I Blame the Sunday Star Times

OMG - my secret girlfriend, so secret she don't know I exist, Renee Zellwegger has just got married, to someone she met this year, at a Tsunami relief gig. I knew I should have been there.

In another OMG, I've just done something unprecedented. I was so touched by something that Anna wrote, that I clicked on her wishlist and sent her a CD.

Anyway, I often don't read the SST, because I don't think it justifies the cover price, but if I'm in a cafe and there's a copy available that no-one else is reading and I don't have an engrossing book with me then, yeah, I'll give it the once over. A couple of weeks ago, in their Sunday magazine supplement thingey, there was an article about men's jackets and how with a flash jacket, you could get away with pretty much any kind of fashion atrocity. I've been chattering for a while about my desire for a velvet jacket, but my searches on trademe for velvet clothing has only come up with a bewildering array of velvet penis pouches, so I've not done anything about it.

But then in this Sunday magazine article, there was a velvet jacket. Of course, the photo was pretty small so I couldn't get much detail. The brand, Working Style, just happened to have a store in Christchurch so when I went up for the Children's Hour gig, I popped along Colombo Street to check out their window. They did have a chocolate brown velvet jacket in the window, but my eyes were caught by the incredibly colourful assortment of Italian silk ties - very shiny. Now, I wore a tie every day for about ten years straight and have a job where I might need to wear one maybe twice a year. So, Italian silk ties are not something I have given much thought to but when I saw these, I just had to have one. Well, two actually, as there was a free shirt coming with every pair of ties.

So, last weekend, after the SJ Fits, I persuaded my companion to defer her need to go to the Cookie Time shop in favour of a quick visit to Working Style to check out the ties. Turns out that they were $150 each. Turns out that that wasn't enough to stop me from buying two. But it gets worse. I asked about the velvet jackets, and did the sensible thing by asking if there was a sale coming up. Turns out there is. So, I can't leave without at least trying on a velvet jacket, the chocolate brown one was looking very yummy. One of the fellows put one on me and I'm thinking I'm looking very snazzy, so I'll put it on layby. But then the other fellow comes along and says "ah, but that's the wrong size, just try out this black one". I take one look in the mirror and its "where's the nearest money machine?". It turns out there's one across the road.

I have never spent so much on a single item of clothing in my life! $700. Plus the two ties, of course. Nor have I ever spent an hour in a clothing shop - in fact, I don't think I've ever been in a posh men's clothing shop like this one in my life, where all of the clothing is hand made and expensive ($90 for a T-shirt!) - I'm more of a Hallensteins or Farmers sort of guy, even the warehouse has sold me a few items of clothing. For the posher styles, I haunt trademe. I have definitely never had a clothing purchase where the director of the company has given me a business card or been willing to adjust something (the shirt's sleeves were a bit long) and courier it to me for free. But the clothes are gorgeous. And, to supplement my silk ties, I have just bought 24 ties off trademe - I think I might be commencing some sort of style offensive on campus.