The Pink-(ish) Panthers

I have to confess that I'm not one of those who usually follow the exploits of international jewel thieves but I was intrigued to come across a reference to a gang known as the 'Pink Panthers' when reading an Evening Standard article on the recent Hatton Garden robbery.  Some of the perpetrators have apparently just been sentenced but what caught my cross-dressing eye was their modus operandi

In one [Paris] robbery, which lasted less than 20 minutes, the gunmen disguised themselves as women, sporting wigs, skirts, stockings and high heels.

 That's all fairly innocuous I suppose, but when I thought about it, I got to wondering whether the article really need to say more than 'the gunmen disguised themselves as women'? The items of clothing mentioned was interesting as well, particularly the stockings an high heels. Which then led me onto the idle speculation that it must be quite tricky to conduct a high speed smash and grab in high heels, especially if you're not used to wearing them ("Are you crazy? You really expect me to walk over a security grating in stilettos???"). So having had the idle thought I wondered if there were any photos about on the net to show these glamour pusses in action and maybe a fuller description of exactly how they were dressed at the time.

Well as it turned out I couldn't find any so I had a little look around to see how the robbery was reported generally.

Most took the standard line, presumably repeating each others report, although the Daily Mail said 'the gunmen wore silky wigs', although how they determined this isn't noted. On the online news site Bustle, they reported it pretty much on a factual basis. although their headline focused on 'Cross-dressing Robbers' and was apparently written by their Fashion & Beauty reporter! The Daily Mirror reported their trial under the headline "Criminal Gang wore 'Fishnet stockings and heels as they stole £75m of jewels in heist of the century."  

So now they're wearing fishnets, the cheeky harlots! Well it is Paris and they were probably not going to get much of an opportunity to get out a great deal so why not? Actually, to be fair to the Mirror, they probably picked this up from a quote as noted on the BBC website



A lawyer for one of the defendants, Eric Dupond-Moretti, told Agence France-Presse: "It's an exceptional case with unusual aspects. In television series about heists, they wear bulletproof vests. Here it's fishnet stockings and high heels."  BBC Website 28.2.15

In many of the reports it seems as though it's the fact that the robbers were in female clothing that was  the interesting part. They'd robbed the same store a year previously dressed as decorators but for some reason this was rarely mentioned - and certainly no thought as to whether there were any silky wigs involved in the earlier event.

Although you can't be sure, I suspect the truth is a little less titillating than the reports hint at. Why dress as women at all? The NY Times has a reasonable explanation

"Such painstaking surveillance may well have led to the decision to wear wigs at Harry Winston: women, even fake ones, glimpsed through a security camera might appear less threatening to weary workers."
The Heist at Harry’s Doreen Carvajal December 12, 2008 The NY Times

So would they really need the full-on tranny experience for a 20 minute, action packed event with subsequent getaway (which some reports suggested was by motorbike, although others mentioned the slightly more demure getaway car)? A French news channel had a video reconstruction of the process of the robbery in which the beige burglars seem to sport wigs and even heels but where the fishnet stockings (not tights) and the skirts are replaced by the far more practical trouser/cardigan ensemble. Still chic and elegant but surely far more practical for the job in hand?

What the best dressed burglars are wearing in Paris this year