ELEGANCE IS SIMPLY NEATNESS

Keli H the author getting creative with a fashion collage

I've started doing The Artist's Way again. There's a thorough review about my first experience with it on a previous post. I'm not sure if this blog has a search button or there's a way to integrate it. I could just link the post. But no. This is not my purpose with this blog. This is only a place for me to write because I enjoy the luxury of words. No SEO, no metrics, no keywords, no affiliate links. This blog is for no other reason than I like to write.

I digress, as I sometimes tend to do in these waffling intros to all my posts. I'm on week 4 of The Artist's Way, and this is the week we need to abstain from reading. So instead of reading as part of research for my new book (which will be the third installment of the 400 series), I'm going to write something instead. It doesn't matter that nobody is reading this - I know that because I checked the metrics the other day - I will write it anyway. I'm creating more than I consume, remember.

It's late this morning (7.30am) and I've only got about 15 minutes before I need to start my day, so I'll do a light topic. Something fashion related.

For a few years now, I've been interested in curating my appearance. Trust me, I will be the first person to put my hand up and admit that I used to think that fashion and beauty were such vapid things to be interested in. The word vapid means substanceless or superficial. But, through dabbling in the topic, I've come to realize that your appearance is actually the loudest way you can assert boundaries with people. 

The way you dress tells people exactly how they're allowed to approach you. 

Being well maintained is the equivalent of saying you honour yourself:  Don't bother engaging with me unless you're coming at me with the same respect. Being sloppily dressed is like saying you don't care to spend your time, money, and energy on yourself. And if you don't do it for yourself, honestly, why is anyone else obligated to if it's clearly not something you value anyway.

People make the mistake of equating elegant dressing with some sort of elaborate costume show. I have this theory that being neat is all that's needed to look sophisticated. Things like the old money aesthetic, the mob wife trend, or the clean girl aesthetic will make you look gimmicky or like a caricature of what you're trying to achieve. 

Neatness will make you look far more put together than any trend.

When I talk about being simply neat, I'm really heavy on the simplicity. I only do five things to keep neat consistently:

1. HAIR WASH

I wash my hair every third day because that's usually how long it takes for it to start looking oily. You'll never catch me trying to make it an entire week without a wash, by trying all sorts of saves and tricks - like baby powder, dry shampoo, waxed back ponytails. If my hair is dirty and needs a wash, I wash it. I don't pride myself on walking around with dirty hair in the name of stretching out my last wash. 

2. FACE WASH

I wash my face every morning. And I know this one sounds so ridiculous because of how obvious it is - but you'd honestly be surprised how many people leave the house without washing their faces. And I'm not even expecting a whole skincare routine out of others - clean, booger-free eyes and an odourless face should be the minimum normal. My personal routine is to use a proper face wash, then toner, then eye cream (to prevent wrinkles), and a moisturizer. I usually don't even put make up on top of this, because my face looks fresh and clean enough after four simple steps that take less than five minutes.

3. CLEAN NAILS 

I'm not going to make a comment on the length of nails here - just because I like them short, it doesn't mean it looks elegant. On days when my nails are ragged from biting them, or I have chips in coloured nail polish, or I have brown smudges under the whites from using my fingers to do my make up - my nails don't look neat irrespective of the length. So whatever length of nails you prefer, the take home is just to make sure they look uniform and clean. Chips in polish make it look like you forgot to take care of yourself, dirt under the ends look a little animalistic, and unfiled edges look disheveled.

4. MOISTURIZED SKIN 

Not just your face, your body needs to look healthy too. I'm not going to elaborate too much on this one because there's not much to say other than to regularly use lotion, but I'll leave you with an image. You know those guys who look ashy, powdery, and scaly - that's what you look like when you leave the house without putting some cream on your skin. Sorry!

5. CLEAN CLOTHES

I'm not even talking about fancy clothes here. I'm not talking about designer names, or style tips, or colour pallets. All I'm saying is to make sure you don't have stains on your clothes. I've often been tempted to convince myself that no one else will notice the stain, but these days I don't take that risk. Things like brown marks in the armpit area of a top, a little oil splash from food, or a make up mark are not things I play about anymore. The item will go in the wash and I'll choose something else to wear. This also extends to other small things I'm tempted to ignore - like a funny smell on a dress that came out of the cupboard (I convince myself it will air out as I wear it), or little threads/pilling hanging off my clothes (I pretend they're small things only I can see). These items get fixed before I use them.

And that's really all it is for me. I don't do anything beyond this to look elegant - I don't wear a lot of make up, I don't buy fancy clothes (yet!), I don't do cosmetic treatments, I don't spend money on anything. I just keep it neat and the assumption from others that I am sophisticated comes very easily!

For more articles written by Keli H, the author, visit this blog's home page on keli-h.com

 

Keli H is the award winning author of the 400 series, which includes The Four Hundred Club and Splitting an Empire. The 400 series is high brow contemporary fiction revolving around the lives of wealthy circles. Keli's other works include Creating Literary Art. She is also the founder of The KREST House, a storytelling empire.