The Love Issue: Scarfing It Up

The Love Issue: Celebrating all of the passion around us

Sometimes, love gets a bad rap. It’s been called fickle, flighty, frothy and fleeting, something that tends to fade in a world of grim realities and absolutes. We’re told that we fall in love, akin to stumbling into a ditch or stepping off a cliff.

But here at Jmore, we believe that love is indeed eternal and never goes out of fashion, and we subscribe to the notion put forth by the title of that old movie and tune, “Love is a Many-Splendored Thing.”

Romantic love, while being wonderful and enthralling, is only but one form of the L-word. Passion and affection transcend the concept of two individuals with deep or amorous feelings for each other. It extends to love for other themes, concepts and interests, such as music, cars or animals.

In this “Love Issue,” we offer five examples of people who have a love and passion for a few of their favorite things. We sincerely hope you love it! — JMORE STAFF

Scarfing It Up

In Barbara Katz’s Pikesville residence, there’s a sign that reads “The Queen of Shoes.” But it should read “The Queen of Collections.”

From one-of-a-kind walking sticks and system canes to kaleidoscopes, and from shoe figurines from the Metropolitan Museum of Art to books to dolls to historical Roly Poly tobacco tins, Katz’s home is a treasure trove of history.

“I was in an antique shop once and the woman said, ‘Once you’re a collector, you’re always a collector,’” says Katz, 86, who remembers her first collection as being glass animals, which she started in fourth grade. “No one really knows why they are collectors. I think it’s somehow in our blood.”

While Katz loves all of her collections, her scarf collection is her true passion. It’s one she began in the 1960s after buying her first scarf from a shop in Cross Keys.

“I’m rarely without a scarf,” says Katz, while going through her collection of gorgeous scarves by Hermes, Yves Saint Laurent and Ungaro, to name a few. “I have summer scarves and winter scarves. They are just a part of me. I have always loved fashion and grew up with a fashionable mother and aunt. I remember playing in their closets as a young girl and remember my aunt had
a lot of hats.”

With more than 300 scarves in materials like cashmere, silk and panne velvet, as well as rare and irreplaceable ones, the collection is truly fit for a queen.

“I love the colors and the patterns,” says Katz, a mother of three and grandmother of two. “They are textiles. I look at the patterns and wonder how they were made. They are more than fashion. They are art.”

Katz buys or is gifted each piece in her collections, one at a time. She says that’s what distinguishes her as a collector rather than as an acquirer.

“There is a difference between the two,” she says. “An acquirer is someone who wants something and then buys 10 or 15 at a time. A collector buys one piece at a time. You never know when you will come across something to add to a collection. It could be years in between purchases.”

Each item in Katz’s collections tells a story. She has dozens of books about fashion, the designers of her scarves, kaleidoscopes and walking sticks.

“My mother made my grandfather’s walking stick into an umbrella,” she says, showing it off. “That’s when I
got interested in walking sticks. I bought my first one at an antique show in Hunt Valley. It belonged to a Mason. I have to understand what it is I am collecting. That’s something my father taught me.”

Katz served as the first female Jewish president of the Maryland Historical
Society. She hopes her collections will find their place in history and make others smile.

“These collections make me feel good,” she says. “Every find is a find.”