New Feature: The Girl American.

Even in a nation so diverse there is still an element that makes a look or a place or a person distinctly “American”. The French have that je ne sais quoi, but we have something else entirely: youth, sport, ease of movement - a practical sensibility that somehow transcends all the cultural influences that have stacked up over four centuries and thousands of miles.

So what is the American aesthetic? Who and what define it? How can it be acquired?

Betsy Ross and her bonnie blue (and red and white) banner

I will try to answer these questions each week with a profile of a modern woman whom I believe best embodies the sensibility. Some of my subjects will be ladies I know personally; others I simply admire from afar. Their taste and inspiration vary tremendously - but the same could be said for anything in this country, be it cuisine, cars, or baseball teams - and it is that inclusiveness that makes the American aesthetic so vibrant and, sometimes, so maddeningly elusive.

By highlighting these women and their influences, I hope to in turn inspire myself and my readers to take a fresh look at their own wardrobes, their surroundings, and their country, and embolden the reticent to define their own American style.

Check back on Tuesday for my first Girl American, a friend and sorority sister from the Dear Old Varsity. I have others queued up, and I am very excited to turn the spotlight on their sartorial secrets.