two examples of with what some may consider imperfect looks/body type but both women ooze elegance all the time.

Yes! Great examples.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP- Because someone doesn't consider Oprah or Serena Williams "elegant" doesn't make them racist. Stop it. Oprah looks like a disaster often and Serena Williams has a masculine physique and poor clothing taste- and that dress doesn't fit her well ether. Wearing a ball gown doesn't make you elegant, and neither does skin color. There are elegant women of all colors and we all have different taste in what the criteria is- but no one here has said "white" is one of them. Please stop accusing total strangers that disagree with you about beauty and elegance that their opinion is racist.

It's funny how the only examples they can come up with are white/thin women. As if white/thin women are the only people who can be elegant, or present themselves with elegance. I'm tired of the "elegance" obsession on this forum. "Elegance" and "classy" ... the bywords for DCUM posters. I think Kate Middleton is lovely, but I'm tired of thin white women being held up as elegant, and any woman daring to have boobs is written off and told to cover up.

True. Travel to Baltimore and visit the Barnes and Noble on Reistertown Road right off 695. In fact that entire shopping center is filled with UC black women who are impeccably groomed and dress. Scarves, short savvy hair styles (usually gray), fantastic light makeup with great lip color and the way they hold their carriage, I'm sorry but I just stare in envy. I could never look that "perfect" and yes, they are perfect, at least in appearance. I might add one other thing, manners. Holding oneself in a certain way and having excellent manners is paramount to looking elegant. Signed .... a thin, rich white woman.

Stop the sock puppeting, race lady. It’s so transparent.

+1
Such a weirdly specific post. As if all the women at that particular B&N look a certain way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And too much boob. Not elegant.

All the boobs and all the elegance brought to you by Aishwarya Rai at Cannes...

Nope not in this dress or pic

I know patterns, colors and bodies are scary to you. I know they are. But some of us don't just think elegance means another hungry-looking woman in a boring shift dress and pearls.

+1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And too much boob. Not elegant.

All the boobs and all the elegance brought to you by Aishwarya Rai at Cannes...

Nope not in this dress or pic

I know patterns, colors and bodies are scary to you. I know they are. But some of us don't just think elegance means another hungry-looking woman in a boring shift dress and pearls.

Not at all! I'm the poster with the long list above. It's not so much about the pattern, it's more about the style. It doesn't elongate her body. If I were to design it for her in the same pattern (I have some experience), the neck would be mock neck halter, open back, lose the train, less dramatic puddle hem, hair up, way less makeup which conflicts with vibrant colored dress. She's lovely, her body is a non factor.

Totally agree. She's gorgeous, but looks like she's wearing a butterfly costume.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd never really thought about it before, but it's true I associate elegance with a combination of slenderness, poise, and polish. Gemma Chan and Ruth Negga are two examples that come to mind now. I'm having trouble thinking of any white women I think of as elegant. I would describe Martha Stewart and Ina Garten, examples cited above, as polished rather than elegant per se. Not always stick-thin though-- Diahann Carroll is extremely elegant.

In general though, I guess I've been socialized to think of elegance tied to a certain body type. Maybe because it's easier for skinny women to wear almost any cut of clothing?

It’s because majority of women in United States are afraid to experience with style. I always feel like American women come to the store and ask to give something nobody notice them in.

It’s because majority of women in the D.C. area are afraid to experience with style. I always feel like D.C. area women come to the store and ask to give something nobody notice them in.

Fixed that for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And too much boob. Not elegant.

All the boobs and all the elegance brought to you by Aishwarya Rai at Cannes...

Nope not in this dress or pic

I know patterns, colors and bodies are scary to you. I know they are. But some of us don't just think elegance means another hungry-looking woman in a boring shift dress and pearls.

Not at all! I'm the poster with the long list above. It's not so much about the pattern, it's more about the style. It doesn't elongate her body. If I were to design it for her in the same pattern (I have some experience), the neck would be mock neck halter, open back, lose the train, less dramatic puddle hem, hair up, way less makeup which conflicts with vibrant colored dress. She's lovely, her body is a non factor.

Totally agree. She's gorgeous, but looks like she's wearing a butterfly costume.

+1

I really, really want to like that look, because I like the dress, and Aishwarya is stunning, but she needs a different look, somehow. Her neck and head look undersized for what she is wearing (and they are not undersized, it's just a weird look for that hairstyle and neckline combination).

[Anonymous]

Thandie Newton.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thandie Newton.

She's both gorgeous and thin, so not really responsive to OP's question.

[Anonymous]

You do realize you posted these ladies all going to an extravagant event, and then posted the last female walking down the sidewalk? Do you have a photo of the last women going to an extravagant event so I can make a true comparison?
Kate without makeup not so glamorous
https://www.pinterest.de/pin/12314598965808954/

I’m sure if you google all your ladies without makeup walking down the sidewalk they’d look plain Jane!

[Anonymous]

Iman no makeup
https://thisblksistaspage.wordpress.com/2011/03/08/iman-not-a-great-beauty-either-especially-without-her-make-up/amp/?usqp=mq331AQCKAE%3D


Don’t want to burst your elegant bubble but a blowout, makeup, spray tans, designer dresses and jewelry will transform everyone

[Anonymous]

Learn how to post images properly, or don’t bother.

[Anonymous]

Ok toddler!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd never really thought about it before, but it's true I associate elegance with a combination of slenderness, poise, and polish. Gemma Chan and Ruth Negga are two examples that come to mind now. I'm having trouble thinking of any white women I think of as elegant. I would describe Martha Stewart and Ina Garten, examples cited above, as polished rather than elegant per se. Not always stick-thin though-- Diahann Carroll is extremely elegant.

In general though, I guess I've been socialized to think of elegance tied to a certain body type. Maybe because it's easier for skinny women to wear almost any cut of clothing?

It’s because majority of women in United States are afraid to experience with style. I always feel like American women come to the store and ask to give something nobody notice them in.

It’s because majority of women in the D.C. area are afraid to experience with style. I always feel like D.C. area women come to the store and ask to give something nobody notice them in.

Fixed that for you.

Agreed. This is NOT an American thing. Americans are fashionable. DC is cowardly.