Shiny Happy People

I must admit, I am a bit of a magpie. While my day-to-day personal style seems to favor minimalism, I have never failed to be dazzled to distraction by shiny things. This was no exception on a recent buying expedition to Marrakech. My traveling companion had two responsibilities on this trip: 1) prevent random adolescent boys from groping this blonde American lass, and 2) prevent me from coming home with armfuls of sparkly treasures. To accomplish the latter, he had only to intone four magical words: “You’re better than that.” These are not words to utter lightly. In fact, he had been instructed to use this phrase only in the event of a true sequin emergency. As valiant as his efforts were, he failed on both accounts. I forever changed the lives of several twelve year old boys, and, I ended up taking home an amazing, bedazzled wonder: a Moroccan wedding blanket, or handira.

My mother, bless her heart, is neither a fan of change nor of hippie décor. She recently visited the Dar Gazelle offices only to find the behemoth white sofa that she often complained about covered in the handira. I could sense her disapproval and tried to explain that Jonathan Adler had achieved extremely chic results with wedding blankets at the Parker Hotel in Palm Springs. To no avail. She simply shook her head and said, “Molly. You’re better than that.”

What do you think? Is my mother right?