I think the extent of love I have for fashion is not entirely apparent all the time to my colleagues but today, if they didn’t know before how much I love clothes, or more specifically, MY clothes, they do now! At a fairly spruced-up, quite trendy-ish pub just a few hours ago, I quite stupidly left my bag of new stuff which I bought today and a bag of clothes which I had accumulated in the office, in front of the bar, as I was just crossing the room to some friends. Chat chat chat. Drink drink drink. I then went back to the bar only to find my bags had vanished, kaput.
Frantically, like a madwoman, I began to interrogate the barmen to see whether they had shifted the bags away. Nope. Hadn’t seen or touched them. I began poking through other people’s piles of stuff to see whether my two bags of clothes would surface. Nothing. Only a few raised eyebrows. Then I literally went into full blown panic which in my head went something like this:
‘Oh dear god… my Alexander McQueen cape…. my most favourite stripy blue t-shirt in the world…! Ok…maybe I can find a similar t-shirt again and I suppose I don’t wear the cape too much either. But crap! My Future Classics skirt is in there…. I love that skirt! Oh, my boucle wool short sleeved jacket….. goddamnit, bought that in Hong Kong…can never get that again. Oh woe is me! Why me? Who would want my old rags apart from me???’
Then I started picturing evil women selling my clothes to some consignment store for absolute pittance. My next trail of thought then realised that I lost all the stuff I bought today that curiously is a wee bit colour co-ordinated – a vintage pale beige dress that I want to shorten, the Giles for New Look leopard print heels (yes I succumbed…) and a Mine pink bustier with an exquisite bird print on it.
In those 3 minutes of utter chaos going on inside my head, picturing dodgy designer label pawn shops, I was also bewailing my loss vocally. Hands on the face, literally crying things like ‘Oh no…. not the McQueen cape!’ with onlookers and colleagues looking just a little bewildered and amused.
My bewailment was shortlived though thank god, as it turns out, a group of people grabbed my bags and put them on the other side by the window thinking my bags were part of their baggage. I literally was elated. It was like having dear friends returning to greet me as I saw the bag with my ‘old’ stuff in it. To put it bluntly, I would have preferred my handbag getting stolen than having someone make off with my clothes. Seriously – take the iPod, take the digicam, take my wallet but please NOT the Future Classics skirt!
In hindsight, I did maybe overreact a tad but it made me see how I much love I have for a piece of clothing. Above all the things I’d miss the most, the blue stripy t-shirt would be the one that I would consider mauling someone over simply because I do wear it all the time. If I had lost them, I know for sure someone would have to cart me off to the loony bin as to most people, losing a ‘shirt’ or a ‘skirt’ is nothing, non-sentimental. I feel though on this blog, I’m not the only one who holds their clothing with such high regard as to consider chasing around the block rifling through bins to see whether the supposed cunning thieves might have dumped them there (yes, that thought definitely ran through my mind during those 3 minutes!).
i completely understand susie! when i moved into a new flat that was on the ground floor with very unsecure windows my most dreaded thought was that i would return home one day to find my clothes and shoes gone … not my tv, laptop, or anything else – my fear was purely for my wardrobe!
i’m glad it was a false alarm! thievery doesn’t occur as much as we’re led to believe… but it does occur. once my friend’s husband mistook the drycleaning bag for the garbage bag, and threw it down the chute! it wasn’t until days later when they realized, and he ended up having to re-buy about $2,000 worth of clothes. oy vey.
I still mourn a wonderful tshirt I lost TWELVE years ago.
You scared me!!! I wanted to cry…for you
wow! that sounds like a terrible few minutes! i know the panicky feeling you experienced all to well, as something like has indeed happened to me before…but yay that you found your things again ! especially those heels, there fierce!
I would have been in floods. hysterical hysterical floods.
whew! that was a close one…
I so totally understand ! I am so emotionnaly attached to my clothes… you should have seen me the day I lost my favourite jumper inside my own house 😉
This isn’t quite the same but my friend’s friend had her £3000 Birkin stolen from her car by junkies, fortunately for her the stupid idiots had no clue what they had in their grubby little paws and took all the stuff from the inside – money, cards, camera etc and then chucked the Birkin in the nearest bin!! Can you imagine the relief of discovering they’d just discarded your Birkin?! She was one VERY happy lady.
I still wonder about when and how I lost my favourite Aran jumper I had when I was about 6. I still remember the day I desperately wanted to, NEEDED to wear it, and couldn’t find it anywhere. I was distraught.
you are NOT alone.
xx
alice
Oh my, as I was reading your post I started to feel panicky and my heart was beating faster. What a hideous experience!
But you were reunited with your treasures – and now I feel relieved but a bit shaky. At least you were in the pub and could have a drink to get over the shock. Phew.
Mrs F x
hey, i just wanted to say glad you found it!
love your blog, found it by accident!!!
added you on msn… cuz i am weird like that… anyways!
omg. my heart was racing too when i read this post. i’m glad you got your stuff back.
my friend’s new mango shoppping bag got stolen at starbucks once too. we were less than 10m away ordering our drinks. we turned around, and the bag with all her pretty new clothes were gone! and they just stole the mng shopping bag. not even her messenger-style school bag. i guess they just wanted the new clothes.
i hope this never happens to me. i will die! the only other time i got into a similar panic was when i dropped my mobile and it stopped working. i nearly cried on the spot.
sigh.. so materialistic.. but it’s not our fault we love pretty things!
ah the horror of such a situation!
i have moments of panic while still holding bags of clothes at the mere thought of putting them down and having them nicked… (ok, so i worry too much :-D)
i totally understand the situation of colleagues and friends not quite understanding the magnitude of ur clothes obsession and sympathise ;-D
xxxc
YES i totally sympathize. i have nightmare-ish fantasies of losing my clothes everytime i fly and if i have something especially dear, i most definitely carry on.
Haha, your stories and writing rock! Always tugs a smile to my face no matter how glummy a day I may be having!
Thanks,
jan
OMG I know exactly what you mean! I was worried for a second until you found your clothes… something similar happened to me where I had just bought some great new clothes and then when I was trying on shoes I put the bag down and then left it in that store. I noticed my bag was gone and I freaked out… I literally ran back into the store! Luckily the bag was right where I left it. 🙂
Phew! Glad you found your stuff!
I don’t blame you for panicking. Those clothes aren’t just something you wear–they are part of who you are and carry a lot of sentimental value. It’s almost like losing family pictures or heirlooms.
Yay – so many people who don’t think I’m completely insane! It’s great to hear that you guys aren’t in the school of thought that think clothes are ‘JUST’ – as in ‘They’re JUST clothes.’ Banish that word!
That would have sucked majorly. I could never let go of my day purse, let alone my new purchases, ever. I’m too afraid of losing it to put it down anywhere other than near trusted friends. I can’t imagine leaving it in some bar with god knows who.
Hi – just wanted to say everytime I travel I go into this panic mode – what if the airline loses my bag – its got all my fave clothing items in it – what if the airport loses my bag – its got pieces I can’t live without! know the feeling girl – totally empathize! glad you found it!
once while dancing at a club I left my Dolce and Gabbana trench jacket in a booth…I was hanging out with my guy friends and when I went back I realized they had moved and the jacket was gone. I was talking out loud-and in a panic – trying to get these boys to understand the value of something designer and how it was my best basic black jacket…etc… I made the entire staff turn the lights on and eventually someone found it smashed between the cushions. I was mortified- but elated.
You pretty much had a whole bunch of us on the edge of our seats, Susie..thank goodness you got your clothes back! (and not just because we like seeing the funky things you do with them)
I once had a similar experience when I thought I’d lost my red baker-boy cap, which I took off when I sat down to chat with some friends. Thankfully, it turned up under the chair. And I did once lose one of my prettiest new acquisitions, a blue corduroy jacket.. I wore it to class one day, it got hot so I took it off and stepped out for a chat and when I got back in it was gone. Which means one of my horrible fashion-senseless classmates has it..the indignity is just not to be borne.
Susie, I have a personal question for you. Do you find it difficult to lend out your clothes to friends? I do, and after feeling selfish about it for many years, I have finally decided that it’s OK. It’s actually easier for me to lend money for some reason.