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Sometimes, the question “Where did you get that?” is a substitute for an actual compliment. Which is funny, because it’s not actually a very polite thing to ask, especially when what you’re really trying to say is, “I like that thing you’re wearing.” But we say it anyway, because “Where did you get that?” is precisely the flavor of rudeness that’s tolerated in 2017.
But when my esteemed colleague Chavie Lieber (probably the only coworker I would ever refer to as this, sorry everyone else, but you get it) showed up wearing an incredibly giant check print scarf last December, I asked, “Where did you get that?” not only because I liked it, but because I had the express intention of shamelessly buying it for myself.
As it turned out, not one, but two other Racked employees owned almost the exact same scarf. So of course it was Zara, and of course it was cheap as hell. Later that day when I went to the store, I discovered that it was even on sale, from $25 down to $15.99.
I don’t need to tell you that this is a good scarf. You know it’s soft and it’s huge and makes just as good of an airplane blanket as it does a cough shield. You know this, because Zara is an evil tyrant of the fashion industry, yes, but it also makes really good cheap scarves.