Swishing proper

I've been to several clothes swaps or 'swishes' at friend's places over the last couple of years and have held a few of my own. However, this weekend saw Brighon host its first official swishing event, and far from the 'throw it all in and get rummaging' approach I'm used to, swishing proper is a very structured affair.

Clothes were registered by a points system on arrival, from five and ten points for small and large high-street items, to 30 and 60 points for vintage and designer pieces respectively.

Once everyone had swapped their clothes for tokens, a stylist gave a raffle winner a colour consultation, talking us through why certain colours suited her and why others didn't. To be honest nobody’s heart was really in it – there were rails of clothes for the taking and we were like children in a sweet shop, salavating – but her insights were interesting and she didn't talk for too long.

At the start of the swap we had 20 minutes to try on items we liked. Points were pinned to the clothes and, personally, I think the organisers may have planned on a bit of pricking to stop us getting too carried away.

After we'd given back the items to be re-ordered (many things had ended up on the floor) a nutritionist hurried through something about the Equinox – seriously, no one was listening at this point – and the swap was officially opened to the vultures.

The first minute of the swapping frenzy wasn’t pretty - short of sticking pins in each others eyes, the swishers were prepared to do whatever they had to to get what they wanted. Nobody got everything they'd had their eye on - some pieces, especially a Cambridge stripe Topshop blazer, were very popular - but everybody seemed pleased with their loot.

On the way out tokens were tallied with swaps to make sure everything added up and I’d managed to bag a flower print summer dress, floral maxi, polka dot dress and a sequin bolero.

I'm not usually a fan of organised fun, but rules and structure are needed when free clothes are on offer and I can’t wait till the next official swish!