The “Little Black Dress” Aesthetic

Mar 8

My outfit is usually a little black dress accompanied by statement-worthy shoes. I wouldn't turn away a vintage fur shrug or some lucite jewelry.

I am drawn to rooms that exude a subtle elegance, natural and unscripted. Rooms that allow the home's integrity to take precedence, prioritizing natural light and the existing elements.

Rustic wood beams with the warm sun hitting them—large unobstructed windows that showcase rays of sunlight—the perfectly symmetrical oak tree outside the window is a focal piece of the room, bringing the outside in; these elements already exist and should remain on display. The 100-year-old street lamp outside a window is art in and of itself, and the aging marble fireplace tells a story of elegance and eras gone by. Without any decorations at all, a home already has a design aesthetic. In my home, I prefer to let it shine.

Our homes have a story to tell. They are stories of mornings and nights—birthdays, holidays, and nothing-special days. Stories that make us smile and reminisce. Stories that don't need to be told because they are felt and stories that don't just belong to US. These stories shape us and the home and, in time, remind us.

Dining rooms with black and white photos of ancestors on their wedding day that line the hallway or kid-made artwork, are the kinds of homes that draw me in.

You feel a magical feeling in a home like this, but it can only be felt, not seen— and in the end, just like a little black dress, less is always more.

Love,

Jaclyn