I’ve been seeing a lot of posts about things that are incredibly chic and while I don’t disagree with what the creators are saying, I find that their suggestions are a little boring. Yes, I think something can be chic and boring. If you search “things I find chic” on any social platform you’ll see things like high turtlenecks, white jeans, slicked-back buns, cape coats, and knitwear at the beach. While all of those things can be very chic, they’re boring. No one is doing a double-take at a woman with a slicked-back bun wearing white jeans and a cardigan at the beach. Nothing remarkable is happening with that look.
What is chic is determined by the group you want to belong to and the common thread I’m seeing in the “what is chic” discourse is wanting to look like you benefit from generational wealth. I get it. People want the security that money can bring so dressing like the people that have it might be the closest we can get to their status right now. I think it’s worth noting that look is very WASP, very J. Crew catalog, and unequivocally not the only way wealthy people dress.
As I’m refining my personal style and how I want to dress, I’ve been thinking a lot about how what we wear says a lot about who we are, who we want to become, and how we want other people to see us. So, again, I understand why dressing like a Vanderbilt or Rothschild sounds appealing. I understand why markers of those that belong to that group are coveted.
However, we aren’t here today to discuss how wealthy people dress because frankly, I don’t care what they put on their bodies. I used to because I wanted to be accepted and seen as part of that recognizably elite group, but what’s more important to me now is feeling like myself. I don’t feel like myself in a lady jacket. I feel like I’m cosplaying my grandmother.
Whether the Good Lord decides to let the fruit of my effort make me wealthy or not, I always want to feel confident and at home in my body. Putting on someone else’s garb as a costume just isn’t going to cut it for me. So instead of the same old same list of things I find utterly chic, my list has flavor. More than just salt and pepper. This has been made in a cast iron skillet with a few dashes of Tony Chachere’s.
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