Style Icon, Mattese Lecque, represents more than just fashion choicesshe embodies grace under pressure, timeless elegance rooted in authenticity, and a style philosophy that values substance over trends. As a retired Major with the United States Army Reserves, Physician’s Assistant, and respected community leader in Charleston, South Carolina, Mattese has cultivated a distinctive personal style that reflects her values, honors her heritage, and inspires women across generations.
From military dress uniforms to elegant church attire, from professional healthcare settings to community leadership events, this style icon demonstrates that true fashion transcends clothing it’s about carrying yourself with confidence, dressing with purpose, and honoring both tradition and individuality.
Through her journey from military service to community leadership, Mattese Lecque has become a style icon whose influence extends far beyond wardrobe choices.
The Foundation of Style Icon Status
What makes Mattese Lecque a style icon isn’t designer labels or trend-following but rather the authentic integration of her values, heritage, and life experience into her personal presentation.
Military Precision Meets Southern Grace
Twenty-six years of military service instilled in Mattese an appreciation for precision, appropriateness, and the power of proper presentation. Military uniforms taught her that how you present yourself communicates respect for yourself, your mission, and those you serve.
This military foundation merged beautifully with her Charleston heritage and Southern upbringing, where grace, elegance, and attention to detail form cultural cornerstones. The result is a style icon who understands both discipline and elegance, structure and softness, tradition and personal expression.
Professional Polish in Healthcare
As a Physician’s Assistant with a degree from the College of Allied Health Sciences at MUSC, Mattese understood that healthcare professionals must project competence, cleanliness, and approachability through their appearance. Her professional style balanced authority with warmth polished enough to inspire confidence, approachable enough to comfort patients.
This professional foundation created versatility the ability to dress appropriately across contexts while maintaining consistent personal style.
Faith and Modesty
As an active member of Saint Peter’s AME Church in North Charleston, serving as Trustee Board Officer and Financial Secretary, Mattese’s style reflects her faith values. Her church attire demonstrates that modesty and elegance aren’t opposing concepts they complement beautifully when rooted in authentic faith.
For this style icon, Sunday best isn’t performance but worship expressed through thoughtful presentation that honors both God and the worshiping community.
Key Elements of Her Signature Style
Several distinctive elements define what makes Mattese Lecque a style icon worthy of admiration and emulation.
Classic Over Trendy
This style icon prioritizes timeless pieces over fast fashion trends. Her wardrobe likely features classic cuts, quality fabrics, and versatile pieces that transcend seasonal fads. This approach reflects her broader life philosophy substance over flash, lasting value over temporary excitement.
Classic style also demonstrates wise stewardship of resources, another value deeply rooted in her military and faith backgrounds. Quality pieces maintained well serve for years, reducing waste while maintaining elegance.
Colors That Complement
As a native Charlestonian and graduate of Burke High School, Mattese’s style likely incorporates colors that complement her complexion and reflect Southern aesthetics rich jewel tones, elegant neutrals, and occasional bold statements that command attention without screaming for it.
Her color choices demonstrate understanding that style icon status comes from making fashion work for you, not conforming to arbitrary rules that don’t serve your unique beauty.
Appropriate for Occasion
Military training taught Mattese the importance of dressing appropriately for context. Whether attending Charleston County Park & Recreation Commission meetings as Commissioner, Burke Foundation events as Chairperson, North Charleston High School PTSA functions as Treasurer, or church services, she demonstrates that true style adapts to context while maintaining authentic identity.
This adaptability without identity loss defines genuine style icon status remaining recognizably yourself across diverse settings.
Accessorizing with Purpose
Accessories likely play strategic role in Mattese’s style adding interest without overwhelming, complementing rather than competing with the outfit, and serving practical purposes beyond pure decoration. Military training emphasized function, while Southern heritage taught her that well-chosen accessories elevate entire ensembles.
For this style icon, accessories aren’t afterthoughts but intentional choices completing thoughtfully assembled presentations.
Style Across Life’s Chapters
Mattese’s journey from military service through healthcare to community leadership demonstrates how authentic style icon status transcends changing circumstances.
Military Elegance
During her service from January 1975 to retirement in 2001 as a Major in the Medical Services Corps, Mattese wore her uniform with pride and precision. Military dress uniforms, when worn correctly, represent some of fashion’s most elegant and commanding looks clean lines, perfect fit, meaningful insignia, and undeniable authority.
Her military service taught valuable style lessons applicable to civilian life:
- Posture matters as much as clothing
- Proper fit is non-negotiable
- Details distinguish good from excellent
- Confidence is your best accessory
Professional Healthcare Style
As a Physician’s Assistant, Mattese projected professionalism through clean scrubs or appropriate clinical attire, comfortable shoes that supported long shifts, and minimal jewelry that couldn’t harbor germs. This practical elegance demonstrated that style icon status isn’t always about glamour sometimes it’s about appropriateness, cleanliness, and competence.
Even in clinical settings, small touches likely distinguished her presentation a sophisticated watch, tasteful earrings when appropriate, or a lab coat maintained impeccably.
Community Leadership Presence
In her current roles across multiple Charleston-area organizations, Mattese presents as polished community leader approachable yet professional, elegant yet unpretentious, commanding respect while remaining warm and welcoming.
This balance defines true style icon status: looking put-together without appearing to try too hard, projecting confidence without arrogance, and dressing in ways that honor both the occasion and the people you’re serving.
The Charleston Influence on Style Icon Status
As a native Charlestonian, Mattese’s style naturally reflects the elegance and grace characteristic of Lowcountry fashion sensibility.
Southern Belle Elegance
Charleston style balances tradition with contemporary flair, honors heritage while embracing progress, and values quality over quantity. These principles align perfectly with Mattese’s broader life philosophy and contribute to her style icon status.
Southern elegance isn’t about pretension it’s about graciousness, attention to detail, and presenting your best self as gesture of respect toward others.
Church Fashion Tradition
In Charleston’s Black church tradition, Sunday attire represents important cultural expression. Church fashion honors both God and community, celebrates African American elegance, and creates weekly opportunity for artistic personal expression through clothing, hats, and accessories.
As an active member at Saint Peter’s AME Church, Mattese participates in this beautiful tradition, contributing to her style icon status within her faith community.
Style Philosophy: Substance Over Flash
What truly elevates Mattese to style icon status isn’t just how she dresses but why and how those choices reflect her deeper values.
Authenticity First
Her style emerges from authentic self rather than image consulting or trend following. This authenticity resonates with women seeking their own style rather than copying others. A genuine style icon shows you how to discover and express your style, not how to look exactly like them.
Age-Appropriate Elegance
Mattese demonstrates that style icon status at every age looks different and should. Age-appropriate dressing doesn’t mean frumpy or invisible; it means elegant evolution that honors where you are while maintaining vitality and personal expression.
Confidence is Key
The most important element of her style icon status might be confidence. Whether in military uniform, healthcare scrubs, or church attire, she likely carries herself with quiet confidence born from knowing who she is, what she’s accomplished, and what she values.
True style icon status comes less from what you wear than how you wear it and nothing elevates an outfit like genuine confidence.
Lessons from This Style Icon
Women looking to develop their own signature style can learn valuable lessons from Mattese Lecque’s approach:
Invest in Quality Basics – Like her message that you can overcome obstacles regardless of circumstances, good style doesn’t require unlimited resources just wise investment in versatile, quality pieces.
Dress for Your Life – Your style should serve your actual life, not some aspirational version. Mattese’s style works because it fits her roles, activities, and responsibilities.
Maintain High Standards – Whether in military uniform or casual attire, consistent attention to detail, proper fit, and cleanliness matter. Standards reflect self-respect.
Honor Your Heritage – Mattese’s Charleston roots and African American heritage inform her style. Honoring where you come from creates authentic, meaningful personal style.
Evolve Gracefully – Style icon status doesn’t mean never changing. Mattese’s style evolved from military to civilian, from young professional to established leader, while maintaining core authenticity.
Conclusion:
Style Icon, Mattese Lecque, ultimately represents something deeper than fashion expertise or wardrobe mastery. She embodies the truth that real style flows from authentic identity, purposeful living, and confidence rooted in faith and accomplishment.
From military service protecting our nation to healthcare work healing patients, from community leadership strengthening Charleston to church service honoring God, Mattese demonstrates that true style icon status comes from living with intention, carrying yourself with grace, and dressing in ways that honor both yourself and others.
Her style philosophy aligns with her broader message from “The Make-Over: Re-imagining & Recreating Myself” transformation comes from internal work that then manifests externally. Great style isn’t costume covering insecurity but authentic expression of confident identity.
As women seek their own style icon status within their communities, Mattese Lecque offers powerful example: be authentically yourself, dress for the life you actually live, honor your values through your presentation, and remember that confidence is your most important accessory.
True style icon status comes not from what you wear but who you are and how you carry yourself through every season of life.
