Elegance Is the Opposite of Complicated

It's about stripping away the extraneous, including in how you live your life.

The true definition of elegance

Words by Leah Melby Clinton

In a reminder that inspiration can strike anywhere, I was stopped this weekend by a quote in a piece of literature from a school we’re considering for my daughter. It’s not attributed to a philosopher or celebrity but likely just the work of a talented copywriter.

When we strive for simplicity, we aim for the elegant over the complicated.

I stopped and read it again, then sat, inspired.

In some corner of my brain I knew that the word was a synonym for simplicity, but I’d long ago stopped thinking about it like that. Rather, it had become a byword for chic and stylish, a word we all knew but might be hard pressed to actually define.

Standing in my kitchen, pamphlet in hand, I mentally arranged image and word side by side and remembered that elegant is the antithesis of overdone or complex or cumbersome. It’s clean lines and confident, clear direction. It’s something that doesn’t need more to be special, but just is, on its own.

“Scientific precision, neatness, and simplicity,” reads Merriam-Webster.

As a fashion writer, I almost exclusively think of ‘elegant’ as an adjective for clothing or someone’s personal style. When really considering the word, though, it’s obvious that it’s less about the garment or the accessory than the way it’s worn: effortlessly, with a sense of ease that’s only possible when all the extraneous things have been stripped away.

Being reminded that elegance, technically, is about simplicity felt like a message from the universe—permission, or a directive, to live with more ease. A week ago I would have cringed at the idea of writing about “an elegant life,” yet here we are.

So many of the women I’ve chatted with recently (including in a thread in the private group chat of Diana, the women’s membership community I run—you can learn more and join us here) seem focused on that idea: “How can I simplify my life?”

We’re all busier than ever, feeling the added weight of everything that’s constantly being broadcast around us. We need our own lives to be less complicated and as far from complex as possible.

Cutting back, saying no, and declining the invitations that don’t matter isn’t just a sanity-saving measure, but elegance. And when you think about it like that, doesn’t it somehow feel easier, and more desirable, to have less?

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I’ve always appreciated the shopping advice to wear something within a week of buying—or return it—but what about the stuff we buy pre-season, so we’ll be ready?

That’s how I was with this coat. I snapped it up before fall had even really arrived (and just laughed when discovering an old photo on my camera roll, me trying it on when it had arrived with bare legs and my favorite Teva walking sandals).

Since winter weather has officially arrived in the Northeast, it’s been my favorite go-to. I love that it has a cozy robe shape and works just as well with jeans and dresses as it does my gym togs. (And I obviously really love that it’s the wildly more wallet-friendly alt to the MaxMara teddy bear coat I’ve looked at longingly for seasons.) It’s poly but warm, and I haven’t looked back. (And it’s on sale right now!)