She wore a Nordstrom scarf dress for a New York City Gala, and it almost ended her: ‘I nearly was killed by fashion’
A literal wardrobe malfunction.
Livy (@livslivinlive) was going to attend a gala in New York City, so she decided to shop for a dress at Nordstrom. She didn’t think the scarf dress she chose would send her to the hospital.
“The ensemble was perfect. It was everything, and I’ve never had issues with dresses and scarves. I think it’s a super cute trend,” Livy told TikTok. She initially planned to wear a yellow dress but wanted to choose an outfit better suited to the event. A sales lady at Nordstrom suggested a scarf dress, and Livy fell in love with it.
After their first opening social, she decided to hail a Lyft home with two friends, wearing the scarf part of the dress. “I don’t want to take the subway this late at night,” Livy explained. While danger doesn’t always strike, one New York City woman said a stranger chased her in public. Similarly, even though Livy thought New York City was safe, she didn’t think the subway was the best option at night.
“I get in the car, and the scarf—it was long enough to hang outside the car door and the tire wheel,” she added. Livy got into the lift, and what happened next went by quickly. She tried buckling her seatbelt when she felt a tug on her neck. The car moved forward, and Livy’s body went forward, against the seatbelt. She shot her hand up, assuming that the seatbelt was choking her. Livy thought that by putting her hand between the seatbelt and her body, she could stop the strangling sensation.
“I get pulled forward; my hand shoots up here. ‘Cause I was like, hello? Is a seatbelt trying to murder me?” Livy said. The driver didn’t stop immediately until one of her friends alerted the driver.
Almost strangled to death by a Nordstrom dress
When the driver stopped, Livy said she hit her head on the side. She still believed the seatbelt was at fault and thought she had only suffered a minor rug burn. She even asked her friend to remove her necklace because her neck felt irritated, but the burning didn’t cease.
After a while, one of her friends asked what she planned to wear to the gala. She explained that she planned to wear another scarf dress, but as she reached for her neck, she realized her scarf was gone. Livy looked down, in the back seat, and to the sides, but couldn’t find it. She even thought the seatbelt holder might have swallowed her scarf.
“And then, I’m kind of piecing it together: my scarf got caught in the door and then caught in the tire,” Livy said. When the car moved forward, Livy said the scarf was pulled from her neck. After getting out of the car, Livy took pictures of her neck and noticed it looked swollen. Since the trauma happened near her voice box, she went to the hospital and got it checked.
A fashion choice that sent her to the hospital
“So, with my nice, little percentage left, I look up where the closest hospital is,” she said. Livy had only 5% left on her phone, but she knew she was injured. She got on a bus for a 20-minute ride, and Livy said she had to explain her case to healthcare workers three times. Because the cause of her injury was bizarre, they struggled to understand what had happened.
But when they saw her injury, Livy said they started calling her a “level three trauma” and placed her in a neck brace. She thought it was overkill, but when the healthcare workers started taking CT scans, her neck started swelling even further. It was already two in the morning when the doctor came.
Livy assumed they were going to send her home. But like this woman who got a cancer diagnosis in the ER, Livy’s situation escalated, and the doctor explained that they were concerned about a possible artery dissection. At that point, Livy almost cried, afraid of the complication. They kept her overnight, but after she received an MRI, the doctors found nothing serious.
“But I’m going to have the gnarliest scars,” she said, showing the marks on her neck. Although she’s scarred, she survived the ordeal. Livy commented, “I nearly was killed by fashion.”
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