Why I skip Black Friday

Okay, I'm typing this with one hand with crossed fingers on my back because it feels a bit like Pete Doherty saying he will never use drugs again, but I really feel it for a moment like this.

Let me take you back a few weeks, to November 9 to be precise. Or The Day of the Archive Sale of Isabel Marant. For that sale, you get an email a few weeks in advance. Or you can receive an invitation. It's a bit like the golden wrapper in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I had one (which ultimately didn't work, but I didn't know that then) and I shared it with a few colleague Isabel-addicted friends. It had been discussed for weeks in various group chats. What time would it start? November 9 is November 9, my brain thought, so it should start at midnight. Seemed spectacular for Isabel herself to see on a screen what was being pressed on her items at midnight like a crazed bull. So I stayed up. My friends stayed up too. At three minutes past twelve, I checked the email again. Archive Sale Starts at 12.00 and not at 00.00. We slept restlessly, you understand.

The next day I had a personal training session with my loyal Richard. The lesson that was supposed to end at 12.00 we decided to stop five minutes earlier. And yes, of course, I could use the room of the physiotherapist who was one room over. Wifi password sorted, tea on the side and gogogo. Nothing. Friends K and I were together with open laptops and tapping credit cards. Friend D was at her dining table and had another army of Isabel-ordering friends at the ready. I couldn't get in. W (friend of D) was inside. ‘What does she have that we don't have?’ panicked I, who in the meantime was also going to call friend D.

Eventually, I struck my deal in a parking garage at a shopping center where I had to buy gifts for my daughter. Heart rate nearing 200 and three Dove rollers needed to get things back under control. And what do you think? Everything returned. Well, except for two pairs of boots. With shame, we sent each other photos of The Catch. I was sick of it. And then I decided: sample sales, archive sales, black Fridays, I'm not participating for a while. Not getting caught up in the madness, buying things just because they are a hundred euros cheaper. Just saving for something you really want. Losing sleep over it, dreaming about it, putting it at the foot of your bed once bought, not being able to wait to wear it... Cherishing, that's what I want. Grabbing, I hereby return.

In case you can't control yourself: