even though it ends up either in the loft or hanging unworn in a wardrobe.In the meantime, the stores abound with tales of crazed consumption. Peter Villasey of Harrods was a mine of hair-raising stories “This man came in once in search of an alarm clock. We had an exhibition of antique clocks at the time, and he ended up spending pounds 250,000 in half an hour. Another customer came to buy china during the sale and walked out with pounds 60,000 worth of crockery None of it in the event marked down. But the best recently was the man who wanted a Christmas present for his son. He picked out a Sega Gamegear computer-game consol, which sell at around pounds 100 Then he had it customised with gold and precious stones.

It ended up costing pounds 55,000.”Many Harrods customers, of course, are well equipped to afford such excesses. She once bought the entire Burberry range, and feels “a great sense of pride when I find that “perfect outfit”… But, of course, they do it repetitively, so they’re not fully in control of it.”Indeed, Lucy, who has often had to use savings to pay off credit cards and loans, has often bought “one of every colour” of an item of clothing. Says Elliott: “These women have for some reason chosen shopping as a means of developing their skills and expressing their personality.

They see it not as a haphazard rush round the shops, but as a skilled and concentrated activity… what looks on the outside like a frenetic rush, madly getting rid of money, was not that but was a search for the absolute buy” It is in a way a search for perfection “And it gives them a sense of self, too A sense of power. Rather than being a compulsive shopper, they have a sense of heightened skills. respect, really, than I’m getting.” A man’s wallet, it seems, is often the only place to hit where it really hurts.Lucy, meanwhile, is an Existential shopper. but, of course, I’ve changed over the years – and I want more responsibility and .. well… then I wouldn’t have to do it, would I?’ “Another 51-year-old woman puts it this way: “I think I was a bit child- like when we married…

And one can see when they describe their situations that they feel powerless to influence their partner. This is one way of doing it.”Rachel, a 38-year-old from the Home Counties, is one such. “On average, I can spend up to pounds 200-pounds 300 a time on nothing. It’s like sweetie money.” A heavily indulged youngest daughter, she married a man who while frequently absent himself indulges her sprees: “Well,” he says, “You were spoilt as a child and I suppose I will have to continue the tradition.” She feels that he doesn’t acknowledge that she has matured during the course of their marriage – with both motherhood and her own part-time career, but “I just can’t get him to understand that I’ve changed – I just don’t know what to do any more.. [the shopping] is a way of getting back at him I say, ‘well, if you took more notice of me…