Elton John's Out the Closet 2009

On our last day in London, Rommel and I stumbled upon Elton John's Out of Closet 2009 sale while taking a walk around Covent Garden. I'd seen it in the news that Elton was donating part of his wardrobe to raise funds for his Aids Foundation so we thought we'd check it out.

In less than half an hour, we walked out of there with 4 pairs of posh men's shoes for Rommel (a Bottega, a Dior, a Gucci and a Louis Vuitton) and 5 cashmere scarves for me (Issey Miyake and Yohji Yamamoto).... All for 650 quid. What a bargain... And all for charity too!

After a very good lunch at Kulu Kulu Sushi with the family, we brought my brother and dad back there again for them to have look. The boys came out with another 9 pairs of shoes (ranging from Bottega, Louis Vuitton and others I cannot recall now) - 2 for Rommel, 3 for my brother and 4 for my dad. My dad also bought 2 Versace belts, 1 Gucci jeans (which fit him extremely well, I must add) and 1 Diesel jeans.

So much for the boys not shopping that much!

While they were paying, I was quietly stalking a really nice worn-out brown leather bag. A couple was holding on to it and couldn't seem to decide whether to get it or not. When I finally gave up and started walking out, I saw from the corner of my eye that they'd put the bag back on the rack and I practically jumped over and grabbed it. I had no idea what brand was John Varvatos (which I later found out to be a designer specialising in menswear, figures), I didn't even check the bag properly, and I just grabbed it and headed to the cashier. The bag was pretty much brand new and cost me 195 quid, vs the original price (the tag was still in the bag) of US$995. I love it!

As we walked out, we were stopped by some journalists from the Daily Mail, asking questions about what we bought and what we thought about the sale etc. Here is the article following that "interview".

I wont post the whole thing but here is the snippet on us:

"Shoes were the biggest sellers. The Chong family, on holiday from Malaysia, went crazy for Elton's distinctly unshocking black and brown leather loafer collection, rather than his Versace black bovver boots with diamond encrusted toes.

Between them, they bought 13 pairs of sensible Bottega Veneta shoes for £99 each and armfuls of cashmere scarves by Yohji Yamamoto for £50 a throw.

'Your Song is one of my favourite records,' said John Chong, 55, an owner of a chemical business. 'But that's not why I bought all this - they're just great bargains.' "

Looks like it's not only my mother who knows how to shop.