That's Classy.

We are all imitators by nature.

What (and who) we’d like to model dictates almost everything we do, whether we realize it or not. In a Christian perspective, this is what convicts us to follow Christ – we want to be like Him, so we live as He would want us to live. Keeping in mind that we live in a secular world, everyone - not only Christians - should be mindful of the things/people that become what we imitate.

Of course, secular imitation isn’t always a bad thing. There are positive, replicable qualities in many popular figures. More often than I’d like, however, I find myself modeling someone more than I display myself. It’s the problem of being yourself and being who God has designed you to be in a world of media representations telling you to be lots of other things.

It’s not really the media’s fault. 98% of the time we blame the media, it’s probably not the media’s fault.

What we need is a proper balance of self-to-role-model. Role models shouldn’t be the contrast to what God wants for us. Instead, they should be the visual representation of qualities that God has designed us, individually, to respect.

And I respect classiness.

No, no. This isn’t a roundabout way for me to justify my admiration for Audrey Hepburn or Dorothy Parker. But these are the women I look at as having some level of classiness that I see as attainable… somewhere in the distant future. That’s allowed, right?

I mean, what girl doesn’t want to be as classy as Audrey? It doesn’t mean I’ll go out and buy the pearls, chop my bangs into near non-existence and adopt a British accent (as much as I’d like to have an excuse to request a “spot of tea” or declare that something is “absolute tosh”). It does mean that I think certain women typify what it means to be a woman – which is classy as heck.

The following women are classy (according to me):

Audrey Hepburn.

Reasons Why: was driven, had multiple successful careers, contributed extensively to humanitarian efforts, studied ballet, worked during motherhood, overcame the deaths of two husbands, won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony Award, was British.












Dorothy Parker.

Reasons Why: had incredible wit, noticed urban idiosyncrasies well before it was socially acceptable, married the same man twice, wrote for The New Yorker, lived in a hotel in New York, bequeathed her estate to the Martin Luther King, Jr. foundation, survived 73 years of being a certifiable nutcase.








Alexis Bledel. (Somewhere, my sister is laughing at me)

Reasons Why: goes by her middle name, represented one of my childhood favorites – Rory Gilmore, didn’t learn English until she began school, overcame shyness and became an actress, dated a co-star, loves Europe, has a great wardrobe.













Katie Couric.

Reasons Why: knew what she wanted, became one of the top dogs in an industry where women weren’t widely accepted, works to keep her husband’s memory alive, is a jack of all trades (marketing, journalism, publicity, acting, etc.), seems to care very little what people think of her, fears nothing.

Nancy Satterwhite.

Reasons Why: is my grandmother, eats pizza with a fork, quilts, has an apartment in Manhattan, owns and plays Wii, watches Glee, wears pearls, has Christmas parties, dresses her dog (sometimes), went on “the bouncy thing” at my graduation party.

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