Cape Town voted one of the world's most elegant cities

What do London‚ Paris and New York City have in common with the Mother City?

They’ve all been rated among the world's most elegant cities‚ according to a study conducted by on-line fashion portal Zalando.

Paris - popularly known as the City of Lights - tops the list as the world’s most elegant city‚ followed by London and Vienna.

Cape Town is further down on the list at 52 out of 80 cities.

Zalando trend scouting manager Kasia Luczak said for a city to score highly‚ essential factors included thriving fashion scene‚ architecture‚ tourism desirability and affordable access as markers of an elegant lifestyle.

When it came to accessibility‚ Cape Town ranked number one.

“Here the research team attempted to quantify which cities offer accessibility in culture and fashion‚” said Luczak.

The Mother City came in at 48 for cleanliness‚ 63 for desirability by tourists and 52 as fashion capital.

In order to understand which cities best embody elegance‚ a list of 400 destinations renowned for their fashion scene and their cultural and historical significance were originally included in the research.

Along with Zalando’s own fashion expertise‚ more than 5,000 fashion and architecture experts were also consulted for their views‚ resulting in a final shortlist of 80 cities.

The results of the research are based on the definition of elegance: “graceful and stylish in appearance or manner”.

“Elegance is not just about appearance but also manner. It evokes a sort of simplicity as well as restrained beauty. Probably the most famous Parisian‚ Coco Chanel‚ once said that ‘elegance is refusal’‚” Luczak said.

“This is also where style differs from fashion – in the conscious choice between abundance and modesty‚” added Luczak.

According to the annual Mastercard Global Destination Cities Index‚ Cape Town rose from third place in 2015 to become the second-most popular African destination city in 2016 with 1.52-million visitors. Johannesburg welcomed 4.57-million international overnight visitors last year. - TimesLIVE