To be well dressed, you must be well naked...

I've received many messages from our readers asking me what I think about Elegance and its laws. I do appreciate you putting me as a judge on the matter, but I believe that here no rules apply... 

It is important first of all to have a clear idea of ourselves, of who we are, how we look in front of the mirror...

I like to think of myself as a hanger. Why? Because I strongly believe that clothes are not everything... You have to know how to wear them, carry them. And that is given by your body, your own personal hanger, the one that will help you to really show off what you are wearing...

Style for me is the air, the allure, achieved by the correct, dedicated and methodical care of your body and the confidence in yourself and in what you are capable of. It has to do with your way of thinking, living, seeing things. That's why style can't be bought on a shopping spree, no matter how much we spend. Nor does it has to do with fashion or the latest trends. All that is temporary. Style, however, as it is a product of our personality, lasts longer, defines us. 

On a recent interview on US' Vanity Fair, my beloved Oscar de la Renta explained that the difference between Fashion and Style is that Fashion has to do with getting dressed according to the latest trends, while style is more about being oneself. "To be well dressed, you must be well naked... Comfortable in your own skin."

However, you must not think of Style as something still, but mainly as something that can be re-educated, developed and updated every day, every morning, according to our state of mind and mood.

This is why I do not recall a certain date as origin to my sense of style, for it has suffered transitions along my life, becoming what it is today, without me being very conscious of its changes.

To work on your own Style, it is important to build a relationship with the mirror, because it can became your best friend but also the cruelest of your enemies. You need to invest on a good mirror, big enough to reflect your entire body, head to toes, and good enough to have no imperfections or waves that may distort your reflection.

You must place it on a convenient spot, where you could step in front of it comfortable and with enough room to turn around. Good lighting is essential, for if not you'll see flaws where there are none. In my house, all the doors in my dressing room have mirrors and I also have huge ones on my bathroom, because that's where I get dressed and apply my make-up.

The image reflected by the mirror is the result of the intimate combination between your inside and your outside. The outside needs creams, lotions, beauty treatments and exercise. Your inside is nurtured with books, good movies, exhibitions, happy experiences, friendship, meditation. The perfect connection between the two of them will result in your hanger.

As George Bryan Brummel said, Elegance is movement. He was a dandy, a snob, a true original that was never afraid of his sense of style nor of his will to impose that style on others. He spent a fortune on clothes. He is credited with introducing and establishing as fashion the modern men's suit, worn with a tie. He worshipped the difficult and impossible art of being "conspicuously inconspicuous." He must have done so once or twice during his busy life...