InStyle editors recount the most cursed shopping regrets they’ll take to the grave. From Armani jackets to discount Miu Miu, these are the fashion ghost stories we’ll never forget.

InStyle editors recount the most cursed shopping regrets they'll take to the grave.

We all have clothes that haunt us. For some, an archival piece seared into memory at an early age becomes a lifelong shopping obsession that remains tantalizingly out of reach. Others spend their whole adult lives in changing rooms searching for the elusive Levis 501s that fit just right. However, nothing’s spookier than the pieces we regret not buying.

It’s a ghost story we all know and fear. Procrastinate on a Martine Rose sneaker just long enough to receive a sold-out alert hours later. Leave behind a vintage Dries Van Noten cargo skirt at a Parisian boutique and live to tell the tale. Forget the name of a really good consignment store and spend the rest of your life wandering the Upper East Side (just me?) in the hopes of finding it.

Ahead, InStyle editors recount the most cursed shopping regrets they'll take to the grave. Read on for fashion ghost stories, gloomy missed connections, and doomed love affairs with clothes we'll never stop thinking about.

Hell Is a Pair of Shoes in the Wrong Size

When I was 19, I took a trip with my mom to Florida, and we went shopping at the Sawgrass Mills mall. I took a chance on the Miu Miu and Prada outlet store just to look (not that I could afford anything). To my surprise, I found a pair of polka-dotted navy platforms from Miu Miu that I had been obsessing over for years. I bargained they’d be too expensive anyway and just looked at the price to laugh at myself. But they were $100 and my mom offered to pay for them as a year-end gift for good grades. It was the last pair and woefully not my size. So, I had to wave goodbye, but still think about them 11 years later. 

-Frances Solá-Santiago, fashion editor

The Case of the Missing Louis Vuitton Cherries

When I was in Japan recently, I was laser-focused on getting something, anything with the Murakami cherries on it from the Takashi Murakami Louis Vuitton collaboration in the '00s.

I wasn't the only one looking, clearly, because every secondhand, vintage, and resale shop was completely out of those kawaii cherries. So, while I could have gotten other things, like a Cartier Santos-Dumont, that's no longer being produced or things like Nike Air Rifts (also known as the Nike Tabis) that aren't sold in the U.S., I was blinded by my determination to have a piece of Y2K Paris Hilton pop art. I'll never forgive myself, but it just gives me another reason to make another trip back to Asia. 

-Christopher Luu, sr. news editor

Little (Vintage) Shop of Horrors

On a visit to LA long, long ago, I found the most delightful quilted Armani jacket at a stall outside the Los Feliz flea market for less than $100. It had gorgeous details like oversized Rouleau buttons and a chic notched collar straight out of the '90s. Sadly, I convinced myself that its kelly green color was too impractical for everyday wear, and I left it on the rack with a wistful glance before heading out. 

That jacket has haunted me every day since. If I had only known ladylike outerwear would be the biggest thing in fashion just a few years later…

-Madeline Hirsch, fashion features director

The Tale of the Empty Shopping Cart

Over the summer I saw a chic NYC mom wearing the Toteme T-Lock shoulder bag and immediately added it to my Net-a-Porter cart, where it sat for weeks and weeks. I couldn't get myself to pull the trigger on it (which my bank account probably thanks me for) but think about it to this day. 

-Samantha Brash, director of content strategy

The Curse of the Checkered Jacket

It was late winter 2024 and I was scrolling through Instagram, like I normally did, when I came across a post from Marimekko. They were introducing a new collection, which included the most stunning black and white checkered jacket.

I bookmarked the post for future investigation. Over the past summer, I would go back to the post and their site, waiting for the jacket to be posted on their US site. When it finally did, I was heartbroken. Not only was it gorgeous, but it was out of my budget. I waited for sales, I waited for other sites to pick it up and the price was never right. Every now and again, I’ll search for it on second-hand sites, hoping it didn’t work out for someone else. It will haunt me until it’s mine!

-Kelly Chiello, associate photo director

A Nightmare in Suede

When I think about the fashion that haunts me, I think about a caramel suede Ralph Lauren jacket I discovered at a vintage store right off the Pacific Coast highway. I remember waiting at a stoplight, seeing the jacket’s fringed sleeves blowing in the wind, and immediately making a U-turn to inspect it. I pulled into the driveway and went up to the store clerk to ask if they could take it off the mannequin so I could try it on—it truly fit like a dream and made me feel so chic.

I couldn’t justify spending the cash then, but as time has passed, it’s haunted my dreams, and I’ve learned my lesson from not indulging in my sartorial wants. I’m on the slender side, so whenever I find a vintage piece that fits, I now cast financial fears aside and typically take the plunge into purchasing it.

-Kevin Huynh, fashion director

The Ghost of Combat Boots Past

It was winter 2020. I was back home for the holidays, making my semi-annual trek to the Niagara Falls outlet mall. I saw a fabulous pair of white combat boots with fur trim at Coach, admired them for their impractical beauty, and left them behind.

Then, I became obsessed. I sent my mom back to the store to grab them, but they were sold out. I started calling different Coach outlets around the state to see if anyone could ship them, but none had my size. Though I hardly even remember what the boots looked like, they seared a permanent combat boot-shaped hole into my heart.

-Kara Jillian Brown, beauty editor

The Small Closet Blood Sacrifice

I'm more haunted by the clothes that I have consigned or donated. Being a New Yorker, you never have enough space and are forced to make some crucial decisions on what to keep when moving apartments or changing seasons. Being old enough now that I am seeing the twenty year trend cycles come around, or feeling mature enough to wear something that I may have not felt confident in before, I am completely kept up at night by the pangs of remembering an Alberta Ferretti gown with a mandarin collar that I offloaded to Buffalo Exchange along with a Marc Jacobs pleated skirt. I hope they are haunting someone else now with the bad energy I'm now putting into them.

-Taylor Ford, social media director

Here Lies a Nylon Pink Prada Bag, R.I.P.

A vintage and re-sale boutique called Phoenix in my hometown of Pittsburgh has the best designer bag collection and often posts new items on Instagram. I fell in love with a hot pink nylon Prada crossbody bag while doom-scrolling a few years ago that was unlike any of the fashion house's current colorways (and it was selling for a fraction of the original price). It didn't take long before the piece of my dreams was marked "SOLD," much to my dismay. To add insult to injury, my mom later revealed that she inquired about purchasing the piece as a birthday gift, though it had been too late. The bubblegum-pink purse—which would have been a perfect accessory during the Barbie craze—continues to haunt me to this day. 

-Tessa Petak, news editor