C is a new hire at the hair salon I visit. She was billed as the up and coming star that cost half of their usual rates. I was willing to try as little can go wrong with my very simple hairstyle. C was remarkably silent through the process and focussed on the job. She seemed very young and I wondered if she was nervous about making mistakes.
In an effort to ease her up, I tried to make some small talk but wading through a swamp in stilettos would have been easier. From what I could see, C was competent and there was no risk of any terminal errors. I had to assume she was either quiet person or did not want to engage me in a conversation for whatever reason. In my efforts to warm her up, I complimented a gold-colored bracelet she was wearing and asked where she got it from- that it would look nice on my daughter. She said, "It's from Cartier".
I repeated that it was very pretty and immediately wondered if that was not the biggest faux-pas ever. The style of the said bracelet is very familiar and recognizable; any woman who has not lived under a rock would have likely seen it - on fashion magazines, billboards and so on. It's like knowing what the Tiffany blue looks like. There is a presumption that a person who bothers to come to a hair salon would know at least that. Clearly, I had failed the most fundamental fashion awareness test.
It got me wondering about the value of adornment on a woman. Who adds value to whom more specifically - does the woman adorn the gold she wears or is it the other way around; if the answer to that question is - it depends. If this had been someone I met in the course of a business meeting and especially a high-powered client, I would assume by default that the bracelet was a Cartier as it appeared to be. On this young lady, I assumed that Target had produced a remarkably classy imitation of designer jewelry. I was considering it for J thinking it would be a total steal for under twenty bucks. The idea that it cost several thousand dollars was unimaginable.
I wondered if anyone else in my seat getting their hair cut would see this piece of jewelry for what it was, what would they assume if they did. Would they wonder about the incongruity between the young lady's income and what she was wearing on her wrist? Would they wonder if the kid came from a rich family and did not feel compelled more than doing hair?
In an effort to ease her up, I tried to make some small talk but wading through a swamp in stilettos would have been easier. From what I could see, C was competent and there was no risk of any terminal errors. I had to assume she was either quiet person or did not want to engage me in a conversation for whatever reason. In my efforts to warm her up, I complimented a gold-colored bracelet she was wearing and asked where she got it from- that it would look nice on my daughter. She said, "It's from Cartier".
I repeated that it was very pretty and immediately wondered if that was not the biggest faux-pas ever. The style of the said bracelet is very familiar and recognizable; any woman who has not lived under a rock would have likely seen it - on fashion magazines, billboards and so on. It's like knowing what the Tiffany blue looks like. There is a presumption that a person who bothers to come to a hair salon would know at least that. Clearly, I had failed the most fundamental fashion awareness test.
It got me wondering about the value of adornment on a woman. Who adds value to whom more specifically - does the woman adorn the gold she wears or is it the other way around; if the answer to that question is - it depends. If this had been someone I met in the course of a business meeting and especially a high-powered client, I would assume by default that the bracelet was a Cartier as it appeared to be. On this young lady, I assumed that Target had produced a remarkably classy imitation of designer jewelry. I was considering it for J thinking it would be a total steal for under twenty bucks. The idea that it cost several thousand dollars was unimaginable.
I wondered if anyone else in my seat getting their hair cut would see this piece of jewelry for what it was, what would they assume if they did. Would they wonder about the incongruity between the young lady's income and what she was wearing on her wrist? Would they wonder if the kid came from a rich family and did not feel compelled more than doing hair?
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