RIP: Dr. Arnauld F. “Scotty” Scafidi, 1937-2020
As some of you know, Professor Scafidi’s father passed away on Easter Sunday of natural causes unrelated to the coronavirus. They were very close, and she has posted a tribute on her Facebook page here.
What you may not know is that Dr. Scafidi was effectively given his name by the cosmetics magnate Elizabeth Arden, founder of the iconic Red Door spa & salon chain dramatized in the Broadway musical War Paint and now closed permanently in the wake of the coronavirus.
Before Dr. Scafidi was born, his father, Antone B. Scafidi, was hired by Miss Arden as the star hair stylist for her flagship salon in New York. In keeping with the parlance of the era, he should have been known to all as “Mr. Antone,” but a Polish hairdresser by way of Paris, Monsieur Antoine, had a rival salon down the street at Saks Fifth Avenue. To avoid confusion and a potential trademark issue, Miss Arden decreed that her charismatic and charming stylist would be known as “Mr. Arnauld” – keeping the initial, adding a touch of French savoir faire, and ultimately allowing the name to be pronounced in good New York fashion. When Antone’s first child came along, he eschewed the tradition of naming a first son after his paternal grandfather and instead passed along the more “American” name Arnauld.
Dr. Scafidi didn’t particularly care for the frequently misspelled name and generally went by the high school nickname of Scotty – a story for another day. He did, however, absorb quite a bit of fashion and beauty industry knowledge through his parents as well as family friends and relatives in the business, and he very much enjoyed meeting many of you at the Fashion Law Institute’s 3rd anniversary show under the tents at New York Fashion week in 2013, which happened to coincide with his 50th wedding anniversary.
We offer a stylish sendoff to the father of our Fashion Law Institute founder and send our condolences to the Scafidi family.
In addition, we’d like to extend our sympathy to the many members of our community who are mourning friends and loved ones now, and at the same time struggling with the day-to-day difficulties of the current crisis. We’ll figure this out together and return stronger than ever.
