Sophistication in search of excellence in fashion. That degree of elegance that seeks to raise some kind of altar rather than stand out, can cause the opposite effect. It may even be that one day he goes out into the street naked like that tale emperor, thinking that he leaves adorned with the most inaccessible fabrics even for the eyes of the vulgar... Until the boy in the story arrives and emphatically affirms that the emperor is naked... Something like what Cecil Beaton did, fed up with bizarre searches for the elegance.
Cecil Beaton was asked: what is elegance? And he replied: soap and water. Which is the same as saying: what is elegant is what is simple, what is useful, what is traditional. Involuntary elegance is associated with a generous gesture, with discreet joy, with the person who contributes and appeases.
The book is divided into three parts: "Temperaments", "Objects" and "Places". A personal canon built not as a refuge against vulgarity -vulgarity can be wonderful-, but against the substitute. A supplement of affinities in the form of a dictionary completes the text. The world of this book is fragmentary, slow, of easy coexistence. The name sweep can be read randomly. Don't expect strong emotions. Open to any page, a bit of company, discover something, go for a walk. That would be perfect.
Soap and Water talks about the love of public libraries, cheap humour, maps, the Cirlot family, Paul Léautaud, the unbeatable charm of little birds, the wandering walk, suspicious hippies, old pastry shops, trains and zeppelins, Bruno Munari, Fleur Cowles, our parents' honeymoon trips, Wagner's Venice, storytelling dogs, eating fruit straight from the tree, the cheesy and the campy, the Rastro, Josep Pla, the manias, the three-cornered hats, the blankets, Snoopy, sweeping our piece of sidewalk, Giorgio Morandi, Carlos Barral, Ricardo Bofill, surfing, wool, cheese, gardens.
What is collected in Water and soap is the result of an intuitive and messy path. There are old and recent loyalties. There is, above all, silence, admiration, patience and predilection for the closest reality.
You can now buy the book “Water and soap”, by Marta D. Riezu here:
