FASHION
Sharp-Dressed Man
The first time he wore a suit, Byron
Wilson ’02 recalls, he was 6 years old. It
was Easter, and his parents had dressed him
in a hand-tailored outfit. The fit and feel
must have been perfect because, for most
of his life, hand-tailored clothes have been
an important part of Wilson’s style. When
he does buy off-the-rack, he buys it to
last.
At UNC, Wilson remembers, “I was
notorious for always wearing some kind of
a collar. I didn’t wear a lot of tennis shoes,
mostly loafers and oxfords. The Black Ink
fashion issue voted me and Brad Picot [’02
and ’06 DDS] the only two people that
could properly wear a pea coat. I still wear
that same pea coat.”
Wilson, a dental student in the Boston
area, says he doesn’t seek out attention,
but a couple of friends “kind of goaded
me into” entering the Esquire magazine
competition for Best Dressed Real Men in
America. The youngest of the top five
2007 finalists, Wilson credits his parents
with setting an example as “sharp
dressers,” and he names Miles Davis as an
inspiration, a man whose style in sound
and clothes was so “pure” he came to
define style.
If this sounds like high language for a
discussion of clothes, Wilson treats style as
an art. Not only did he hold down jobs in
some of the best retail outlets in the
Triangle, he taught himself how to design,
select fabric and sew. This year, Wilson
plans to launch a line of neckties. “They
are 100 percent handmade,” he says, “the
way they made them at the turn of the
century, with the craftsmanship. I’m getting
back to old school.”
COUR TESY B YRON WILSON ’02
SERVICE into their lives and
Working for a assumptions.
COURTESY PLACA
“After working in
Europe,” Elmendorf said,
Better World explaining her shift from
social work to anthropol-One of the greatest honors ogy, “I felt the need for
that can be awarded to an understanding other cul-innovator is to see her ideas tures in more depth, so
become assumptions. Today, the the anthropology was a
idea that clean water and sani- wonderful addition.”
tation are a critical first step Returning to Chapel Hill,
and key factor in the health, Elmendorf began graduate
economy and effective func- work in anthropology. Her
tioning of communities in the study provided her with a
developing world is shared by model for a lifetime prac-organizations as diverse as the tice that put women up
United Nations, CARE and front in implementing
Mary Elmendorf ’ 36, pictured with stu-
the Gates Foundation. The dent winner Ezquiel de La Rosa, in technology. Elmendorf
observation that women can October received the first PLACA lifetime proved her ideas on proj-
achievement award for her anthropological
be the lynchpin for introduc- approach to hands-on aid projects. ects in Kenya, Sri Lanka,
ing new technologies and the Philippines and
economic growth has launched a widespread throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.
program of micro-lending. The importance In October, Elmendorf received the first
of cultural context is apparent in the mission PLACA lifetime achievement award. PLACA
statements and descriptions of best practices is an initiative of the Water Center for the
for governments, foundations and nonprofits Humid Tropics of Latin America and the
worldwide. Caribbean, a broad partnership of organiza-
None of this was true in 1952, when tions that includes CARE and UNICEF. The
Mary Elmendorf ’ 36 challenged CARE to award is in recognition of her work as a
select her as the first woman to hold the humanist and as an innovator in the applica-
position of country director — and to do so tion of anthropological insight to hands-on
in Mexico. Elmendorf broke new ground, aid projects.
getting CARE involved in digging wells for Elmendorf is making sure that the
rural Mexican communities and including PLACA award is shared with the American
women in the projects. Breaking boundaries, Friends Service Committee volunteers who
Elmendorf summed up her CARE experience helped her, and she is conducting correspon-
with an observation that became the basis for dence with Ezquiel de La Rosa, one of the
her life’s work: “Women were empowered, students who received the Premio PLACA
infant mortality decreased and the communi- Jovenes 2007 for a project led by his school
ties were organized to start other projects.” in Argentina. In his note to Elmendorf,
Elmendorf arrived at her blend of personal Ezquiel says, “That moment was unforget-
and social practice by a combination of aca- table. I really appreciate the possibility of
demic study and hands-on experience. When sharing the project with people as important
her husband, the late John Elmendorf ’ 37 — and kind as you are who have been working
who also earned his master’s at UNC in ’ 47 hard for the whole of mankind.”
and his doctorate in ’ 51 — took a stand as a
conscientious objector and chose to serve as
a medic in World War II, Mary Elmendorf
followed him to Europe. She worked with
the American Friends Service Committee —
a Quaker organization that includes people
of various faiths committed to its values of
social justice and peace — helping refugees,
prisoners and displaced persons in Europe. In
1947, Elmendorf shared the Nobel Peace
Prize with her husband and other American
and British Friends. Perhaps more significant
than the prize for her future, Elmendorf
learned that helping people required insight
— Stories by Susan Simone
The “old school” style of Byron Wilson ’02 landed
him on Esquire’s short list of America’s Best
Dressed Real Men.
Read extended pieces in Class Notes:
Feature Profiles
Louise Fletcher ’ 57, page 77
Charles Humphrey III ’ 99, Woody Platt ’ 99 and Graham
Sharp ’ 99 (Steep Canyon Rangers), page 101
Ademola Okulaja ’ 99, page 104
In Memoriam
Lola Reid Lafferty ’ 37, page 74
W. Travis Porter III ’ 53, page 78
Fred Houk Jr. ’ 73, page 95
