The Moment of Decision – Beauty #3

by | Oct 20, 2015 | Beauty - 2009, 2015, Coco Chanel | 2 comments

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Know Thyself

I started this drawing with the idea that the grey woman would represent the person who did not know herself and this didn’t see herself as beautiful.  But as soon as I started to draw the colorful woman I realized the mistake.  BOTH women can know themselves and BOTH women can see their own beauty.

Bad Beauty, Bad.

I had a discussion last week with a photographer friend who posted a photo of herself relaxing in a hot tub after a very hard, emotional couple of days.  It represented for her feeling relief and joy at making it through a bad time. She took it down because she was self-conscious, then she put it up again because she didn’t want to give in to her fear of what others would think. I told her I was happy she put it back up because it said she was confident and strong in her beauty and happiness.  She asked, “But isn’t that wrong?  I would never think I am better than anyone.” 

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It seemed to me she was equating her believing she was beautiful (looking good, in other words) with vanity, ego and superiority over others. My thought was that while being vain and egotistical about it is wrong, knowing you are beautiful does not necessarily mean you are vain or egotistical.  

Good Beauty, Good

It isn’t you comparing yourself, it’s you enjoying who you are. It’s about joy and fun, not about judgment and comparing. It’s about allowing that you have a right to express all of you, that includes your beauty, sensuality, femininity, as well as your moods, mind, love, feelings, ideas, etc. 

I don’t think recognizing and enjoying one’s own beauty is bad.  What do you think?

 

Drawing and commentary ©2015 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com

Quote by Coco Chanel, 1883-1971, French fashion designer

 

 

Elegance is Refusal – Style Lesson #2

by | Feb 16, 2012 | Coco Chanel, Style Lessons - 2012 | 8 comments

It’s Fashion Week in New York and Fashion Week here as well!

Elegance is Refusal

What does this quote mean?

I understand most every quote I come across.  I know what they mean to say and I understand why they are saying it. Not so with this quote. I saw it last week when I was planning out my style series and decided I would NOT do a napkin on it since I had no clue what Coco Chanel meant by it.  I still don’t completely. But, here is a funny thing.  Today I decided to just put the quote on the page, nothing else, then ask you what you thought it meant. I would then finish the drawing based on the feedback. But after I did the words on the page this idea of just a hand came to me, the ‘take to the hand’ hand.  So I thought I would just draw the hand in the middle of the page, but that led to the face and I drew the arm funny so that led it to being a landscape then that led to deciding what she was refusing and that lead to me thinking…ah, maybe I do understand it after all…

But I am still not sure so I want your feedback.

  • What does this quote mean?
  • Does it reflect itself in your life, or in those you know and admire perhaps?
  • How does elegance (and its definition in the quote) fit in with fashion and style?

Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman, who thinks fine dining is elegant.

Quote by Coco Chanel, 1883-1971, French fashion designer.