Lessons in Mass Hysteria: the Filene’s Basement Bridal Event

If you tend to blank on the lesson learned from witch-hunts, Dutch tulip mania, and McCarthyism, don’t worry: The Filene’s Basement Bridal Event—that annual reminder of individually reasonable people’s tendency to go batshit in crowds—is tomorrow at the Hynes Convention Center.

Because we’re nothing if not a service-oriented publication, Bostonista Googled “Filene’s Basement Bridal Event horror stories” for you. Here, a sampling of results. (Check back tomorrow for a report from Intrepid Bostonista Jamie, who will be risking life and limb to chronicle the event.)

“One of my friends found The Dress. Gorgeous strapless ivory A-Line with a triple tiered chiffon/satin skirt, wonderful embroidery/beading/train…the whole shebang – $4,500 -> $250…and it was stolen right in front of her. She had set it down right beside her, turned to help rebag another dress, and a girl who had been sharing our mirror the whole time (basically casing the joint), grabbed it, walked to another mirror, put it on, announced it was perfect and that she was taking it. First we were speechless, then we were pissed, but she wouldn’t budge on the issue, claimed since we weren’t physically holding it, it was up for grabs. Zero Shame. We wished her a happy divorce, she’s obviously not a good person and thus has problems no dress will solve.”

“The people who get in first snatch all the dresses off the racks and then sit on them—LITERALLY SIT ON THEM— until the bride-to-be tries them on and rejects them…Uglier displays of humanity I have never seen.”

“Don’t bring your 14-year old-brother. He won’t be helpful in finding dresses because he’ll be gawking at the women in bras and panties. I thought it was funny, but the woman next to me was freaked out that a teenage kid was leering at her.”

“We got there at 4:15 am, and there were about 30 people in line already.”

Filene’s Basement Bridal Event at Hynes Convention Center, 900 Boylston, filenesbasement.com/bridal.jsp. 8 a.m., 2/22.

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