"A Tale of Two Seasons . . . "
Greetings,
A Tale of Two Seasons
Picture it. Late Fall 1988. San Jose, California. A young man from Mississippi is enjoying his first few months of working for Ralph Lauren. Learning more every day.
Spending day upon day learning about fabrics. And design inspirations. And advertising. And fashion.
Each afternoon, the UPS driver would deliver boxes and boxes of new merchandise. And he would almost giggle with delight upon opening each and every one.
It was Fall, so the boxes would be filled with his favourite things. Heavy hand-knit ski sweaters. Thick wool tweed trousers. And beautiful plaid sport coats.
But, one day he noticed that the boxes contained men's cream linen shorts. And silk sport shirts. And ties with pictures of palm trees on them. He was very confused.
"Why would we sell these clothes in November?"
The store manager took him aside and tried to explain the reasoning behind such odd things. He said, "Many people go to warm climates to celebrate the holidays. And we must have clothing to them as well." "Cruise" and "Holiday" are the same season.
The young man from Mississippi had never HEARD of such things. The holidays are about snow and cold weather.
So for the next few weeks, the young man from Mississippi sold many ski sweaters. But, also linen pants - for the mysterious people who spent their holidays in warm climates.
And by the way, this entire missive has been written whilst in the mid-west. In 20 degree temperatures. And wearing heavy ski sweaters and warm wool pants.
Cheers,
Scot
images of Ralph Lauren's home in Jamaica. From Architectural Digest.
Comments
We hit up the Cayman Islands a couple times when I was a kiddo -- it was a glorious break from the snow.
Cheers, Alcira
nerochronicles.com
Then I married, and we enjoyed SOOO MANY Christmas holidays all over (mostly in Europe, snow skiing).... So, for YEEEARS, it was all about snow skiing, trips, ski equipment n' clothes, etc. (even built a small ski house when in America, in Park City, which I A*D*O*R*E*D!).
And NOW??? It's all about golf, in warmer weather climates (one thing about getting "older"... "toooo much COLD WEATHER just plain ol' hurts these bones", dang it all!)~~~ But yep, life's pretty good, me thinketh! (We're ALLLLL very blessed, aren't we???)...
LOVED your story... super great reading and, of course, pics "to-die-for"!!!
Many thanks & 2011 warm wishes in
the New Year...
Linda in AZ *
bellesmom1234@comcast.net
I'm smiling just thinking about how much fun that would have been.
xoxo
Karena
Art by Karena
One of the very first items of clothing I recall wearing is a tartan plaid skirt. At that time an aunt and uncle were students at U of I. They gave me the skirt as a gift. The U of I had the Scottish Highlanders as part of their marching band. I recall seeing them perform in the 70's.
http://www.frontiernet.net/~mkisa/Remembering_the_University_of_Iowa_Scottish_Highlanders/Home.html
My plaid was a dark green not the one the highlanders wore.
I have always loved tartan plaids but I only dream of using it in the cabin in the woods of my dreams. Pictures of the plaid draw me in and comfort me. When looking at your older post I came upon the picture of tartan plaid and scones, it was then that I knew your blog will be a forever favorite.
I think we should be friends!
California is a strange place.
Happy New Year Scot!
Cathy