Throw and Behold
True or false?
Running a luxury gifts business means that you never have to go elsewhere when buying gifts for friends and family.
You’d think that it was TRUE, wouldn’t you? That I had posed a bit of an idle question in order to stir some enthusiasm in you on this rather uneventful Tuesday afternoon (so far).
It is however a baffling falsehood for it seems that friends and family, particularly on special occasions, are looking for a little more creativity than the kind that involves a hop, skip and a fumble through the stock room the night before such occasions.
It is worth inserting here that the first and indeed second time that this was my MO, gifts were met with joy and rapture; particularly cashmere throws. Thereafter, it is apparently not on.
So this led me a few weekends ago to do what other people do and gift shop for a wedding in June. It felt like a betrayal as I pictured in my mind’s eye shelf upon shelf at Black, brimming with cashmere, silk and leather goodness, fairly priced and at arm’s reach.
I ended up instead in the eponymous store of a famous American lifestyle designer on Old Bond Street in London. Plenty of wedding-perfect gifts; silver cocktail sets, chinaware, ink wells, throws, mugs, table linen, rugs, trinket boxes. I picked a small tan leather picture frame with a fine golden rim. I looked at the back and underneath the gold embossed brand logo I read ‘Made in India’ and a price tag of £115. I figured that the happy couple would like it especially once it had been trussed-up Mayfair-style with ribbons and boxes.
However, I later had a bit of a shock when I was handed the Pay Cell asking me to authorise the amount of £215. No, thank you. I had thought that £115 was pushing it for an Indian-made leather frame and was well aware of the profit margin that they would have applied to get it to that price. But £215 ventured into the ludicrous. As I left the store empty-handed, I noticed it had been empty apart from me and it’s no wonder.
So I am still left without a gift. Perhaps this is because I cannot accept that there is any better wedding gift than this cashmere throw. It is an item that combines luxury with everyday use and, for the purchaser at least, great value at £195.
What would you give?
