I hear this phrase quite often, whenever I want to buy a scarf in fact. BUT the thing is, buying scarves has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with need, except of course that no matter how many you have you never have the right colour do you?
Scarves have been a passion with me since the early 1970s when I would travel across Sheffield to the well off side and indulge myself with jumble sale buys. Jumble sales, do you remember those? I loved them, in addition to scarves I bought stilettos, pencil skirts, cap sleeve blouses and embroideries.
I’ve never been able to think of a better way to store them than on clothes hangers, they do give me instant access and I can see what I’ve got. The collection has been steadily growing with very few thrown or given away. Today I thought I’d spend a little quality time with my collection, putting them back on the hangers as they were getting a little messy. Whilst doing this I counted them. How many I hear you ask – just the 150. I thought if I said it quickly it wouldn’t sound too many but actually I love having 150.
They’re not just items they’re memories. Each one I handled I could remember where I’d bought it, what I’d worn it with, some of the occasions on which I’d worn them and I’m very proud to say every scarf has been worn several or even hundreds of times except for one, today’s purchase!!!!. They come in every shape, size and colour. Some were actually sold as sarongs but I thought they worked better as scarves. There’s the one my friend and I both liked, a large cotton square (squares are my least favourite shape) so we bought it, cut it in half and had a rough triangle each.
Here are two of my favourites
The one on the left is from the 1970s, pure silk and has a rip in it but I still wear it, being careful how it falls. The blue one I bought today and love the way the blue sings out on the grey/brown background. In my collection is a silk scarf with paint on it but the colour is so wonderful I can’t bear to part with it. I don’t own any woolly, knitted or fleece scarves, I like lightweight and very long ones that I can leave on indoors.
I’ve not spent a fortune on them and some have been gifts of course. They all give me great pleasure except for two and those two are being gifted to the charity shop. They arrived as vey welcome gifts and try as I might I’ve never been able to like them enough to wear them, perhaps someone else will love them.
There are a few made by me and I did have a period where I didn’t wear them but now that my daughter is older she no longer pulls them and I’m not in fear of being throttled. Strangely I still miss a scarf that I reluctantly put in the bin some years ago, it was badly faded and ripped, still wish I had it – sigh!
