9 minute read
In Support of Beauty by Lucia van der Post
oethe said that few can make beauty but that many need it. We all of us know that he was right. What the long, tedious months of Covid have shown us is that we can live pretty easily without the latest It handbag, we survive pretty well without another gewgaw or yet another fancy frock, but what the human spirit cannot do without is beauty. All through those dire times those inspiring spirits whose life’s work is creating beauty in the arts, whether in music, or the figurative arts, in dance or in literature, were thinking up ever-more innovative ways to keep their art alive. Like those brave spirits who were playing their violins and cellos in the extermination camps; they knew that to emerge psychologically whole some kind of beauty in their lives was not a luxury – it was a necessity.
Beauty comes in many forms. It has always been elusive, mysterious, compelling. Most of us recognise it when we see it and it has the capacity to evoke in us deep and powerful emotions. Not long before lockdown shut down our major artistic institutions, I was at the Royal Opera House where one of the most ravishing productions of The Sleeping Beauty was playing. In the interval I turned round to talk to two young girls, one of whom I knew and who had brought a friend who had never seen a ballet before – tears were streaming down her face. “I have never seen anything quite so beautiful,” she whispered through her tears. It takes great art – and great beauty – to move people this deeply.
This need for beauty clearly lies deep in humankind’s DNA. If we look back into the mists of time, we see many different peoples from all around the world who clearly believed that there should be more to life than mere survival. We see that creating beautiful things – whether it be Mayan or Cambodian temples, Egyptian pyramids, Aztec pottery, Benin bronzes, Japanese Yayoi pottery or bronze swords, decorating ostrich shells in the deserts – was somehow essential for their psychological survival. In the strictest functional sense none of these things was necessary. Superficially they appear to be indulgences, luxuries even, but to those who made them they were clearly, for spiritual and psychological reasons, deeply necessary.
LUCIA VAN DER POST
In Support of Beauty
It can inspire us, give us hope and make us better people – and is essential to our happiness
Lucia van der Post ► Lucia van der Post is the former editor and main feature writer on the How To Spend It pages of the weekend section of the Financial Times, which she turned into cult Saturday reading, and was the launch editor of its award-winning monthly colour supplement also called How To Spend It. She still writes regularly for How To Spend It where she is an associate editor.
Opposite ► A defining moment in the history of beauty on the runway – Christian Lacroix’s AW 2003 haute couture collection.
Left ► Craftsmanship that stirs the soul – from an ornately decorated ostrich egg to a hand-illustrated Sabina Savage silk gown.
SIR ROGER SCRUTON PHILOSOPHER & WRITER
Opposite ► The Sleeping Beauty at The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London.
I once discussed the matter of this human craving for beauty with the late, great Sir Roger Scruton, who wrote that: “Beauty is not confined to sublime vistas and visions at the edge of the world.” He believed, as do I, that it is something we can incorporate into our lives and which “we cherish as a proof that life is worthwhile. It is everyone’s ambition,” he believed, “to have a beautiful home and to live in it beautifully.” And he cited the care with which many of us take over the way we dress, the trouble we take when we lay a table, not just to provide the necessary utensils to eat with but to give us some deeper pleasure, to make us feel better about the place we are in. He believed not just that “beauty is good for us but that it is one of the things that makes us good. It lifts the spirits, warms the heart, engages the mind.” He also noted how it is that “when we beauty carelessly spoiled, we experience that strange innerving sense of desecration.”
I’ve never forgotten the great and widespread sense of sorrow when the monumental and wonderful Buddhas of Bamiyan were blown up by the Taliban. They were two 50-metre-high, 6thcentury statues of Gautama Buddha carved into the side of a cliff in the Bamiyan valley of central Afghanistan. They were clearly of no practical value to the peoples of the valley but their beauty, their powerful spirit was crucial to their psychological sense of wellbeing. There is a very moving YouTube video on the subject and the heartbreak caused by their loss is summed up in the voice of one Afghan refugee: “I felt so much sorrow in my heart,” he says – and he clearly speaks for most of the Bamiyan people.
Which brings me to Walpole and its many members. Though almost everything they are engaged in producing is functional and has a purpose, this does not preclude the extra gift of beauty. For years it seemed that many were more preoccupied with the edgy, the ephemeral and the ruthlessly avant-garde and that beauty had been pushed into the shadows. But Covid has clearly caused many of us to have a rethink as to what it is that really matters to us, and I get the sense that there is a soul-deep craving to seek out beauty in this world. There is a longing for the timelessness that is an essential quality of true beauty – for beauty endures whereas the edgy and the avant-garde do not always survive for very long. I still remember the great sense of loss I felt when I heard, years ago now, that Christian Lacroix’s business was folding. This was largely because one bleak and cold evening in the depths of the South African winter we had found ourselves eating a grim meal in the only café open on a Sunday night in the small inland town we were in but playing on a video link, for some unfathomable reason, was the whole catwalk show of a Christian Lacroix fashion offering. I was blown away by both its ethereal beauty and how it illuminated our time in that dire café.
From time to time when I was editing the Financial Times’ How To Spend It magazine I would get letters of complaint about the title and the contents – some considered it vulgar, “an affront to our times” thundered another. Some would seem to feel that because not everybody could afford the things we showed it was crass to feature them at all. Always I would reply: yes, because we aimed to feature the best of the best, some of the things were necessarily expensive but we tried to emphasise the art, the craft, the skills and often the sheer beauty that justified the high prices. Would they prefer, I would reply, to live in a world without these beautiful things? Would they be happy to see the skills and the crafts die out for lack of appreciation?
Not all of us can afford many of the beautiful things Walpole members are engaged in creating, but I sense there is a growing realisation of our collective need for their existence. We would all be the poorer if fine things were no longer made. And not all beauty comes with a high price tag. Quite apart from the natural wonders around us we can seek – and find – beauty in something as simple as a wine glass, in a soft linen handkerchief, in the curves of a wooden spoon, in a candlestick, in a silky scarf, or just a finely hued chopping board. Beauty, if one looks for it, comes in many forms and Goethe was right – we need it.
Opposite ► Mouth-blown crystal coupe from Richard Brendon’s Cocktail Collection.
Left ► Sabina Savage Silk Wrap Shirt & Lounge Trousers, hand-made at their London atelier. Handdrawn in London, and printed and hand-finished in Como, Italy.
Member Guide
2021 – 2022
Walpole is the United Kingdom’s official trade body for the luxury sector, with a mission to protect, promote and develop British luxury at home and abroad.
Our membership comprises more than 250 of the finest brands across a broad range of sectors: from retail to interior design & craftsmanship, food & drink to fashion, accessories to beauty, through hospitality, culture and the media to automotive and yachting. Walpole members are united by a common focus on discerning and affluent consumers and a shared mission to deliver world-class products and experiences. We achieve this by:
Representing our members’ interests at home and abroad, building networks and encouraging collaboration within our Community and providing members with Knowledge, Insight & Expertise.
