Part 1- Beauty Is Not a Luxury, It’s a Language
From fashion and home decor to architectural marvels and natural landscapes; I’ve always believed that beauty lives in the details. Maybe it’s the Libran sensibility in me or the years immersed in the world of fashion, either way, beauty feels stitched into the very fabric of how I see the world.
The old saying, “Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder,” rings true for me. Sometimes my husband doesn’t quite share my delight over a Louis Vuitton window display in Dubai Mall or the quiet thrill of adding a fine piece of cutlery to my kitchen drawer. But that’s the magic of beauty: it’s deeply personal.
However, what truly moves me isn’t always the celebrated or obvious. I find myself drawn to quieter, less curated beauty- the sacred hush of stillness in a place of worship, the breathtaking shimmer of Austria’s ice caves, the cool silence of Zlatibor’s limestone caves, or the emotional seismic shift felt descending into the shadowed depths of Cappadocia’s underground city.
Yet at other times, beauty refuses to be subtle. It bursts forth, wild and untamed- dolphins racing alongside our boat in Musandam, giraffes licking raindrops off our car windows at Six Flags Wild Safari, or penguins waddling home beneath Phillip Island’s starry skies.
Then there’s the beauty I discovered through my life in fashion; the kind that doesn’t sparkle at first glance. I feel it when a seasonal range slowly comes together or when a mood board finally reflects the story I’m trying to tell. I see it in the steady hands that bring a garment to life or in fabric mills where endless threads are being spun with machines humming in gentle rhythm. In those moments, beauty stops being just what walks down a runway and becomes everything that leads up to it.
It is in this interplay of grand and everyday, wild and calm, crafted and natural, that I find the heartbeat of beauty. It has a quiet way of showing up when we least expect it. Where have you recently found beauty speaking to you in unexpected places?
My Head In the Clouds 