Lightening the Load

I have no money but how could I attempt to get through this dark month without cheering myself up with sales bargains? And although I may be cash poor, I am in possession of a credit card, which exists purely for the purpose of buying dresses and flights that I can’t afford. And so yesterday I hit two of my favourite boutiques in Dublin - Dolls and Potrero Hill - for some sales action. In Dolls, I knew exactly what I wanted - a floral print Antipodium blouse - and luckily for me they had it in my size and with a significant reduction. Easy. Shopping at Potrero Hill was different because I didn’t immediately fall in love with the muted cardigans and dresses, but instead I knew that those simple pieces would stand the test of time and become one of my wardrobe staples. And so I invested (it makes sense to use a credit card when it’s an investment, yes?) in a silk, mushroom-coloured, Ella Moss dress that is relieved of boring neutrality by orange bows.

I skipped home merrily, until I looked down and saw that the Potrero Hill bag was empty, the dress obviously having fallen out at some point of the 20-minute journey home. I started sprinting in the direction of Hibernian Way, scanning the ground for any sign of the dress. Since the Paris pickpocketing incident, I am a little more suspicious of people but my faith in man(woman)kind was restored as I spotted a very friendly-looking girl carrying a package wrapped in Potrero Hill’s signature purple paper. “That’s mine”, I snapped as I yanked it out of her hands, before realising that I was being really rude to the person who had saved me of an incredibly bad investment. She explained that she was going to leave it at Trinity's Science Gallery as she assumed that whoever owned the dress was en route to the Lightwave exhibition. I'm not sure what about the dress indicates an interest in optical effects - perhaps the bright orange bows - but I am eternally grateful to her for illuminating the darkness of January!

The dress that almost got away...