One other question: what is the Greek word you mentioned that suggests beauty is the right thing at the right time? I studied Greek in college but couldn't remember hearing that idea. Thanks again.

My sense is "they" – the gatekeepers of style – make their decisions based upon an amount of personal whimsy combined with a collection of data from the general public. But of course I am only speculating here, not knowing the specifics of how fashion designers get they sense of what would be good style, etc.

But could we not agree that their pursuit of style is a bit of a pursuit of Beauty – whatever their definition of Beauty may be?

Their structure of how they conclude what is beautiful or not probably doesn't fall into a strict interpretation of the three characteristics I gave of Aquinas' definition of Beauty, BUT perhaps there are degrees of Beauty? A piece of art or "style" may not be as proportionate or radiant as another piece but it may have some of the beauty Aquinas was talking about.

At the very least I would say the search for style is a search for the Beautiful, and the Good…and therefore the True.

As for what causes us to miss…as a Orthodox Judeo-Christian thinker I have to say our brokenness. If it is true that at the Fall of Adam and Eve we disrupted our true relationship with God then we lost the measure by which we look at the world accurately. It is also stated that we lost our ability to stay truly connected to fellow human beings and even ourselves. In other words we can miss reading others and even ourselves properly. But brokenness assumes there was a state of non-brokenness to begin with.

As for your last question about stylish things become shameful with time, I have to refer to TS Eliot as I did in the talk. He said the good poets are the ones who have followers over generations. Can we not say that also about style? I've noticed that my wife has a much better sense of style than I do. I have also noticed that the things she picks to wear have stayed more relevant to current styles over longer periods of time. Does good/true/beautiful style still maintain itself even if none sees it? My answer to that question leans toward, "yes".

More to ponder thought, Andrew…thanks.

I realized afterwards what I was getting at with my question about changing styles and their relation to beauty. I'm pondering what determines what is "in style". It seems to be something other than beauty as you defined it, and so my next question is how is it related to beauty, and how is it different? Is it society's seeking after beauty, and if so, what causes us collectively to miss so badly so often, so that stylish things become shameful with the passing of time?

Thanks again for the talk; it's given me much to think about.