Snap! Gw yneth stole my suit
The Times Magazine 87early 25 years ago I fell
in love with a red velvet
suit in a shop window.
I’d pass it every day
on the way to work
and point it out to my
husband. It was perfect.
This was 1996. Everyone was
wearing pleated miniskirts. This
suit was different. It had shoulder
pads and a waist, sharp lapels and
a satin stripe down each trouser
leg. Even my husband could
understand my obsession. By
the weekend we’d cracked. We
walked into Joseph on Fulham
Road in southwest London and
I asked if I could try it on.
I thought I might be
disappointed. It wouldn’t fit. But it
did, perfectly. I felt like Cinderella.
I knew this was my suit. The only
problem was that it was by Tom
Ford for Gucci and I was a junior
Times journalist who spent most
of the year reporting either in
freezing Bosnia or in Basildon on
election nights. I didn’t need a
ruby Gucci sensation. We put the
suit on hold and went to have a
coffee. We thought of what we
could do with the money: a safari,
a car, a mortgage. I couldn’t buy
it. What happened if someone
threw wine all over it the first
time I wore it.
By Monday it was gone. And
then suddenly I saw it again: two
weeks later, it was on Gwyneth
Paltrow. This was before she burst
into tears receiving an Oscar in
her pink dress. She wore it to the
MTV Video Music Awards just
after she had played Jane Austen’s
Emma. Why did she need to
model it? She could have worn
anything else. I felt bereft. No
imitation was ever going to work.
I never wore a red jacket again.I grieved, in a Sliding Doors
kind of way. Maybe my life
would have turned out slightly
differently if I had bought the
suit. “Didn’t Gwyneth get run
over in one version of Sliding
Doors?” said my husband, trying
to be helpful. But I would not
have been run over in a red suit.
Then just as the third
lockdown ended, my husbandN
Alice Thomson on her 25-year wait to own her red velvet Gucci number
walked into the kitchen and
announced, “It’s back.” The
children looked blank. “The red
suit, it’s in Gucci.” We met the
next day in Bond Street and there
it was in the window. This time
we felt legitimate, grown-up and
composed. “Could I try on the
suit in the window?” I asked.
“It’s not for sale,” said the shop
assistant, dismissively. “We onlyhave one. It can’t be touched.
Our creative designer is
recreating a few pieces for
our 100th anniversary.”
Twice thwarted, I gave up.
My husband went on a trip
to Berlin and I met him for our
first weekend away in 20 years
without children. By chance we
walked down Kurfürstendamm
and came across Gucci. “Don’t
bother. I’m over it. It’s £2,000,”
I said. He pushed open the door.
There it was. This time the
experience was different. The shop
assistant was charming. I told her
the story of my suit obsession.
“You must at least try it on
again,” she said, stripping it off
the mannequin. “It’s a slightly
different cut now, but it’s your
size.” It still fitted perfectly.
“I can afford it,” said my husband,
smiling. “Actually, I can afford it,”
I said. We split the cost.
I now wear it almost every
day. The jacket sometimes
comes to work. The trousers
have been to book launches. The
suit went to the Telegraph dinner
at the Garrick Club the night
Boris Johnson flew down from
Cop26. It’s been to the theatre,
a 50th birthday party and lent
to a friend.
Gwyneth wore the new one
this month. But I don’t care that
she now has two. A version is
selling on the 1stDibs website for
$8,500, but I couldn’t sell it. One
day my children can wear it, but
not quite yet. n- £189, age-of-innocence.com. 17. £179, lkbennett.com. 18. £725, jimmychoo.com. 19. £315, lemondeberyl.com.
20. £35, marksandspencer.com. 21. £199, penelopechilvers.com.
16 17 18 19 20 212021
1996
GREY HUTTON, BACKGRID, GETTY IMAGES. HAIR AND MAKE-UP: ALICE THEOBALD AT ARLINGTON ARTISTS USING GUERLAIN, L’ANZA AND BABYLISS PRO
Alice Thomson Gwyneth Paltrow