When I first met Dana Martin Davis at a fashion event, I liked her flair.

She came across as a woman who knows what she likes, and she treats herself well. Davis is well-known in the art community for her charitable contributions as an individual and for the work she does as chief communications officer of Davis Steel & Iron Co. The company provided the steel fabrications for the Levine Cultural Campus.

On the inside of some of those buildings, pieces of artwork from Davis' personal collection grace the walls. She's donated works to be displayed in the Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture and the Mint Museum Uptown. She recently won the Mint Museum's Spirit Award.

"I like to buy artwork from living artists," said Davis. "If you bring attention to someone who is doing living work, it encourages more of that quality of work to be made."

Davis' eye for art extends into fashion. Whether she's purchasing a painting or a designer dress, her collecting philosophy is the same.

"Once a designer or artist dies, I don't buy it anymore," she said.

It's her way of preserving the integrity of what the designer created.

Q. How do you describe your personal style?

Architecturally tailored with artistic accents. I'm not afraid to be quirky or an individual.

Q. Where do you like to shop?

I shop in Charlotte as much as possible. From Neiman's to Boris & Natasha in Plaza-Midwood.

Q. What designers do you like to wear?

No one label from head to toe, but usually Prada bags, Louboutin shoes, Stella McCartney, Armani, Etro and young emerging designers. Now I want Valerj Pobega. Madeline Blake at Neiman's will call me if I need to know someone new.

Q. What accessory do you favor the most?

A haircut/color by Max Varji and usually an original piece of jewelry made by an American metal artist.

Q. You love shoes. Tell us about your favorite pair.

Seasons ago it was black patent leather D&G boots with silver hardware. I wore them to close a major deal and then to collect on another one. They are lion-tamer fierce and should be bronzed.

Q. What three items in your closet would you never give away?

Never say never. I now have an unworn Alexander McQueen jacket bagged to deliver to Charles Mo at the Mint Museum. Keepers: a simple Narciso Rodriguez gown which I wore with a knotted beaded fishnet tunic by Martin Margiela, and my husband's varsity letter jacket from Independence High School.

Q. Your latest fashion obsession is?

I have three handcrafted skull rings, a major necklace from Boris & Natasha and a Knuckle Duster handbag by Alexander McQueen from Capitol.

Q. What's something you would never be caught wearing?

Capris or shorts.

Q. What's your beauty regimen?

Avoiding the sun. My go-to rescue masque by Cle'de Peau stands in for the spa weekend I never take time to do.

Q. What fragrance do you wear?

In public, only body cream - lighter scents to take it easy on the others in the elevator - either Viktor & Rolf's Flowerbomb or YSL's Opium. At home sometimes, a perfume we found in Paris.

Q. What does every stylish woman know?

That it's not about me. When I'm dressed and out, I want to focus on the next person in the room and receive them with love and curiosity.