The difference between luxury and chic

Le Duc and I have just booked another trip to Paris in the autumn, so I am dreaming of chic.

I'm already longing for the first caw of a raven outside the apartment, the smell of diesel fuel, the familiar and beloved streetscapes, and a crepe au citron.

I will fill my eyes with the picturesque, time-worn, idiosyncratic, charming and correct.

And of course, I will discreetly ogle all manner of chic Parisiennes.

"Luxury is a humourless thing, largely. Chic is all about humour, which means chic is about intelligence.

And there has to be oddness- most luxury is conformist, and chic cannot be.

Chic must be polite, but within that, it can be as weird as it wants."

- Luca Turin, scientist, perfume guru


Photo: Scott Schuman
The Sartorialist
www.thesartorialist.blogspot.com