Some recent celebrity news has reminded me of an experience I had in 2006. Once upon a time in that year, a troubled starlet who had attended a glamorous film-industry event reported that her tres chic handbag was missing.
It was a bag like this one.
The bag was filled with jewelry, including jewelry that she had borrowed to wear to the glamorous event. Miraculously, the bag was found, and the starlet was able to return the jewelry. Yay! Then … boo! Some of the jewelry was badly damaged. The policy for borrowed jewelry is that if you break it, you buy it, so the store that had loaned her some of the now-unwearable jewelry ran the credit card number it had on file for the starlet. The card was declined, because what is the first thing you do when your purse is stolen? You cancel your credit cards, of course.
It took me months to get paid for my damaged diamond bangle.
Moral of the story: If a celebrity to whom you’ve loaned jewelry reports her bag stolen, prepare for the worst.
Second moral of the story: Don’t be surprised if your celebrity turns out to be a repeat offender.
And yet, I’d bet this starlet will still have no trouble “borrowing” clothes and jewelry and cars and…
Uh oh, another Brit Brit story?
Nope, not Britney.
Uhoh not our dear Ms Lohan?
I’m surprised you got paid at all. Starlets and their ethics, or lack there of, and all.
The store pursued the “team” for months — managers, lawyers, publicists and the like.
LOL. (Okay to laugh about it now that it’s in the past and you were reimbursed, right?!) I remember when that happened. Now I often find myself annoyed by the sounds of news helicopters in my neighborhood because a certain celebrity can’t seem to stay out of trouble.
That’s terrible. In my own Sunset Plaza shop, there were a few that were known to possibly, just possibly, have light fingers. The ladies were also lovely and many stores had this sort of list. The ladies had business managers and so if anything from the theoretically carefully counted things went missing, it was billed. Quietly. No press, no fuss.
I also remember, she was a customer briefly because it was too difficult to work with her, one who was loaned about 300,000.00 in serious jewels for the Oscars. The jeweler requested the return and she said no, how could you, this was payment for my wearing your jewels. She was not a young girl.
There are some, Oscar winner actually, that didn’t “borrow and not return” things. She was tall and slender so the two Dolce trouser skirts that went in the dressing room had the bottoms switched so that we were left with a size 8 top and a size 6 bottom.
But of course back then celebrities paid for their things, perhaps spending a bit more when someone else was paying for it. But strangely, stores sold clothing.
It’s all so public now, Gawker paying for videos before the police are called …
I can’t imagine the “misunderstandings” now.
Sigh.
Oh, yes, I’m familiar with the Oscar jewelry story. It seems so quaint now that certain firms pay celebs actual cash to wear their pieces. Imagine someone going for jewelry instead of cash today. It would be foolish!
I’m kind of ashamed I know this but I’m 90% sure it was Lindsay Lohan. I remember her having a bag worth of $$$$$ jewelry taken and then magically finding it. I’m glad you got your money, even if it took forever and an eternity.
Yikes what an awful situation to deal with! So glad you eventually got paid for your work.
Who breaks jewelry she receives on loan?? Honestly, wouldn’t you guard it with your life? I’m confused, is the implication that she wrecked the jewelry to make the bag theft seam more plausible after it was returned?
Our theory was that the jewelry was wrecked. Then the bag went missing, enabling the cancellation of the credit card that would have paid for the wrecked jewelry.
Of course, that doesn’t explain how or why the jewelry got wrecked in the first place. You need to use a certain amount of force to bend an 18K gold and diamond bangle. Was it stepped on? Driven over? Who knows.
Who brings a bag full of beautiful, expensive, BORROWED jewelry to an event with them, seriously? Disaster.
Glad it all worked out in the end.
C
So happy you were paid in the end hunnie….how crappy!!
I know this star. She has felony grand theft charges now. My guess is the jewelry was damaged first, she didn’t know how/want to pay for it, so she invented this whole scheme of “My bag was stolen!” etc.
I mean, really. If a bag filled with jewelry was stolen, I don’t think a thief will just get the cards. And it’s a Hermes bag! I don’t think that would be returned either.
Oh! I see that this was your theory, too! Sorry, commented before reading the other comments =)
Definitely! A Birkin FULL of jewelry? JACKPOT!
Hi there-what a story, that is just unbelievably rude and disrespectful and they get away with it too? Utterly disgraceful 🙁
Oh, it’s definitely La Lohan. Glad to know that you got reimbursed, Wendy!
And your anti-spam gave hints to who the culprit was too! The word I got is ‘Charlotte’. Charlotte Ronson -> Samantha Ronson -> Lindsay Lohan.
I am still reeling over the concept of being paid cash to wear jewelry.
Do you still loan jewels to celebrities? Why not insist on some kind of security, like a passport or deposit?
Yes, celebrity stylists borrow jewelry all the time. And we do get security via credit card numbers. Should the jewelry be lost or damaged, the retail price is charged to the card on file. Which is why it might be convenient for someone to have a reason to cancel her credit card. Very unusual. BTW, it would be hard for someone to travel to – say, just as a random example – Italy, if I confiscated her passport!
We will still lend jewelry to celebrities for events but we are very picky about who we lend to.
Ha, jesus I remember this.
She seems to have made a career out of it since, too. Jewelry, coats, more jewelry…
I’m happy you got reimbursed in the end. What a headache though!