Alan Ilagan

It has been my unfortunate personal experience that fashion – both good and bad – is invariably contagious. When I find out about a sale or an outlet that I didn’t know existed, I get very, very excited. (Frenzied is not an exaggeration.) The unfortunate part comes when I start entering the monthly AmEx charges into my admittedly-nerdy spreadsheet of credit card charges (if I didn’t do it this way I’d be in debt; to date, I have yet to miss a full payment, so cry dork all you want).

There are moments, however, when the monthly budget must be thrown out the window, such as when a Burberry outlet closes its doors and starts offering insane sales on top of outlet prices. A few things in this life are absolute, and a classic Burberry raincoat is one of them. It will never go out of style, it will last a lifetime, and it’s not just for the rain. In this case, it was lined (with a removable wool lining in the traditional Burberry plaid), it was the perfect size (not too long, not too short), and it was (just barely) under $200. The stars rarely align so perfectly.

I had to beg, plead and cajole both Andy and my boss to make the trip to Manchester, VT happen – for the former, I had to promise to fill the gas tank and buy dinner; for the latter, well, she just rolled her eyes. Actually, this was the exchange:

Me (in a dramatic, serious tone): Marline, there is a huge emergency and I need to leave at 3 o’clock today.

Boss: What, is there a sale at Bergdorf’s?

Me (in an earnest, surprised tone): No, at Burberry.

If blame must be placed, it cannot fall solely on my shoulders. I put the brunt of it on Kristi Gustafson and her own inspiring trip to Burberry, so tantalizingly posted on her ‘On the Edge’ blog. She made out like a bandit, and that sort of fashion/financial savvy is pure inspiration. (By the way, Kristi, I think Andy wants to talk to you…)