The Pitfalls of Beachy Waves: Sprezzatura May be Harming Our Value System

Curling my hair is a common occurrence in my morning routine. Every day, I carefully section off each strand and deftly wrap it around the curling iron, a process that can easily take up to thirty minutes. When finished, I apply a generous (maybe too generous) amount of hairspray to ensure quality curls throughout my day.

My hair on any given morning. 

Sounds pretty normal, doesn't it? I should be able to walk out the door at that point, but each time I run into a problem:

My hair looks perfect, almost too perfect.


I know it's near impossible, but I want my hair to look like I rolled out of bed with subtle, gorgeous waves. So, I implement my next step: brushing out all of my hard work in order to make it look like I hadn't spent the last half-hour curling it.

Am I crazy?

This notion of an "effortlessly cool" look is not uncommon today: Athleisure seems to be what everyone is wearing. Red carpet events are becoming increasingly casual. Messy buns are getting, well, messier.

During the Renaissance era, Baldassare Castiglione coined the phrase "Sprezzatura," meaning studied carelessness. He invoked society to portray true civility by exhibiting a certain grace that can only be learned through hard work and practice. The trick? These gentlemen had to make it look effortless, which required courtiers to maintain a public facade in order to successfully feign Sprezzatura.

My public facade, cool beachy waves, isn't necessarily bad. Neither was a courtier's Sprezzatura. It's completely normal for one to want to portray their best self in public, I see it every day on campus. However, I can't help but wonder if "Sprezzatura" is disvaluing the very traits we seek to exhibit.

In a world so enamored by beauty and style, why trade actual skill and effort for the appearance of nonchalant, casual elegance? For an era (such as the Renaissance) that focused so heavily on a search for higher culture, for knowledge and wit and intelligence, why downplay the effort it takes to get there?

Although the facade looks nice, and trust me, I want to look nice, I worry that applying these ideals to society can lead to a loss of appreciation for the work involved in the process. Disregarding actions, talents, and ideas as "easy" or "done without thought" significantly disvalues them.

After all, if these traits are expected to be innate, why seek to learn them at all? Can we truly appreciate the elegance of the messy bun without understanding the work it took to style it?