fashion low down

I mean, I think the headline speaks for itself, but in case you’re wondering, I’ll elaborate.

I just found out that Monique Lhullier is having a massive sample sale in downtown L.A. this Sunday. Honestly, can you imagine anything more horrifying? I know some women — who shall remain nameless — who have literally turned into people I no longer recognize over the course of planning their wedding. And many psychologists will tell you that any human is capable of anything, given the right circumstances. All that said, I think that I MIGHT DIE if I went to a bridal sample sale.

I’m not exaggerating. In the face of wedding dresses, women have been known to exhibit strong emotions — emotions unlike any they’ve felt before for a dress. Those emotions can lead to strange behavior: a schoolteacher who makes $30,000, and who sometimes doesn’t go to the movies because it’s too expensive, paying over $2,000 for a dress she will only wear once. Women who have struggled to lose weight for their entire lives suddenly completely altering their lifestyles and eating habits to drop 60 pounds. And so I’m saying — how do you know that under the right circumstances, when faced with the right dress for the right price, this behavior couldn’t turn into MURDER?

That’s right. You don’t. And so I will not be attending this sale, thank you very much. I may, however, watch it out the window of the same friend’s apartment from which I viewed the chaos and destruction following the Lakers’ NBA victory. It remains to be seen which will be more riotous.

Post from: TheGloss

Recently, I found myself in a stupidly long line at a stupidly not fruitful sample sale. It occurred to me that I had made some tactical errors that left me in my state of durress, and hopefully, with some guidelines, you can avoid them! So, some tips for breezing through a sample sale and coming out with more shit than your competitors other women there.

1. Bring a trusted friend. TRUSTED. Don’t do a pity invite. Bring your most fashionable, most brutally honest friend. She will act just like a mirror, only a mirror that may tell you some things you don’t want to hear. She will probably cut your pile of try-ons in half.

2.  Also bring a camera. This is the same technique used by Di and Cher in Clueless, only they didn’t have digital cameras yet so they used a polaroid. Same shit. This way, if the only mirror is in the dressing room, you can bypass it altogether.

3.  Wear a tank and a skirt so you can try things on on the spot! This is very basic sample sale protocol, yet I found myself having forgone it for no good reason. You just really can’t tell how something looks over jeans.

4.  Grab everything you like. This isn’t the time to be polite. If you were there first, rip it out of some other bitch’s hands. Don’t fuck around. This is also the ultimate case of not knowing whether something works or not till you try it, and since most sample sales are final sale, and most of us don’t want to literally light our money on fire, know before you buy.

5.  Arrive early. Seriously. If you’re going to go, you have to commit. Arriving early means you bypass the line to get in — the most stupid line in the world — you get the best pick of the merch, and you have a shot at being that asshole who grabs one of everything and then spends an hour in the dressing room. The girl that everyone hates, but secretly wishes they were.

Post from: TheGloss

For those of you in the New York area, I am jealous of you, yet again. California based design house, Linea Pelle will be holding its first ever New York sample sale this week!

Speaking on behalf of the entire PurseBlog team, we are all Linea Pelle fans. We have and will continue to cover Linea Pelle on PurseBlog, Purse Blog Savvy and Bag That Style. So, as you can imagine, we are thrilled to be able to share this amazing sample sale with all of you. Make sure to head over and see what you can get, priced up to 75% off retail!

When: Thursday, June 17th, 2010
Time: 10am – 6pm
Where: Linea Pelle 362 Fifth Avenue, Suite 901 New York, New York

And once you snag your new Linea Pelle item(s), make sure to come back and share your purchases with the rest of us who couldn’t make it! We can at least live vicariously, right?

A few weeks ago, we showed you this Geren Ford miniskirt, and said with certainty that this is how you rock a miniskirt. Sexy yet subtle, with a classy white tank.

Not long after that, I found out that Geren Ford was having a sample sale in my neighborhood. Imagine my joy when I showed up and this very skirt was right there on the rack! I waited in line for almost 30 minutes to get into the cramped, shared dressing room alongside 5 other women, only to find that the woman next to me — who had about 3 inches on me and about 20 fewer pounds — was just about to try on the selfsame skirt.

With increasing horror, I watched as this toothpick of a woman struggled to get the skirt on over her size-zero ass, mumbling the entire time, “this thing is tiny!” only to finally admit defeat — “it’s just too small” — and place it in her “no” pile.

I probably could have saved myself some trouble by accepting the reality of the situation — they only had the skirt in one size and Lara Flynn Boyle’s stand-in had just been unable to get it on. But sometimes fantasy supercedes reality, and so, undeterred, I smiled, said my due diligence loudly and only for the sake of everyone who knew what was about to happen: “If it’s too small for you, it’s probably going to be too small for me!” and then proceeded to force it over my normal-woman body.

To say that I looked like a sausage in a corset would be an understatement. The thing was unwearable. I ripped it off, along with my underwear, which no  longer knew how to differentiate itself from the fabric of the skirt, and made haste out of the fitting room.

And so, I stand corrected. This isn’t the way anyone but a model rocks a miniskirt, because no one else can.

That said, I still feel compelled to tell you that Geren Ford is having a 60% off sale on their website.

Post from: TheGloss

We’re actually shocked that no one thought of this sooner. At the Opening Ceremony sample sale the security guard manning the door was willing to let people jump the line in exchange for $20. Sample Sally reports:

I walked up to the door and the security guard whispered something in my ear.  I couldn’t hear what he said at first.  So I replied “what?”  The guard wanted a bribe!  He said: if I gave him $20, he would let me cut the line.  I looked at him, puzzled, and I had to think about what he just said.  I finally told him thank you.  But no thanks!

Sample Sally probably correctly guessed that if she took him up on his offer the rest of the line would retaliate and the whole thing could lead to some Blahnik beatdowns. Frankly, though, a $20 bribe to get the first look at the Christian Louboutin sample sale doesn’t strike us as all that unreasonable – though that’s manned by PR people who might view it as a little beneath them. But Opening Ceremony? Even for huge bargains it feels kind of “eh, we’ll slip you a finski.”

Post from: TheGloss

Sample Sales: 200 women enter, 1 woman leaves. Oh. Wait. That’s not shopping. That’s Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. I think I meant: sample sales, they can be really crazy, as evidenced by the mayhem at the Christian Louboutin sale today. Because the opportunity to buy designer wares for K-mart prices makes everyone go a little nuts – whether that designer is Christian Louboutin, Chanel, Manolo Blahnik, or, in my hometown, The Victoria’s Secret Semi-Annual Sale. We’ve put together some tips to make sure that you are the Master Blaster of sample sales.

Do figure out how much you can spend first. Sure, it seems like a bargain to on;y pay $100 per paid of Christian Louboutins, but you’re still paying $100 per pair of shoes. Set a spending limit for yourself before you get to the sale and are confronted with 100 different pairs of shoes that you want to buy.

Don’t arrive at 4:00 in the morning. It will signal that you’re an obsessive, and it will mean that you’re weak, sleep deprived and not able to make good choices when you get to the sale. It will also possibly get you mugged as you wait out on a street corner at 4:00 in the morning. Unless, I guess, you really like to get up at 4:00. Maybe that’s just your thing. But it won’t give you a huge edge over people who show up, say, an hour before the sale starts.

Do show up a little bit early. Getting there in the middle of the night is insane, but do get there as soon as you can. Lines build over the course of the day, and getting there promptly when it opens means that you’ll get to the front of the line. Treat it the way you would a big movie on opening weekend.

Don’t expect to pay with your credit card. A lot of samples sales are cash only. Paying in cash will also remind you how much you’re actually paying.

Do know your size in the brand. You really don’t want to be at the sale and suddenly realize “hey, Christian Louboutin’s run small, maybe I should try an 8.5 instead of an 8. Or a 9!” You’ll lose valuable time as everyone else picks through stuff.

Don’t get into a fight with anyone. The bitch who pushed you out of her way while trying to tear stuff out of your hands? Yes, that bitch is crazy. No, you shouldn’ tell her that. Not because it’s not true, but because it will take up valuable time when you could be tearing through more piles of shoes looking for Marie Antoinette heels. If she wants to engage in a tug-of-war over black pumps, just let her have them. There will be another pair in the pile.

Do know what you want before you go in. They might not have the specific shoes that Carrie met Big in, but think about what styles you need. Pumps? Sandals? Boots? The selection can be a little overwhelming, so it helps to go in with a gameplan.

Don’t let any items out of your sight once you’ve decided on them. No, you can’t put the marked-down-from-$900 boots down on the floor next to your purse once you’ve decided on them. They will get taken. Bring a big purse or canvas bag to toss your selections into, because it’s really awkward to walk around trying to juggle three or four pairs of shoes.

Post from: TheGloss

If you’re really good looking, your doctor may just assume you’re healthy (leaving your high blood pressure untreated) – DailyMail

The Christian Louboutin sale sounds decidedly un-fun – Racked

Derek Blasberg wants to be taken seriously - Fashionista

Lara Stone is possibly getting married – Mirror.co.uk

Refinery29 is doing an awesome Jonathan Simkh giveaway – Refinery29

Post from: TheGloss

What better way to unwind after a long day of final exams than to go shopping? I know. It’s hard to beat. I headed downtown to the Botkier Sample Sale to celebrate another year of college successfully finished. I had strict orders from my mother for what she wanted, and I also planned to get something for my grandmother, who’s currently visiting from Mexico. As for me, I needed to purchase my first Botkier, and I was completely besotted with the Dion Satchel in chamois lambskin.

The sale itself wasn’t mayhem, but there were plenty of women toting more than the four-bag limit, trying to decide which to get and usually going with all of them. The bags and shoes were marked down 50% to 70% off, making for some decidedly awesome deals. For example, the Venice Hobo and Venice Satchel were priced at $295, down from $595, and the Howard Street Crossbody Clutch was a mere $125 down from $375.

Of course, when I got there, there were many a bag and shoe that were already sold out, including the Liza sandal requested by my mom and my beloved Dion satchel in chamois. Luckily, I found a replacement shoe for my mom (but I can’t reveal it here! She may read this post!) and an prim purse from seasons past for my grandmother (shh!). I left without the Botkier that I still want to be my first, but I got something much more important: first Botkiers for two women I love.