Southern Style Icons - Southern Living

Photo: Lucy Nicholson/Reuters/Corbis

Beyoncé Knowles

Hometown: Houston, Texas

Occupation: Singer

Her Style: In recent years this Texas gal has refined her diva style swapping feathers and hot pants for slim fitting ensembles with just the right amount of shimmer.

Why We Love Her Today: We’re crazy in love with Beyonce’s effortless mix of edgy glamour and soft romance. No simple feat! Plus, her use of monochromatic neutrals—lots of whites, blacks, and golds—are decidedly on trend.

Photo: CSU Archives/Everett Collection

Dolly Parton

Hometown: Sevierville, Tennessee

Occupation: Singer/Songwriter

Her Style: Dolly may be best associated with rhinestones and sequins, but we will always love the simpler look she sported in the 1960s when her career was taking off. Back then denim tops and pants (yes, it’s true!) were staples of her wardrobe. Rest assured, in true Dolly fashion voluminous blonde hair (err, wigs) were also part of the look.

Why We Love Her Today: The Chambray button-up shirt that’s been all the rage the past few seasons was also a mainstay of Dolly’s early style.

Photo: courtesy Everett Collection

Designing Women Cast

Hometown: Atlanta, Georgia

Occupation: Interior Decorators

Their Style: Fictional characters, yes. But in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Julia, Suzanne, Mary Jo and Charlene made a very real statement about the style and strength of Southern women. They’re affinity for power suits paired with lacy details and pearls became their hallmark.

Why We Love Them Today: The silhouettes may have changed (bye-bye shoulder pads!), but the floral prints, bold colors and all those pearls remain staples of the Southern lady’s wardrobe.

Photo: courtesy Everett Collection

Elvis Presley

Hometown: Tupelo, Mississippi

Occupation: Singer/Actor

His Style: Elvis’s head-turning, hip swerving rockabilly look of pegged pants, two-tone shoes, white socks and oversized blazers help catapult “The King” to super-stardom in the 1950s. And let’s not forget those long sideburns and slicked back hair.

Why We Love Him Today: Walk into any hipster bar across the country, and Austin in particular, and you’ll see the influences of Elvis’ rockabilly style going strong. Thank-ya, thank-ya very much.

Photo: courtesy Everett Collection

Farrah Fawcett

Hometown: Corpus Christi, Texas

Occupation: Actress

Her Style: Though she only appeared on “Charlie’s Angels” for one season, Farrah’s v-neck blouses, high-waisted jeans, minimal gold jewelry and that billowy “Farrah hair” made her the style icon of the 1970s.

Why We Love Her Today: The recent trend of yellow gold jewelry is a direct nod to the gold-standard set by Farrah in the Seventies.

Photo: Photoshot/Everett Collection

George Clooney

Hometown: Lexington, Kentucky

Occupation: Actor/Director

His Style: Since the 1990s George has embodied a modern interpretation of Old Hollywood glamour, with classic black suits for red carpet events and gray chinos with crisp white shirts for more casual affairs.

Why We Love Him Today: Clooney is showing the world what Southern men (and the women who help dress them) have always known—sometimes it’s best to skip the jeans. There’s nothing more handsome than a man in finely tailored suit.

Photo: 20thCentFox/courtesy Everett Collection

Johnny Cash

Hometown: Kingsland, Arkansas

Occupation: Singer/Songwriter/Musician

His Style: Immaculately fitted head-to-toe black suiting and black cowboy boots helped “The Man in Black” cultivate his brooding country meets rock n’ roll image that took him from the 1950s right on through to his death in 2003.

Why We Love Him Today: Cash is a direct forbearer to the rocker chic look (vintage boots, leather jackets and dark denim) embraced by Nashville today.

Photo: Sunset Boulevard/Corbis

Rhett Butler & Scarlett O’Hara

Hometown: Charleston, South Carolina & Clayton County, Georgia

Occupation: Hero and Heroine of Gone With the Wind

Their Style: The 1939 film adaptation of the Civil War novel brought Margaret Mitchell’s characters to life with the help of dapper suits and exquisite gowns.

Why We Love Him Today: The days of hoopskirts and ascots may be, well, gone with the wind, but we’ll proudly make the argument that Southerners current affinity for sundresses and bow ties has a direct connection to the looks sported by our beloved Scarlett and Rhett.

Photo: Kurt Krieger/Corbis

Reese Witherspoon

Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee

Occupation: Actress

Her Style: Whether she’s on the red carpet or running errands (thank you, TMZ), Reese always walks the perfect line between cute and sophisticated by favoring clean lines and classic hues.

Why We Love Her Today: Her elegant, approachable style has made her a darling of the Hollywood A-List set, showing people the world over why Southern women are known for being “put together.”

Photo: Archivio GBB/CONTRASTO/Redux

Zelda Fitzgerald

Hometown: Montgomery, Alabama

Occupation: Novelist/Wife and muse of writer F. Scott Fitzgerald

Her Style: Dubbed “the original American flapper,” Zelda both innovated and embraced the look of the Roaring Twenties: bobbed hair, straight-waist dresses, and hemlines above the knee.

Why We Love Her Today: With the film remake of “The Great Gatsby” in theaters this May look for the flapper style Zelda helped to pioneer to be au courant once again.