Can You Define Style?

With each issue of HomeFashion, we try to reflect a definitive style. We get letters, e-mails and personal comments from readers and industry colleagues telling us they like our style, so we must be doing something right.

We continued the style-tracking process with this issue. One of our primary topics is the New York Market, (see page 20) and I felt we hit our style target when those who saw the page proofs told me, “it looks so New York,” and “it’s got a New York vibe.”

Which made me wonder what exactly is style? You could look the word up in the dictionary for a generic definition, but that’s not good enough (sorry Mr. Webster). There’s the Chicago Style (yes!), Southern Style, European Style, Texas Style, Classic Style and Country Style. Some people have too much style; others have too little. Some styles are a little scary; others make us envious.

The pages of this issue highlight a sampling of the styles shaping the home décor and hospitality industries. A major style-setter, interior designer Roger Thomas, chatted with me at length about his style and the consumer’s expectations of style during a recent visit to Chicago (see page 12). Thomas, the designer who single-handedly tipped Las Vegas’s style and the hospitality market to new heights, is clearly the one to clue us in on the subject, as shown by his opulent new furniture collection. And believe me ... from his eyeglasses to his socks, the man has style!

Meanwhile, helping future style-makers “find” themselves is Matt Lorenz, the Chicago-based designer catapulted to celebrity status after winning Bravo’s “Top Design.” Over coffee at the recent NeoCon World’s Trade Fair (see page 10), Lorenz told me about RealWorld Design Week, a national mentorship program of the American Society of Interior Designers. As Lorenz explained, the students he’s working with have the inspiration of style; the program nurtures and refines it to shape the professional world.

It’s impressive how much style has influenced the Green Movement. At the dawn of sustainable awareness, products were rustic and straightforward. Now, as shown in our update on eco-friendly products (see page 30), style and function pair quite nicely with recyclable and sustainable, making it chic to be Green and Green, chic. And style has even gone outdoors! Remember the days of the plastic lawn chair and the folding vinyl chaise? Style and design have conquered the back yard (and patio and balcony) and the newest styles may be seen at the International Casual Furniture & Accessories Market this September (see page 26). So it would seem style has no boundaries.

I suppose style is what we make it and it would be tres boring if one style defined a person, a category or an industry. Keep an eye on the pages of HomeFashion to see what style statement inspires us next.

Pamela Graves

Editorial Director