My husband, Michael, and I recently splurged at a luxury hotel in Miami, but, to our dismay, while checking in we found that one of our bags was gone.

After checking our remaining bags, we found out that the missing bag contained Michael’s clothes.

We told the concierge, Armand, who immediately notified hotel security.

We went up to our room. As we began to unpack our remaining bags, Armand knocked at our door and said that security had found our bag. He wanted Michael to check to make sure everything was there.

I said, “Check to see if that new cashmere sweater I just bought you is in there.”

“It’s here.”

“How about all your shirts?”

“Yes,” he replied, a little tersely.

“What about that new jacket?”

He stated indignantly, “They didn’t take anything.”

“Michael, why do you sound so upset?”

“I’m beginning to get the picture here.”

Armand and I both looked at him, wondering what he meant.

“It means that my clothes just aren’t good enough for some crook out there.”

We looked at him in disbelief.

He went on, “It means that my clothes weren’t up to his standards.”

“Mr. Perry, it doesn’t have to mean that at all,” Armand said, trying to placate him. “Maybe your clothes weren’t his size.”

“A large sweater would fit most people. So don’t tell me that.”

I said, “You don’t have to take this so personally.”

“How would you feel if your clothes weren’t good enough for some thief? I don’t see how you wouldn’t take it personally.”

I said, “NO ONE STOLE ANYTHING FROM YOU. THIS IS GOOD.”

“WELL, MY THINGS ARE JUST AS GOOD AS ANYONE ELSE’S. MY CLOTHES HAVE BEEN CAST ASIDE AS INFERIOR BY SOME FASHION-CONSCIOUS CROOK.”

Armand said, “Excuse me, but it’s possible that you’re right. Now let me ask you this, Mr. Perry: have you ever had your color-wheel done? You know, where you have a professional skin and make-up artist determine what colors you should wear according to your skin tones? Maybe the colors on your color-wheel and the colors on the color-wheel of the thief are different from one another.

Michael pulled me aside and said in a hushed voice, “What is he talking about?”

I whispered back. “He just said that maybe the thief didn’t like the color of your clothes.”

Armand said, “You know, according to your skin tones, you should be wearing warm colors –- like peaches and golds and rich browns. What are the colors of your clothes?”

“Blues, grays, and blacks,” Michael said defensively.

“Then it’s possible the thief singled you out because of your skin tones. Then, when he opened your suitcase, he found colors completely different on the color-wheel than what he expected. So he decided to return your clothes.”

“What is this wheel you keep talking about?” Michael asked.

“Here, Mr. Perry, I’ll show you my color-wheel,” he said, taking it out of his suit pocket. “Here are my colors -– which are considered cool colors, in the blue color family, especially. See how when I hold this up to my face it complements my skin tones? But now when I hold this color up to your face, it doesn’t really do much for you. Here, come and look in the mirror.”

Michael looked in the mirror. “I see what you mean. It makes me look terrible,” he sounded shocked.

“When I hold up fabric that’s warmer, like this dark peach towel, for instance, it brings out that natural glow you have.”

Michael said excitedly, “It really does.”

“If you’d like, Mr. Perry, I know a personal color consultant, Sergio. I could arrange for him to meet with you to do your colors for you.”

“That’d be great. I’ve been thinking that my clothes really don’t do much for me. You could set it up for me to meet with him?”

“I’d be happy to, Mr. Perry.”

“How soon could you do it?”

“I’ll go call him right now.”

Armand left.

After the door closed I said in disbelief, “Let me get this right. You, the person who wore a gray shirt, brown pants, black shoes and blue socks to our engagement dinner, are going to have a personal color consultation with some guy named Sergio?”

“Why not?”

“It’s just never been your style before now. I’ve picked out a lot of your clothes and always thought they looked good on you.”

“Honey, why do you always have to take everything so personally?”