Tuesday, April 30, 2024
Yesterday, while at work in the department store and noticing a nearby shopper, I was struck by her obvious sense of “good style.” She wore tasteful, conservative clothing—slacks and a matching jacket—and noticeably, her slacks were breaking correctly on leather, low-heel boots.
These days, careful salutes to clothing style are rare. I see many shoppers wearing casual clothing, some even schelpping around in bedroom slippers. Watching that well-put-together woman made me think about style questions.
What is style and what makes it obvious? I wasn’t interested in runway-fashion styles but in types more like personal signatures.
A little research teaches that “style” refers to our ways of doing something and our ways of expressing ourselves. Ways of “doing something” apply to all sorts of things–from artistry skills and musical tastes to practical activities, like horseback riding (Western and English styles). Ways of expressing ourselves include many things, like how we dress (clothes style), how we speak (writing and speech patterns), and even how we choose to live (minimalist style).
Essentially, style refers to what’s unique and/or distinctive. “Style” helps us recognize others’ personalities and is also how we recognize and describe specific periods of time. Even how we exchange information has style; we may ask questions in very formal ways or instead use informal language and slang. Making a list of what comprises style would be a timeless and endless project.
Dear Friends: So, okay, “style” is applicable to everything about ourselves. Diana
Diana's Morning Blog 
Funny, that word “Style.” Always made me uncomfortable, going back to teenage years & Seventeen & Vogue magazines. I often designed my own clothes, but day to day at school in the 50s, stuck to the uniform of skirt, sweater, & penny loafers or saddle shoes (except for my senior year on Okinawa, eight class members in Quonset huts, where zoris & whatever was comfortable under a rain slicker worked OK). This morning after reading your morning blog, out of curiosity went to the thesaurus in my Mac dictionary. Found this: It seems almost a non sequitur. REFLECTIONS Michael Dirda style In the past, a writer’s style was thought to reflect that person’s character—thus Julius Caesar’s masculine authority and decisiveness can be seen in any line of his commentaries on the Gallic Wars. What you read was the verbal expression of the man himself. But a style can also be a disguise or the expression of a secret self. Yeats maintained that to create art one needed to wear a mask. What, after all, is so common as the humorist revealed as sullen and melancholy in real life? Often to write well, an inner daemon must be allowed to break free. We put aside our staid daytime selves for a more swashbuckling or daring, bawdy, or ironic personality in print. Be wary then of drawing conclusions about writers from their diction. Murderers have been known to possess fancy prose styles, and the crisp, no-nonsense sentences of Hemingway are far more stoic andassured than the man who typed them. Therefore, now as a member of two writing groups, I guess the word “style” has more meaning. Whether that makes me more or less uncomfortable with the word remains to be seen. Today my go-to uniform is slacks or jeans & a blazer, & for (heaven forbid!) formal occasions, the blazer is replaced by a brocade or velveteen jacket. Sweats are fine at home with the cat. Enough said. Kate
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Give yourself a pat on the back, for remembering all that and relating it to “style.” This morning while writing, I decided that style means certain things when I’m working in the clothing store, and other things that depend on where my thoughts are focusing. In our local, larger community, in regard to clothing, casual is the norm, and it’s okay to be out and shopping while in house slippers. As to writing styles, yes, they are revealing. Mine is evolving–in a never-ending process, spurred on by wanting to create ever-more readable blogs. I always appreciate your views and feedback, Kate!
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