Tabi swiper: Woman’s Tinder date stole her Margiela shoes for his girlfriend

A man has been tracked down and caught out after subjecting his unsuspecting Tinder date to a truly unbelievable crime.

In the pursuit of modern love, who among us has not committed a crime (or two) of passion?

One dirty rotten scoundrel in New York, however, has taken it a bit too literally and actually broken the law – robbing his Tinder date of her beloved Maison Margiela Tabi shoes, and gifting them to his girlfriend.

For the uninitiated, the infamous split-toe footwear has been part of sartorial lore since the French fashion house introduced them in 1988, and come in a variety of styles – including ballet flats, boots, loafers and Mary Janes.

In recent years, their appeal has trickled into the mainstream – with everyone from Dua Lipa and Zendaya to Timothee Chalamet and Olivia Rodrigo cashing in $1000 or more to look like Mr Tumnus from The Chronicles of Narnia.

“Wearing them has long been a symbol that you are the kind of person who not only gets fashion history and likes to confound people’s ideas of taste and desire but also the kind of person who can withstand sniggering on the train,” Vogue Australia style editor Annie Brown explained in a breakdown of Tabis’ popularisation.

Of course, when one purchases a pair of Tabis for themselves, the last thing they’d expect is for them to be ruthlessly burgled by a man off a dating app.

Yet that’s what happened to TikTok user Lexus (@nextlevellexuss), who posted a “public service announcement” to New York City singles, warning them to “beware” a man named Joshua, who will heretofore be known as the “Tabi swiper”.

New York-based fashion designer, Lexus, in her beloved Tabi Mary Janes. Picture: Instagram

“Ladies of NYC, be-f**king-ware. This man is out here on Tinder and Hinge and he will steal from you,” she began.

“This is a story about that f**ker stole my Mary Jane Tabis that my father bought me as a birthday gift.”

In a series of videos that have since gone viral, Lexus then dutifully recounted the whole charade.

The fashion designer said she’d been walking around Manhattan’s Soho neighbourhood when she “locked eyes” with a “really cute guy” on the street, later receiving a Tinder message from the same men that read: “Hey, did I see you downtown?”

“I didn’t know we matched on Tinder before, but I guess we did. We start chatting and we ended up going out for drinks,” Lexus said.

“Fast forward, we hang out again, he comes over and we sleep together.”

Prior to their rendezvous, they “chatted about fashion and stuff” (never a good sign). Josh then confessed to coveting a pair of Tabis himself (motive established).

The face of evil (Josh, the Tabi swiper). Picture: TikTok

‘Fast forward, we hang out again, he comes over and we sleep together.’ Picture: TikTok

After he left the next morning, Lexus looked around her apartment to discover that Josh had stolen something – and it wasn’t her heart. Her beloved Margiela Mary-Jane Tabis, more precious than any vital organ, were missing from her shoe rack.

“I’m on my computer, I look over to my shoe rack over here. I have Tabi boots up there. We were talking about the Tabi boots and he was referencing those. He barely glanced at the Mary Janes, OK?” Lexus recounted.

“I look over there, and they’re gone.”

While she didn’t want to jump to conclusions, she became increasingly suspicious – a feeling that was affirmed when, after opening Tinder to message Josh and inquire about the shoes’ whereabouts, Lexus found he had not only unmatched her, but deleted his number from her phone when he went on there to “show her a playlist” the night before.

“I’m like, ‘Oh no. This b*tch stole my f**king shoes,” she said.

Lexus then did what any victim of such a truly heinous crime would: name and shame Josh on social media, asking her followers if they knew the man in question, and plead for the safe return of her Tabis.

It didn’t take long – the initial video went viral, prompting multiple women to come forward not only with Josh’s Instagram profile, but further disturbing intel: not only had he stolen her Tabis, he’d then gifted them to his girlfriend.

Blessedly, Lexus and her Tabis were reunited. Picture: TikTok

The Tabi swiper finally got in touch with Lexus, at first attempting to “gaslight” her by denying he’d taken the shoes. Upon receiving a screenshot of his girlfriend wearing them, however, he confessed to his crime.

“Ight (sic) you got me, I’ll get them back to you give me a time and place and I’m just asking to remove the TikTok is all,” he wrote in a text.

“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.”

At last, mother and child (shoe) were reunited, and order was restored. And to any fellow Tabi owners, best to heed Lexus’ warning, and lock them up.