Haskell Harris, Style Director at Garden & Gun magazine
As the founding Style Editor of Garden & Gun magazine (where she now serves as Style Director), Haskell Harris McKinney has played a leading role in raising the profile of Southern fashion and design.
And she comes by her own Southern style honestly: “I grew up in Martinsville, VA, a very small town in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains,” she says. “It was a huge textile and furniture hub for a long time, so I have a soft spot for things made in the South for that reason. My maternal grandmother raised seven children there (my Mom was the oldest). She drove around town in a Cadillac limousine because in pre-Suburban days, it was the only car big enough at the time to fit all of them. She also drove their miniature Shetland pony named Red Cloud in the back of said limousine. She was quite the character and everyone still refers to her as ‘Mother Martin’ there to this day. I love that about small Southern towns; the characters live on.”
Here, Haskell (who now resides in Charleston, where G&G is based) shares her Stylemaker Seven with us:
- #Southernism: ‘Mother Martin’ was famous for Southernisms that I’m pretty sure she made up or embellished, such as ‘sorry as gully dirt.’ Which, as a little girl, I translated to mean someone who didn’t have much potential, since dirt in a gully probably wouldn’t grow much.
- Restaurant: Fig in Charleston, always and forever.
- Home-Cooked Dish: Anything from any of Mississippi chef Martha Foose‘s cookbooks, especially her gumbos.
- Album: Coming Home by Leon Bridges.
- Getaway: The little house my husband and I are working on at the moment. It’s a soulful spot and we love it.
- Entertaining Essential: Flowers or branches cut from the garden, especially Camellia branches, since they stay glossy and green all year.
- Highlight of the State Fair: Death by Funnel Cake.
The April/May cover of Garden & Gun (photo credit: Joe Pugliese/AUGUST).
