Word: shawl
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...City's highest society ladies convened to do good. Nan Kempner, one of the most esteemed members of that coterie, sent out invitations to a charity sale that offered more than the evanescent pleasure of a $10,000 lunch. It gave guests the opportunity to buy a shahtoosh, a shawl that justifies its name, "King of Wool," by reputedly being both light enough to pass through a wedding ring and warm enough to hatch a pigeon's egg. "Shahtooshes are so utterly tightly woven of this wonderful, thin wool," enthuses Kempner. "We started wearing them when people were harassed about...
...which can fetch up to $15,000--are not just wretchedly expensive; they're also illegal. "I was told that the hair came from the chin of the ibex goat," says Kempner. "That [the goats] rubbed it into the rocks and villagers picked it up and wove it into shawls." That is a quaint--and popular--delusion. The wool of a goat is combed and woven into pashminas. But the superior wool of shahtooshes is harvested from dead chirus, an endangered antelope that resides on the Tibetan plateau. An estimated three to five chirus are killed for each shawl...
...woman who wears a shahtoosh should be deeply embarrassed," says George Schaller, a renowned biologist who has called attention to the plight of the chirus. "It's not a shawl; it's a shroud." Shame might not stop the trade, but this will: at the current rate of poaching, the species is likely to be extinct within 20 years...
...Kroks in concert are remarkable for their uniformity; they spend hours practicing their snapping, for example, so that each Krok holds his hand the same way, curling the index finger, locking his elbow to his side and snapping in a quick J-shape. Their tuxedoes are identical, all with shawl collar, suspenders and white cozy and Krokodiloe cufflinks...
...outsmart her, because, as Hepps proclaims, "Every kill is different." Hepps boasts of her favorite job of all time. A group of people invited her to dinner in Brookline, but she declined, knowing her target would be there. Instead, she put on a flannel nightgown, a red cape shawl, hiking boots, a black wig and a headband to make people believe she was a homeless woman. With an old shopping bag in tow, Hepps stationed herself among the bushes by the #66 bus stop. When the sitting duck turned to get on the bus, Hepps shot her in the back...