New York resident Alexis Dougé, a 25-year-old social media coordinator at Chillhouse, a wellness company, caused a ruckus when on Friday (September 1, 2023) when she took to TikTok and provided details on a Tinder date with a man named Joshua that went awry. The New York tale begain in SoHo where the two locked eyes in passing but kept it moving. That same night, he reached out to her on Tinder, an exchange that lead to drinks and eventually a sleepover at her apartment.
The Thief A Shared Fondness for Tabi Shoes
The two chit-chatted about fashion which included Joshua revealing his love for Maison Margiela and his wish to own a pair of Tabi boots. In the morning, her date asked to see her phone so he could show her a play list on Spotify. Lex, who works in social media and runs knitwear label Maddi and Danii complied, but he couldn’t find the playlist and gave her back the phone (a seemingly random detail that will matter later).
A few hous after her date left, she realized her prized Maison Magiela Tabi Mary-Janes shoes, which retail for around $1,000 and were a gift from her father, were gone from the shoe rack in her livingroom. Thinking he might know the whereabout of her shoes, she reached out to Joshua on Tinder and discovered had unmatched her. When she looked for his number on her mobile phone, she found he had erased their shared calling history, no doubt when he was pretending to search for a Spotify playlist.
She ended the video by providing an image of Joshua, and told viewers, “If you know who he is, where he lives or anything about him, fucking let me know because I deserve retribution and I want my fucking shoes back.”
Viral Video Uncovers The Tabi Thief’s Identity
Lex’s first video went viral and soon after she received multiple DMs, including one providing her with Josh’s Instagram page. Aware of the growing brouhaha, he made his Instagram page private, though by then Lex had been provided with additional contacts including his sister who she called. Realizing Lex wasn’t playing around, he reached out and claimed he didn’t steal the Tabi shoes but would pay her $500-$1,000 for the shoes, an offer that left her convinced he had indeed taken her shoes.
A good friend of Joshua’s girlfriend provided Lex with an image of the girlfriend wearing her Tabi shoes in a fresh fit pic. Lex then DM-ed Joshua with a screenshot of his girlfriend wearing the shoes and a few hours later he confessed he took them and would give them back in exchange for her removing her videos. “Thank you, all I ask is you remove the video once you get your stuff back, I thought I could get away with it but you caught me,” he wrote in a DM.
The Tabi Thief Confesses To His Crime
Mindful of documenting the whole episode, Lex had a friend film Joshua handing over the shoes when they met at Grand Central Station. Describing his demeanor when they met up as bizarre given the circumstances, she said, “He was literally smiling the whole fucking time.”
In her third update, Lex responded to a question asking how he was able to steal the shoes. She concluded he likely put them in the waistband of his cargo pants, which along with his shirt were baggy.
One of the disappointing yet sadly predictable outcomes of Lex ringing the alarm on Joshua was the multiple individuals on social media blaming her for allowing the thief into her home. Some even slut-shamed her for sleeping with him too quickly. Responding to the criticism, Lex said on Instagram, “The slut shaming I received from all this was cwazzyy. Shit’s wack. I’m forever a girl’s girl. All the guys that rooted for me you are also a girls girl and I love y’all for that!”
