I Like Your Style
Style is not something you put on and take off. It is the sum of your beliefs, standards, morality and ethics all packaged together to generate you.
Publisher Michael Brooks at Stone and Webster Chophouse in the new Plant Riverside District. / Photo: PETER COLIN MURRAY
Style isn’t a word you hear a lot during a global pandemic. After all, these are the sort of serious times where we try to boil our lives down to the things that really matter, the things that have substance. And most of us mentally define style as the opposite of substance.
B
ut that mental definition misses the point entirely. Go ahead, look up the actual definition of style. The good old Oxford English Dictionary will tell you that style is the entire manner of doing something. Viewed through that definition, style isn’t superfluous. It isn’t the opposite of substance. It is substance. Style is everything.
Ever hear the words “I like your style?” Chances are they weren’t talking about the way you were dressed. They were referring to how you were carrying yourself. How you react to the world, how you treat people, how you endure times like these, it’s all part of your style. And it is, at times, undefinable.
And anyone who can endure turbulent times like these with style is worth celebrating. This is an era that makes sinking into despair too easy, and those who can rise above it and carry themselves are an inspiration to the rest of us.
Whether it’s a U.S. attorney/former professional skateboarder who looks like the cover of GQ, a line cook who worked his way up to executive chef, or any of the 17 companies here in the Coastal South that are facing 2020’s gauntlet with a smile, this issue is a celebration of their style. Not the clothes they wear, but the attitude they carry with them every day.
“Style is not something you put on and take off. It is the sum of your beliefs, standards, morality and ethics all packaged together to generate… you.”
So, let’s say we all start being a bit more cognizant of being stylish and as “they” say, it might catch on.
Some are looking at 2020 and seeing wall-to-wall challenges. But here’s to this being the year we all remember as the year in which we got our swagger back and developed our own personal style. I present to you, our Style issue 2020.
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