Chic (; ), meaning "stylish" or "smart", is an element of
fashion
Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fashion i ...
. It was originally a
French word.
Etymology
''
Chic
Chic (; ), meaning "stylish" or "smart", is an element of fashion. It was originally a French word. Pronounced Chick.
Etymology
'' Chic'' is a French word, established in English since at least the 1870s. Early references in English diction ...
'' is a
French word, established in
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
since at least the 1870s. Early references in English dictionaries classified it as slang and
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
-born
lexicographer
Lexicography is the study of lexicons, and is divided into two separate academic disciplines. It is the art of compiling dictionaries.
* Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries.
* Theoretica ...
Eric Partridge
Eric Honeywood Partridge (6 February 1894 – 1 June 1979) was a New Zealand– British lexicographer of the English language, particularly of its slang. His writing career was interrupted only by his service in the Army Education Corps an ...
noted, with reference to its
colloquial
Colloquialism (), also called colloquial language, everyday language or general parlance, is the style (sociolinguistics), linguistic style used for casual (informal) communication. It is the most common functional style of speech, the idiom norm ...
meaning, that it was "not so used in Fr
nch"
Gustave Flaubert
Gustave Flaubert ( , , ; 12 December 1821 – 8 May 1880) was a French novelist. Highly influential, he has been considered the leading exponent of literary realism in his country. According to the literary theorist Kornelije Kvas, "in Flauber ...
notes in ''
Madame Bovary
''Madame Bovary'' (; ), originally published as ''Madame Bovary: Provincial Manners'' ( ), is a novel by French writer Gustave Flaubert, published in 1856. The eponymous character lives beyond her means in order to escape the banalities and emp ...
'' (published in 1856) that "chicard" (one who is chic) is then
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
ian very current slang for "classy" noting, perhaps derisively, perhaps not, that it was bourgeois. There is a similar word in
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
, ''
schick'', with a meaning similar to ''chic'', which may be the origin of the word in
French; another theory links ''chic'' to the word ''
chicane
A chicane () is a serpentine curve in a road, added by design rather than dictated by geography. Chicanes add extra turns and are used both in motor racing and on roads and streets to slow traffic for safety. For example, one form of chicane is ...
''. Although the French pronunciation (/ˈʃiːk/ or "sheek") is now virtually standard and was that given by
Fowler, ''chic'' was often rendered in the
anglicised form of "chick".
In a fictional
vignette
Vignette may refer to:
* Vignette (entertainment), a sketch in a sketch comedy
* Vignette (graphic design), decorative designs in books (originally in the form of leaves and vines) to separate sections or chapters
* Vignette (literature), short, i ...
for ''
Punch
Punch commonly refers to:
* Punch (combat), a strike made using the hand closed into a fist
* Punch (drink), a wide assortment of drinks, non-alcoholic or alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice
Punch may also refer to:
Places
* Pun ...
'' (''c''. 1932) Mrs F. A. Kilpatrick attributed to a young woman who 70 years later would have been called a "
chavette
"Chav" (), also "charver", "scally" and "roadman" in parts of England, is a British term, usually used in a pejorative way. The term is used to describe an anti-social lower-class youth dressed in sportswear.
*
*
*
* "Chavette" is a related t ...
" the following assertion: "It 'asn't go no buttons neither ... That's the latest ideer. If you want to be chick you just 'ang on to it, it seems".
By contrast, in
Anita Loos
Corinne Anita Loos (April 26, 1888 – August 18, 1981) was an American actress, novelist, playwright and screenwriter. In 1912, she became the first female staff screenwriter in Hollywood (film industry), Hollywood, when D. W. Griffith put h ...
' novel, ''
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes'' (1925), the diarist Lorelei Lee recorded that "the French use the word 'sheik' for everything, while we only seem to use it for gentlemen when they seem to resemble
Rudolf Valentino
Rodolfo Pietro Filiberto Raffaello Guglielmi di Valentina d'Antonguolla (May 6, 1895 – August 23, 1926), known professionally as Rudolph Valentino and nicknamed The Latin Lover, was an Italian actor based in the United States who starred ...
" (a pun derived from the latter's being the star of the 1921 silent film, ''
The Sheik'').
The Oxford Dictionary gives the comparative and superlative forms of ''chic'' as ''chicer'' and ''chicest''. These are wholly English words: the French equivalents would be ''plus chic'' and ''le/la plus chic''. ''Super-chic'' is sometimes used: "super-chic Incline bucket in mouth-blown, moulded glass".
An adverb ''chicly'' has also appeared: "Pamela Gross ... turned up chicly dressed down".
The use of the French ''très chic'' (very chic) by an English speaker – "Luckily it's ''très'' chic to be neurotic in New York" – is usually rather pretentious, but sometimes merely facetious
Micky Dolenz of
The Monkees
The Monkees were an American rock and pop band, formed in Los Angeles in 1966, whose lineup consisted of the American actor/musicians Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork alongside English actor/singer Davy Jones. The group was con ...
described the
American Indian-style suit he wore at the
Monterey Pop Festival
The Monterey International Pop Festival was a three-day music festival held June 16 to 18, 1967, at the Monterey County Fairgrounds in Monterey, California. The festival is remembered for the first major American appearances by the Jimi Hendrix ...
in 1967 as ''"très chic"''. ''
Über-chic'' is roughly the mock-German equivalent: "Like his clubs, it's super-modern, über-chic, yet still comfortable".
The opposite of "chic" is ''unchic'': "the then uncrowded, unchic little port of
St Tropez".
Quotes
Over the years "chic" has been applied to, among other things, social events, situations, individuals, and modes or styles of dress. It was one of a number of "slang words" that
H. W. Fowler linked to particular professions – specifically, to "society journalism" – with the advice that, if used in such a context, "familiarity will disguise and sometimes it will bring out its slanginess."
*In 1887 ''
The Lady'' noted that "the ladies of New York ... think no form of entertainment so ''chic'' as a luncheon party."
*Forty years later, in
E. F. Benson's novel ''
Lucia in London
''Lucia in London'' is a 1927 comic novel written by E. F. Benson. It is the third of six novels in the popular Mapp and Lucia series, about idle women in the 1920s and their struggle for social dominance over their small communities. The secon ...
'' (1927), Lucia was aware that the arrival of a glittering array of guests ''before their hostess'' for an impromptu post-opera gathering was "the most ''chic'' informality that it was possible to conceive."
*In the 1950s,
Edith Head
Edith Head (October 28, 1897 – October 24, 1981) was an American costume designer who won a record eight Academy Awards for Best Costume Design between 1949 and 1973, making her the most awarded woman in the Academy's history. Head is cons ...
designed a classic dress, worn by
Audrey Hepburn in the film
''Sabrina'' (1954), of which she remarked, "If it had been worn by somebody with no ''chic'' it would never have become a style."
*By the turn of the 21st century, the travel company Thomas Cook was advising those wishing to sample the nightlife of the sophisticated Mediterranean resort of
Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...
that "casual is fine (except at the Casino) but make it expensive, and very chic, casual if you want to blend in."
*According to American magazine ''
Harper's Bazaar'' (referring to the "dramatic simplicity" of the day-wear of couturier
Cristóbal Balenciaga
, birth_name = Cristóbal Balenciaga Eizaguirre
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Getaria, Spain
, death_date =
, death_place = Xàbia, Spain
, resting_place = Getaria Cemetery
, education =
, label_name = Balenciaga
, ...
, 1895–1972), "elimination is the secret of chic."
[See ''New Yorker'', 3 July 2006]
See also
*
List of chics
*
Superficiality
What social psychologists call "the principle of superficiality versus depth" has pervaded Western culture since at least the time of Plato.
Historical sketch
Socrates sought to convince his debaters to turn from the superficiality of a worldview ...
References
{{Wiktionary
Fashion aesthetics