- Just walking along, I spotted this amazing work of utilitarian art: a Rene Lalique glass door.
A deeply satisfying conversation with a dear friend led me to take a journey of personal recollections. As we bring one year to a close and start a new year full of promise and plans, it seems appropriate to share some of the thoughts with you.
My friend wondered where and when my artistic eye developed.
The question came at me the same way I enjoy watching Charlie Rose interview his guests. So it took me by surprise that my friend had asked such a thought-provoking question. It also surprised me that I had to think about it with her.
What I got out of it was how important it is to our lives that we all plan to take a journey.
In answer to her question, absolutely part of my artistic ability is just intrinsic to my being. There is something about my aesthetic eye for beauty, uncultured and uneducated, that instinctively deals with style artistically. But in no way was that the whole answer.
I’ve always been attracted to studying art, artists, and history, all of which have a great interplay on how we look at style from both historical and modern-day contexts. But it wasn’t until I planned to take a journey to Paris in February 2007 when my instinctive eye started to get a serious education.
- This is the modern-day appearance of Monet’s Japanese bridge at his water lily pond in Giverny.
- This is Monet’s painted interpretation of that same Japanese bridge.
My mom had passed away six weeks before this trip, and I had ambivalent feelings about fulfilling the plan to take this particular journey. But I went, and it forever changed the way I visually receive information.
Seeing some of the world’s greatest art made me appreciate the art, and how that art represents various styles. Impressionism and contemporary art grab my eye the most, a visual feast of subjects, colors, textures, and contexts. It was never satisfying through a textbook, but seeing artworks hanging on museum walls in Paris gave me a profound desire to learn and to not rely on instinct.
- Scooping up the latest Paris fashions in Le Bon Marche, the original and most upscale grand magasin.
Most significantly has also become the chance to experience fashion in contexts outside of our local environment. Fashion comes from inspiration, being able to walk the streets, seeing how people are living, and what’s happening in other places. This gives way to fresh ideas that affect the way we want to live.
- Paris shimmering at night.
Ever since that trip, I’ve gone on to plan and take many more journeys back to Paris, and to many other wonderful destinations, so that I could continue learning and exploring, expanding my horizons. Inspired to live to my personal best, these journeys help me work at a very high level as an image consultant.
Opening up my sense of curiosity about life, people, and culture was an imminent outcome of such great experiences.
A journey can be something you experience by plane ride, or it could be another exciting experience. As the New Year is upon us, I hope you will plan to take a journey of some kind in the coming year. Do something that opens your eyes, challenges your thinking, and helps you grow and achieve your goals. Should one of your journeys involve me as your image consultant, just know that it will be filled with curiosity about how you want to live your best life.
Joseph Rosenfeld helps high-profile individuals revitalize, manage, and be secure in their personal visual brand. Visit JosephRosenfeld.com for details.
