Style and the Uncarved Block Philosophy
What is the Chinese philosophy ‘Uncarved Block’ and how does it relate to style? Life Coach Claire Appleby shares her thoughts on exactly how you can apply this philosophy to your advantage.
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The Uncarved Block Philosophy
The uncarved block is a concept from the Chinese philosophy, Taoism. It expresses the idea that things are most pleasing, most expressive and most beautiful when the object’s inner beauty is allowed to shine forth. To give an example, imagine a beautifully and intricately carved wooden sculpture that is lavishly painted in bright colours and real gold leaf.
However stunning the sculpture, it shows nothing of the inner beauty of the wood. Contrast this with a beautiful piece of wood broken from a bough in a gale. Smooth it gently, stain it subtly to bring out the natural beauty of the grain, and there you have a truly wonderful object that radiates its inner beauty.
How does this apply to style?
It applies in two ways; to stylish clothes and to stylish people.
Some of the most stylish clothes are those made from high quality materials that are cut in a way that emphasises the natural beauty of the fabric. Thirty years ago I bought a beautiful pure wool wrap from Aquascutum. It is basically a rectangle, but with a single cut from the centre to one edge that allows it to sit comfortably over the shoulders. The wool is very fine, and knitted rather than woven so that it drapes beautifully. And because it is made of high quality materials, and is stylish rather than fashionable, it has remained beautiful and useful for all of its thirty years.
Stylish clothes use high quality, and preferably natural fabrics that are often breathtakingly beautiful and are, increasingly, organic and have a low environmental impact. Colours are derived from natural, rather than chemical, dyes, and patterns are woven into the fabric rather than printed on top. Styles are relatively unstructured rather than highly tailored, and allow the fabrics to drape and flow, showing off the true beauty of the fabric and enhancing the movement and poise of the wearer.
Clothes that reflect the uncarved block are also those that express your character and values, and that enhance your body shape, posture, movement and vitality. In this way, they reflect the inner beauty of the wearer.
Claire Appleby is The Slow Coach, a life coach who supports clients who want to improve the quality and/or sustainability of their lifestyle by simplifying, slowing down and revitalising their creativity. Clients come to me when they need to change some aspects of their lives but need support in order to do this. They may simply need to be better organised in order to spend more time on the things they value, or they may wish to make radical changes such as down-shifting, e.g. moving from a highly paid but stressful job in the city to a slower rural location with a much lower income but better work-life balance.
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