In men’s style, sprezzatura is the deliberately ‘off’ gesture that elevates fashion victim to fashion victor. It’s anti-dandy: the studied nonchalance of a suit worn with hiking boots, or the effortful effortlessness of a lopsided tie, blades askew. Masters of the art have included the swashbuckling photographer Peter Beard, his roll-neck jumper at odds with his tuxedo jacket, and Italian industrialist Gianni Agnelli, whose signature was a chunky watch worn over his shirt cuff. (King Charles is sometimes cited as sprezzatura for wearing a double-breasted blazer rakishly unbuttoned, but his sprezza cred is shaky after reports that His Maj requires his shoelaces to be ironed every morning.)
The right perfume can blur one’s (unintended) imperfections, the olfactory equivalent of Vaseline on a camera lens
