Tuesday, February 20, 2007

HOT FOR SCARVES

I live in the cold. It is winter here from October to May. I hate the cold. I was born on an island and the very concept of not being able to wear open toe shoes in November makes me slightly uneasy. But there is this one itty bitty aspect of winter dressing that makes it somewhat bearable: scarves. Love them and can’t get enough of them. Early on, I realized that a) outside in February without a scarf pretty much meant you were spending the rest of the week at home, watching the Price is Right and Days of Our Lives, eating chicken soup and b) scarves looked good. And I don’t mean the same way you try to justify that the big chunky yet warm boots are cool in a rocker chic kind of way. Scarves look fly even when you’ve taken your coat off. They look effortless. Leaving a scarf on with your regular outfit punches it up. In any case, I have them in all shapes, sizes and color. I am thrilled to see this year, an emergence in the trend. Granted the forever stylish Hermes scarf will… um…forever be stylish(http://www.hermes.com/). But we are now seeing a new crop of rayon scarves, 100% cotton, and some even made out of linen. Most come in very neutral colors while others try to imitate what Hermes does without the staggering price tag (euh, is that the price for the store or the scarf?!). H&M has some stylish and always affordable ones for $12.90 and up. Jacob carries a slightly higher price tag for their rayon/viscose take on it at $24.00. The Gap has scarves in beige and white stripes. Le Chateau has a few styles on markdown ($9.99). If you wish to splurge slighlty, Banana Republic has theirs marked at $58.00USD and Club Monaco is offering theirs in ever so of the moment metallic for $69.00USD. The thing about the scarf is that it can make a simple white shirt and black pants look quite put together without giving the impression of looking too put together. Get it? Good. Now get one. Well only if you like having your neck covered. If not, then go buy some earrings or a nice lip gloss or something… Basically, a scarf is a super cheap way of livening up an outfit, plus it takes you from cold to hot like fuego in no time.