It’s 2016–I’m not going to bore you with a rehashed definition of sprezzatura. OK, maybe I will. Sprezzatura has come to mean, in the context of men’s clothing, things done or undone to give the impression of nonchalance, of not caring too much about your appearance. But, when your nonchalance is deliberate (as it most certainly is in the more famous practitioners of sprezz, many of whom work in the clothing industry), does it then become… chalant? “Nonchalance” has no English opposite, but it’s rooted (through French) in the same Latin word as “calorie” and, in Spanish, “caliente.” So if the Latin root means heat, nonchalant sort of means non-heat, or: cool. Sprezzatura: it’s not a buckle left unbuckled; it’s coolness.
So for 2016: Resolve to be cooler. Wear your favorite clothes all the time. Find some new favorite clothes. Take good care of your things and better care of yourself. Broaden your cultural horizons. Read good books. See more art. Listen to good music, and new music. Eat/cook delicious food. Travel as much as you can. Work to figure out what you’re best at, and do that thing all the damn time. Be cooler, and you’ll probably look cooler, too.
–Pete
