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Losing clothing

Greyscale

Veteran

Have you ever lost a piece of clothing you loved? This seems to happen to me a lot recently, and it's very upsetting. For most of last year, I was driving from Santa Cruz (where I lived) to San Francisco for social events, and I often stayed for the weekend. I was in the habit of putting my weekend's worth of clothes in a plastic bag and throwing it in my car. And since I was coming up for social events, I brought my favorite clothes.

Well, the result is that I lost my absolute favorite skirt, one I'd thrifted by Maria Cornejo that would be impossible to replace. And I lost a second thrifted Maria Cornejo dress a few months after that (no idea how it was the same totally out of my price range designer both times). One may have ended up at my friends' apartment but the other is a total mystery - I remember having it later that weekend on my drive home, then never saw it again. It's been almost a year and it still bothers me all the time.

One lesson is that I no longer transport clothing (or anything else) in plastic bags, even though those drawstring Gap bags are so convenient. Too easy to think it's a trash bag, maybe?

I don't think of myself as prone to losing things, but life was so chaotic last year that I suppose I'm not surprised. I'm glad life has settled down a bit!

(This post was inspired by Suz's lost luggage situation. I really hope you get your bag back quickly!)

Dressing

24 replies

Latest reply was from catgirl

Catnip

Veteran

Yes. Many years ago my all-time favorite blouse was lost at the campus laundry. It was a pale yellow and white searsucker fabric. The yellow was perfect for me, and the fit was just right. I've never forgotten it.

Deborah

Veteran

How annoying Greyscale. I can honestly say this hasn't happened to me. I am borderline neurotic about my clothes. I have left pieces behind when I have stayed with friends or family but I have know immediately where I left them and they have come home. Very occasionally I have 'thought' i lost something, only to find I may have hung it on the back of my door or under another item while putting outfits together:)

Greyscale

Veteran

I found a photo of the same skirt in a print. Mine was solid black silk. I wonder if I could sew one. Probably the proportions would be wrong without one to copy.
http://www.polyvore.com/zero_m.....id=3182533

I even thought of writing to the company with my sob story. I think that's as unlikely to work as all my other silly ideas (like my favorite, asking Theory to sponsor my Theyskens Theory wardrobe because I'm a scientist. Working with, you know, theories and stuff. Maybe if I get famous I'll try that!)

carter

Veteran

Dry Cleaners and hotels particularly seem to eat my clothes the way the dryer eats socks. I'm still missing the skirt that didn't come back from the cleaner's 25 years ago and the shoes that didn't come home from New York and the coat that was in my car when I went to the car wash but wasn't there when I got home.

Gigi

Veteran

I haven't had a problem with missing clothes, but I rarely go anywhere. I did have a friend who had problems with all kinds of things going missing...until she discovered that her roomie was a kleptomaniac and had been swiping stuff. Crazy but true.

Greyscale

Veteran

Gigi, that's awful! I did have a funny moment in college of losing a favorite shirt in the laundry room then seeing it later on my roommate! That wasn't theft so much as adopting a neglected, forlorn item, though - we were all pretty bad about leaving things in the laundry room for weeks because we were all overstressed, irresponsible, and young.

minimalist

Veteran

Love your Theory idea! Can't hurt to ask, right?

Just deleted the rant I typed about my late mother's penchant for adopting clothing she fancied without telling me. May she rest in peace, and all that.

suzyq

I need to hide my favorite items of clothing every time my sister comes to visit. Something always ends up missing. It's kind of odd because she has more disposable income than I do. It's only once or twice a year so we just kind of giggle about it anymore but I did lose a few important items before I caught on.

Jeanie

Veteran

Oh gosh yes! We joke that this house eats clothes. Things go missing for months or more. Sometimes I find that something was just accidentally put away in my son's dresser. Other times I just don't know what happens. Pants seem to get lost the most. DH chuckles when I say I can't find my pants! I thought this only happened to me. LOL!

jennifer

Veteran

I went on a trip from Oahu to the Big Island ,left my sweater(we were going to a park at a higher & chillier elevation) in the airport -amazingly it was in Lost &Found a week later!

lyn*

(website)

Veteran

This happens a lot to one of my colleagues - she's always looking for a sweater or a skirt or a pair of pumps.

She asked me once why this never happened to me.

I looked over the top of my glasses at her: "I usually keep my clothes on."

ironkurtin

Veteran

I almost never lose things, except this very week I lost my glasses (you know, the ones I need TO SEE) on the slopes. So far, no one has turned them in. And I really liked those frames! *weeps*

Janet

(website)

Veteran

I can't remember the last time I lost an item of clothing -- my worst items for getting lost are delicate bracelets. They slip too easily off my skinny hands/wrists. I lost a very dear one (a gift from my husband) in the airport once, and checked with lost & found for weeks afterward, to no avail. That's why I mainly wear bold cuffs now, and not expensive ones at that.

The last time I thought I lost a garment, it turned out it was folded neatly and stacked with my husband's t-shirts in the closet.

Hubs loses stuff all the time. He travels so much, and leaves jackets, etc., behind. Drives me crazy.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

I don't lose things either. But I did lose my wedding dress. That's topic for another day.

I'm glad that your life has settled down, Greyscale.

Anonymous

I thought of you, Angie, when I opened this thread.

I haven't really lost anything. A sweater or two lost at fencing tournaments in university, but nothing I truly miss.

I did somehow lose my favourite pair of leather gloves last year and I do miss those. I asked my mum for a pair for Christmas.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Oh, Lyn - you crack me up!

And some of these other stories...I am not sure whether to laugh or weep. Angie...your wedding dress?!?!? How have I missed that story?

Greyscale -- those losses sound heartbreaking. It's amazing how things can go missing in travel or moves. I got lucky (with my luggage return) this time.

My biggest loss was the stone from my mother's engagement ring. I still haven't replaced it. I hope to do that someday. It was an older ring and the setting must have been quite loose; she'd never really serviced it. But I didn't know that, and wore it. To a sad result.

The only other time I truly "lost" something was when my coat went missing during a move. I found it more than a year later in a long flat box that contained some rolled up rugs which we hadn't yet unpacked because they did not fit in the new house. What was it doing in there? We must have put it there purposely for some reason. But I couldn't remember.

And I also had a jacket stolen. It was at a restaurant. I left it in the cloakroom. I called the next morning and they said they had it. But when I went to pick it up a few hours later, it mysteriously had disappeared. I still miss that jacket. It was black velvet, and part of a suit.

Diana

Veteran

Not clothing, but last time I moved (a total of like 6 blocks) the movers managed to lose:
the legs of a table (we still have the top)
the base of one table lamp
the shade of a different table lamp (and no, the two lamps were not interchangeable).

So annoying.

Other than single socks, I don't think I've lost much in the way of clothing, knock on wood. I have lost some jewelry, specifically rings. One must have come out in my glove on a cold day because it disappeared sometime during my commute home, and I know I did not take it off. This is why I'm actually glad my engagement ring is really tight! I have also, like Suz, lost the stone out of a ring. It was the first fine jewelry I ever had, a birthstone ring that my parents gave me when I turned 12. The garnet stone popped out sometime while I was in high school and I never found it. We were planning to get it replaced but never got around to it.

Aubergine

Veteran

Gigi and Greyscale, my freshman year roommate repeatedly stole my clothes! I kept not being able to find random clothing items and it turns out that that's because they were all mysteriously finding their way into her dresser. It got so that I even peeked into her open suitcase before leaving for Thanksgiving and, yup, there were a few of my shirts right in there.

Also in college, my mom mistakenly donated two of my favorite sweaters to Goodwill. I think I had a pile of stuff to donate and a pile to bring back to school, and they made their way to the wrong one.

Now, I generally only lose things temporarily, when they end up in the way back of the closet or the bottom of the laundry basket or something.

Gigi

Veteran

I guess the silver lining on the cloud for people who have had their clothes stolen is that the thief wouldn't have wanted the clothes unless they were in exceptionally good taste! Seriously, though, that would feel so violating to me if someone stole my clothes. It's like stealing part of your life or something. (I am very personal about my clothes.)

jayne

Veteran

I seem to lose a good item every year, but sadly, I usually know where I lost it but cannot get it back. Lost a hat on the tram in oslo, the doors closed just before I turned to go back and get it. Lost one glove of a pair at a shop last year, but no one turned it in. Gloves and umbrellas are my two most lost items. I am a bit paranoid about my gloves now.

Keix

Veteran

I never lost anything until I forgot to pack some stuff coming back from France this summer, after a 6-month stay. Thankfully I was able to recover the most expensive piece, a pair of Chie Mihara heels bought on deep sale. And I recently purchased a replacement of the turquoise Tippi sweater from J.Crew that I had lost--same price, almost identical color!

Suz

(website)

Veteran

High five, Diana! Not only have we both lost stones from a ring (not exactly fun news) but we are garnet birthday twins!

Greyscale

Veteran

Suz, your story of re-finding your coat gives me hope that my skirt will show up when I unpack the rest of the moving boxes! There are only a few boxes left, and I thought I checked everything, but you never know.

catgirl

Veteran

I am still not over the loss of my perfectly fitting grey metallic trench coat two years ago, which I somehow left in a restaurant. Have never found a replacement.