I discovered How to Be a Hepburn in a Hilton World: The Art of Living with Style, Class and Grace this weekend as an airplane read, and I’m devouring it. Author Jordan Christy brings some southern-lady style, albeit a youthful version of that, to a beautifully written book on a subject I think we could use lots of more: style, class, and grace! Christy invites us to use both famous Hepburns of the 20th Century, Audrey and Katherine, as role models. It is reminding me — as did Pamela Clarke Keogh’s A. Hepburn volumes, Audrey Style and What Would Audrey Do? — that these qualities have always had value, and now that they’re so rare, they have more value than ever.
I’ve used what I’ve been learning as a springboard to look for Hepburn-esque qualities in women I know and in myself (what you focus on increases, right?). In terms of friends, I didn’t have far to look. The women who hosted me this weekend — I was in San Antonio to speak — is Carolyn Bell, and she has style, class, and grace in spades. We met because she read Creating a Charmed Life when it first came out, wrote me a letter (a real letter), and offered to host a book party for me in San Francisco. She told me that she and her husband, Doug, “collected authors,” and I’m extremely fortunate to be in the collection!
The Bells have been stalwart supporters and great friends. With How to Be a Hepburn in a Hilton World in my psyche, it was easy to see how Carolyn is one indeed. She’s beautiful and elegant and moves like a goddess (she teached Pilates); and she was the most gracious hostess, accommodating me well beyond the call, raw vegan diet and all. She thought of the extra things, like arranging for me to have a wonderful massage at Synergy Studio where she has her PIlates business. She was forever “running interference” to make my stay lovely and comfortable, never seeming rushed or preoccupied or focused on anything except the present moment. And when her charming “other half” drove me to the airport this morning at 5:15, it was clear that you don’t have to be a woman to be a Hepburn.
Read Previous Post
