About Ben South

The artist/product designer, Ben South, was the first person to fully define the distinctiveness of the American South with his trademarked "Seven Signs of Southernness" which he drafted after leading a $2.3 million study of "The South in the 21st Century." Fifteen years after creating the luxury brand, Southernness, Ben South reflects on the chic fun of being Southern.

What is Ben South's idea of Chic?

It's having a fresh twist on something classic. It's being comfortable with one foot on the staircase at Tara and the other foot on a launching pad to the moon. Southern chic is loving both candlelilght and lasers. This isn't the entire answer, but it's regularly something the color, BLACK. I recently gave myself the mental exercise of rostering 300 BLACK THINGS I'D RATHER NOT LIVE WITHOUT. All 300 are positive and positively black, and, I think, 2011 chic.

My how you've changed, Southernness!

The world has changed. Regionalism appears to be fading even more quickly than I envisioned. When I first began Southernness in the last century, many women still celebrated their "inner Southern belle." I've probably done more garden club talks than P. Allen Smith has these last fifteen years. Those belles were my mother's generation. They were the "steel magnolias" sipping tea and sitting ladylike upon satiny tuffets. Things have gotten much more casual. However, there is eternally an interest in living "in the moment," meaning with chic; being fresh and current.

So, what does it mean to be Southern in 2011?

Those "seven signs of being Southern" still underscore the distinctiveness of our regional character. Let me illuminate with some up-to-date examples.

1) Tradition/Timeweaving--We're texting "Love Y'all."
2) Family--Southern megachurches thrive.
3) Heritage--Vegan, African-slave inspired dishes with okra and African spices are in "Southern Living Magazine."
4) Hospitality--Southern men are in more smokehouse and grill competitions.
5) Nature--Southern riverkeepers are policing local waterways to reclaim them ecologically.
6) Passion--Our Southern storytelling legacy is booming on the internet.
7) Pleasure-seekers--Southern, small batch bourbon-masters are winning most of the international awards.

And, when, as you and Scarlett O'Hara would say, "Pray Tell," did Southernness become fun?

Apparently, I was, as y'all (you reporters) said about the First Bubba, Bill Clinton, "compartmentalizing." My 2,200 Facebook friends seem to think I'm a funny guy. Everyday, I'm posting some line that is being collected for a little book to be published in 2011 tentatively titled "BS Ben South Drawls." Southernness, the luxury brand was perhaps overly-refined when it was sold at the Ritz-Carlton and Saks. I decided life's too short. I want to have fun. I want to laugh heartily and often; and so do Southernness devotees, my "peeps." Chic often incorporates wit. I'm hoping it can be witty without being cornball. So, now, it's SOUTHERNNESS by Ben South. That, funny, old dear, Ben South, is quite a character. Idn't he? I'm really hoping this doesn't devolve into some scenario where you see Ben South quotes on spoonrests at Stuckeys. You know, unless there's a wagonload of money in that approach and my folks aren't around to chide me.



What about the Romantic South?

It's positively pulsing, honeychilde. I'm honored to be the 2011 "Artist-In-Residence" at the gorgeous, antebellum Monmouth Plantation in Natchez, Mississippi. It's not much of a historic schlog considering it's a five-diamond resort with an award-winning chef. I was there last month and my biggest worry was not whether I had WIFI, which worked wonderfully, it was that I might desire a romance again. I'll spare you the candid but affirmative answer. As long as there's magnolia and moonlight, The South will be romantic.



What's your message for the next 15 years of Southernness?

Serious Ain't Solemn. Lighten up, darlin'. At Southernness, we're serious about the cultural preservation of the American South, but we're gonna have some chic, Southern fun while we're at it.