What I’ve Learned About Southern Style- Y’all

This may come as a shock to some of you, but I did not learn about “Southern Style” from my mother or my aunts or my grandmothers- at least, not in the usual sense.

 

I had a bit of an untraditional rearing for a Southern lady regarding “style”: about the only thing I was taught was that pantyhose is essential even in the hottest of Southern suns, pearls are appropriate for any situation and that red lipstick is not to be worn- although that could have also been because of my olive skin tone.

 

I read all these tales of Southern ladies being reared that it’s improper to go out without your hair done (“wet hair looks like you don’t care”), without lipstick on (pretty sure I’ve only read that one in Southern Living and various other books I’ve read) and any other various tales you have read over the years. I wasn’t really taught that in my home. This might be because my family is very artistic, but I think it goes beyond that.

 

What I did learn from my family is that Southern Style exceeds past just what we put on our bodies, that it is also about everything in our style. Our homes: treasuring the antiques that are passed down from generation to generation, not just because they are priceless items that aren’t made that way anymore but because each item has a personal story that is unique to our family. The homes themselves, full of stories of generations past and the families that loved them before us, the very reasons why we are involved with preservation groups like Historic Macon- and so that other families may treasure them, too.

 

photo credit: The Georgia Trust

 

My family heritage itself. With some family stories to help me out and a quest along Ancestry.com I have discovered that my great-great grandfather was Dr. Benjamin Griggs of Macon, that he once owned $10,000 worth of property before the Civil War and that he resided on Walnut Street. Through his wife’s side of the family, they came over as indentured servants to America to the indigo plantation at New Smyrna Beach, where this group of Minorcan colonists (as they are still known) would rise up against their master Dr. Andrew Turnbull and settle in the city of St. Augustine.

 

On my father’s side of the family, his mother was an Inge. This family pretty much helped found the city of Mobile, Alabama as I am told and practically still runs the town. It wasn’t until a few years ago, long after my days of being an active member of Alpha Delta Pi sorority at Mercer University, that I would find out my grandmother’s grandmother was an Adelphean at Wesleyan College. The Adelphean Society being the precursor to Alpha Delta Pi, founded in 1851. My ancestor, Belle Peterson Inge, was initiated in 1881. I was initiated in 2001. I would look Belle up in the Adelphean archives online and sure enough, my ancestor is mentioned on one of the very first pages of our ADPi book of history. I would later find an article from 1932 in our Adelphean Magazine about her being nominated to the Alabama Democratic National Committee.

 

 

The South is not perfect, and many parts of it that are romanticized in modern day culture do not acknowledge the pain that has happened along the way. We have a pride and respect in who we are- and we are making progress in admitting where we have been wrong. When you open yours eyes just a bit- you will see people that are embracing one another like nowhere else. Go take a look at the Tubman Museum and see what they are doing with the new building plans- how that museum will be like no other in the country.

 

Yes, Southern Style is embodied in our clothing in our jewelry and in the way we dress our homes too- and yes, I can take any clothing item from New York City, Los Angeles, Paris and even London and make it truly Southern. Because I, and my fellow Southerners, we have this appreciation of where we have come from and where we are going like no other place in this country. So when you see me in my pearls and my new sundress for Easter Sunday matching my children in their attire or leather leggings with a white tunic paired with a hat and pearl cluster necklace- you can know the reason behind the wear isn’t just a matter of style- it’s of substance and history as well.

 

 

 

Love to all y’all,

 

Molly