The very first approach to CSS we tried was CSS-in-JS (`next/css` shipped glamor by
@threepointone).
Tailwind is a great default because it's performant, *composes excellently* and fixes a lot of CSS gotchas (like declaration order side effects), and very popular in the ecosystem.
I didn't push for tailwind contrary to your statements, I actually came around to it. I think it's a great project, and always open minded to alternatives.