I wore the scarlet letter...

I was in Charleston, SC for a conference last week and slipped out one afternoon to meet a friend's mom for lunch. (Important note: I was wearing a Banana Republic sweater dress, a turtleneck and black boots.)
The restaurant we were headed to was only a few blocks away so we decided to walk. And, it was during that fateful walk that at least 3 cars sped by, beeping their horns as they passed. A little odd but not totally unusual, right? After all, it was a busy time of day and there were tons of people on the street. Why in the world would they be beeping at me or my friend's mom???
We proceeded to have a very nice lunch and then headed back to the Francis Marion where I was staying. During our walk back, I noticed the traffic had died down but the beeping continued...
By this point I was getting self-conscious. I looked around - no toilet paper, all "private" areas appropriately covered, length of dress passed the old-school arm test, no one famous around us (at least that I recognized)... And then it hit me. I was walking through bow-tie town in NYC-style black boots. It was my own scarlet letter!
I cannot say with absolute certainty that the reason the cars in Charleston were so horn-happy is because I was wearing black boots, but I can say there is no way they will be included in my wardrobe during SC visits in the future.