Lately I have been noticing more and more “celebrities” and that is a very wide net that will include social influencers and a cohort of luxury watch connoisseurs, wearing silk scarves and bandanas in an attempt to regain a point of difference in a world of t-shirted men. It is to me an obvious conclusion when, if you are sporting an extremely rarefied time piece that promotes the elegance and sophistication of the diligent work of the Swiss, you suddenly find yourself espousing all these values of craftsmanship whilst wearing a t shirt and jeans, you defeat your own argument.
What is the point, dare I ask you, of having a Ferrari and a PP on your wrist, and then looking like a slob yourself?
Since we are no longer wearing neck ties to the office, since we have shaken off so many of the conventional wisdoms that were with us pre-covid, we are left with a menswear void in which we fill it with what? Puffer vests and Lululemon?
Naturally, as more and more thug like turkeys talk about their watch collections that you yourself may once have aspired to, what then is your point of difference if you own the same coveted watch? I will tell you. How you frame it.
It is now the small details in menswear that will set you apart from the guy that speaks with some form of a borough accent about how to “circumvent” AD’s (an acronym that seems on the rise sadly) in the “grey market”. Those details will be the shoes you wear, the socks you wear, the wool you chose for your jacket, the silk in your top pocket and yes, your neckwear, which covers a myriad of options from bandanas, scarves, ascots and more.
And so here is my Ode To Scarves …
It is safe to say that as the world went mad,
I decided to lend a hand,
In trying to make a wrong go right,
I set up a store that put up a fight,
To raise the bar of the common man,
All types of silk and cashmere to tie around the neck,
In a universe where we were but a tiny speck,
The elegant folds of silk forming a comfortable band,
Of a brotherhood that took a stand.