Behind every great dress is a great story… or is there?

We all love a good rummage around a charity shop. I know I do. My latest haul included a pristine vinyl Queen album, Jazz (c1978 for those who might be interested, but missing that notorious poster – those in the know will know!).

But how much of the back history do we really want to know when it comes to those second hand clothes we pick up as a bargain? I couldn’t help but hold back a shudder when I read in this week’s FT about Oxfam harnessing digital technology (QR codes and RFID technology) to do just that. A pilot scheme in a Manchester Oxfam shop allows customers to read stories about the previous owners of the clothes they are buying. Apparently it has been so successful that they are rolling the initiative out into another 20 stores this autumn.

Is it just me, or isn’t there something a bit ghoulish about this? I for one wouldn’t want to know that someone might have popped their clogs in the vintage dress I’ve just bought. In any case isn’t there a universal stigma associated with buying second-hand shoes for exactly that reason?  Along with weddings, engagements and other joyful live events, you’ve got divorces, accidents and deaths. Do we really want to be saddled with all this emotional baggage when all we’re doing is buying a second hand skirt?

Yet, as the FT article says, computer scientists have long been working on the compelling idea of the “internet of things”. It’s a wonderful goal, and while the Oxfam initiative is an interesting experiment around the edges, I’d love to see the technology applied to properly ancient artefacts as a way of truly bringing history to life.

But back to clothes for a moment. I had the oddest experience a few months back. I was having a lunch meeting with a client and a lovely female journalist. The dress she was wearing was ever-so familiar – the vintage frills around the hips, the black crepe fabric with sprigs of tiny roses. Then it dawned on me: I’d had exactly the same St Michael’s dress almost 20 years ago. Boy, did we laugh about it! It might even have been the dress that I actually wore, but we’ll never know!

Not all dresses hold such happy or savoury memories, however, as the sorry tale of former US President Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky would testify. Let’s just say ‘Caveat Emptor’. Oxfam shoppers, don’t say you haven’t been warned.