n l LETTER

Janet Gibson Uffinger, Editor of NEXT!

It always amazes me how much work I manage to conduct in my “second office”(the ladies’ bathroom) and in my “third office”(the company breakroom).

Go ahead, women everywhere. Chuckle. You understand. Been there, done that. Many of us meet people who turn into longtime trusted friends ... in the college dorm bathroom. (One just e-mailed me a few minutes ago.)

Other times, these meeting places are perfect locations for spontaneous therapy, catching up on popular culture (“What happened on ‘American Idol’ last night?”) and, well, discussing important issues of the day — like hair, makeup and clothing styles.

“You always look so nice,” I commented to a colleague recently in my third office.

“Oh, thank you!” she replied, and then her voice suddenly diminished to a near whisper. “But I really need to buy some clothes. I’m wearing the same things over and over again!”

Well, that’s all I needed to hear to shift into my mode of, “Girlfriend, you really don’t need a lot of clothes to be stylish!”

I tried to get through my former fashion editor schtick fairly quickly because, after all, I knew her main purpose for coming in here was a 75-cent cup of coffee.

“Take French women,” I said. “They’re among the most stylish in the world, but most of them don’t own a lot of clothes.”

“Really?” she replied. (I got her attention. This was getting good.)

“That’s right. They own just a few key pieces — black pants and a skirt, jeans, a crisp white blouse, a T-shirt and a wonderful jacket or cape. All of the finest quality. But then they accessorize with great scarves, jewelry, belts, shoes and bags. Or maybe a pair of sexy boots. They have such confidence, and everyone thinks they’re so stylish. But there really isn’t much in their closets.”

(Look, one of the reasons we’re put on this planet is to make people feel good. And to mean it, right?)

My co-worker and I smiled at each other. Then she started back to her desk, but I could not resist one last observation:

“And you’ve got the most awesome hair in the building, too!”

Ah, style talk. Don’t you just love it?

Apparently so! When we issued a call for Style Maker nominees in last month’s issue, we were flooded with e-mails and letters from readers. Sure, clothing styles and grooming certainly were mentioned. But other factors also came into play: humbleness, intelligence and creativity, to name a few.

Reading your mail was fun, and we appreciate every word. All nominees were reviewed by the NEXT! Team, but we could only choose four Style Makers (click here to meet them ).

Know this: We are saving all of your letters. You gave us so much to think about — so many interesting people to consider — that we hope to feature many of them in future issues.

In the meantime, have a most stylish September ...