Welcome from the Publisher & Editor

I think I've always been an editor waiting for this publication.  When I was a teenager, I cut things out of newspapers and magazines for my parents to read.  I recorded bits of shows on television for them, too.  I searched through catalogs and magazines not with the casual eye of a reader, but with thoughts that I could put something like that together.

It wasn't until after I left home that any of those things started to come together for me.  I've had the pleasure of being an editor for magazines and newspapers, hosting a radio program, interviewing interesting people, and writing about everything under the sun that has interested me from politics to the performing arts.  I like to draw things out of people--whether it's showing me the very first canvas they painted when they started their career but hid in their basement, to finding out what moves someone to create a dress design, the focus of the features and interviews I've conducted over the years has been about finding out the essential style or personal impulse that causes people to develop their passions, tastes, and talents.

I also noticed, before putting this project together, how adrift many people my generation and younger were about simple manners, etiquette, and about developing personal style independent of shifting trends and mind-numbing numbers of things flying in front of our faces in the information age.  Things seemed to be left behind--how to be a good guest at a party, how to introduce people to each other, how to make a classic and functional wardrobe of good quality, the value of manners so that everyone feels on equal footing wherever they go, getting a foundation about good literature, good wines, good food, and knowing the difference between bespoke clothing and off-the-rack wear or the value of tailoring...or how to conduct ourselves at cultural events or how to put together a room.

We've taken all those things and amped it up a bit into a publication that is a styleguide for living.  It's a place to discover yourself, help you develop your personal style, and become more confident of yourself as you take your place in life.  It's where we take the contents of "women's magazines" and "men's magazines" and we combine them in a way that encourages an education about both but without alienating people from their own bodies, their own tastes, and their own choices.  It's a tool for culture, for manners, for eating well, and living well.  It's about intelligence and beauty and art for its own sake.  It's about viewing fashion not just for adornment, but for what it means in defining our personal artistic flare--something not to be made fun of but embraced as an essential part of a graceful world.

The underlying context of everything we present is about personal improvement and personal actualization.   It's about inclusion.  It's about empowerment.  We wanted to create a publication that men and women could read together and find it more than entertaining--we want you to find it useful.  It's a lifestyle site for real people.  We don't hawk $60 bottles of specialty ketchup because nobody real buys that.  

Take us with you on a style adventure. This whole enterprise is about our concept of "la bella figura"--the best in everything.  We want to join you on a quest for defining your life and your style.   We bring you the things we love about life and style so you can find out what you love about those things, too.  Welcome.  Enjoy.  You're here now.

EMERSON SLOANE is the publisher and editor-in-chief of Haven Style. Emerson has formed a career around radio broadcasting, editing newspapers and magazines, editing nonfiction and fiction works, as well as being a consultant and designer involved in marketing and development for foundations, companies, artists, and others.  She is also a public relations and reputation management professional.  She is a member of:  Public Relations Society of America, Association of Magazine Media, American Marketing Association, and the National Association of Distinguished Professionals.  Emerson lives in the Zenith City of Duluth, Minnesota on the shores of Lake Superior with her cat Huck.