Sunday, November 23, 2014

The Scarf


So here's an interesting story.  I was at the International Center of Photography, looking at the Sabastiao Salgado exhibit "Genesis."  I happened to notice this well-dressed, distinguished looking gentleman, and I was taken by his scarf.  I did a quick snapshot so I would have a record of what the scarf looked like, and then I went over to talk to him about the exhibit, and I asked about his scarf.  I told him that I through it was really nice and I asked him if he remembered where he got it. He was very nice but said that he couldn't remember.  I thanked him, and we talked about how spectacular the exhibit was.  He mentioned that he did photography on vacation as an amateur, and that he and his wife had traveled the world.  When I got home, I started searching the web to see if I could find the scarf.  I didn't find it, BUT...   I was stunned to find out how much scarves can cost.  I found some Burberry scarves from four hundred to five hundred dollars!  WHAT?  It gets better - I found one at Nieman Marcus - a Brunello Cucinelli for $810. Are you serious? So then it occurred to me - I am guessing that the gentleman knew exactly where his scarf was from, but rather than embarrass me in some way, he saved an awkward conversation by "forgetting" the details.  Interesting, huh?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like the bright red on the wall showing off the giraffes and the lions. Good story. bsk

ken schwarz said...

Your conclusion about the gentleman and his scarf is probably correct. And your story reminds me of the adage: "if you have to ask about the price - you probably can't afford it". Or does that adage only apply to boats and planes? And I might mention that I do not own a single scarf - but in hot and humid Charleston, it wouldn't get much use anyway!

Ken Spencer said...

Primo! Thanks for confirming my suspicion. I thought that it was very gentlemanly of him to do that. You may not own any scarves, but I own a ton of them. I live in the frigid north, and need them both to survive AND to be fashionable... :-)