Marketing and Communications Manager at St Joseph Media & Finishing School Columnist

1. What is it? A cream-coloured silk cashmere shawl

2. When/where did you get it? A few years back, I was on a trip to Paris and the South of France. I took a quick departure to Sanremo in Northwestern Italy and spent a Saturday at the Piazza Eroi Sanremesi market. After shopping and a fantastic lunch, the weather turned miserable, fast. Cold and damp, I picked up this shawl from a stand in the market.

3. Why do you love it? From a practical standpoint, it’s functional: warm, neutral-coloured, and a gorgeous fabric that feels really good against my skin. I wear it year-round. I never travel without it, often grab it as I’m racing out the door to run errands in jeans, or in a great dress heading to an event. I’m also incredibly tied to this garment sentimentally: it stirs up wonderful memories of beaches in Costa Rica, chilly airconditioning in foreign airports, long dinners outside with friends and summer nights-turned-early mornings on Toronto’s finest patios.

If you lost it… I would promptly book a flight and hit the Saturday market at the Piazza Eroi Sanremesi. Maybe this time I’ll venture through Genoa instead of Nice. And I’d buy in bulk.