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To Vera or not to Vera?

I’ve been getting emails about a Vera Wang sample sale all week, but haven’t managed to make it there yet given my hectic schedule with Catherine and Tory. Here are the deets:

VERA WANG SALE
FINAL MARK DOWN
UP TO 75% OFF

SUNDAY, DEC 13th: 11am–5pm
MONDAY, DEC 14th thru THURSDAY, DEC 17th
10am–6pm

VERA WANG SHOWROOM
225 WEST 39 ST (5 fl)

For More Info Call 212 920 1211

I went to a Vera sale last year at Clothingline (it was her “Lavender” line) and wasn’t terribly impressed by the quality of the clothing. (Note: Vera designs things other than wedding and bridesmaids dresses!) This one is being run and promoted by by Shelly and Renee out of the Vera Wang showroom, and doesn’t appear to be Lavender, so it stands a chance of being better. But to be honest, I must admit I’m a bit burned out on sales for the week. Now there’s a rarely-uttered phrase… “tired of shopping.” I’ll just have to live with the regret of perhaps missing out on a fantastic deal on a fantastic dress.

Malandrino vs. Burch

Catherine Malandrino:

• The line for the coat check was way too long. It took me 15 minutes to get my coat back. Shouldn’t professional coat-checkers have a better method for checking or returning more than one coat every 2 minutes? Seriously.
• Prices were lower: short dress were $109, long dresses $222, blouses $22, skirts $42 and coats $184. But not low enough. I would have bought another dress if it had been $80.
• Despite this being the last day of the sale, there was still a good selection of clothing. There’s nothing worse than returning to a sample sale to discover that all the good stuff is gone. Even on a return trip I found four new dresses to try on. I managed to restrain myself though. I don’t need another dress to wear to a wedding I might get invited to someday… But seriously, I love Catherine’s stuff.
• There were more people in the dressing room, so the line for the tiny mirrors was also longer. If I’m going to make a hundred dollar purchase, I’d like to gaze at myself in the mirror for more than 30 seconds before being knocked out of the way by the pushy woman next to me (I was lying when I told you that dress looked good on you!). Shouldn’t a sample sale company be able to spare a couple bucks to invest in a few sturdy mirrors?

Tory Burch:

• The folks that run the Tory Burch sample sale (Clothingline – they host a lot of great and not so great sales) have the coat check down pat. Even at the busiest of times, I’ve never had more than a few minutes wait to check or retrieve my coat.
• Compared to previous Tory Burch sales, the merchandise was pretty terrible. Sparse and not cute. Usually the Tory Burch sales are pretty reliable, but this one had only three or four different types of dresses, a dozen or so types of blouses, and I think only one type of skirt.

• If you’re into TB shoes (I think I might be the only woman in Manhattan who’s not) your luck was a little better, but not much. A few types of flats and a surprising number of heeled sandles.
• Prices for clothing wasn’t too bad: dresses $99, skirts $75, blouses 85. Flats ranged from $90-125. With Tory Burch, the prices are just about guaranteed to be reduced by Friday – probably to around $60 for a dress, if I remember correctly from previous sales (though sample sales are a fickle beast, and it’s dangerous to make assumptions based on previous seasons).
• The dressing rooms at Clothingline are really nice. Spacious and full of mirrors (one for every two or three people, even at the busiest of moments) which is all one can really hope for when it comes to a dressing room at a sample sale.

The verdict: Malandrino takes it, 5-3. Despite long wait times and shared mirrors, sample sales really are about the clothes, at the end of the day, right? The variety and quality of Catherine’s goods deserved the return trip to the sale, but a demotion in points from yesterday for all the waiting I had to do, and for not lowering the prices quite low enough for my taste. Tory’s clothes just plain… sucked this time. The only reason the sale earned more than one point is the vastly superior customer experience. I won’t return when the prices drop, but I will be back next season!

Catherine Malandrino Prices Reduced! Second Day of Tory Burch

What’s a girl to do?! Catherine Malandrino prices have been reduced by another 25% as I had hoped – but today is also day two of the Tory Burch sample sale. I couldn’t possibly need any more dresses, but the Tory Burch sale usually holds at least one or two gems. I suppose I’ll just have to go to both, and exert a little self control at the cash register.

 

Catherine Malandrino

The Catherine Malandrino sale started on Monday and ends tomorrow (hosted by Savvy Co.). I wasn’t familiar with the designer so I did a little online research before hitting up the sale. I fell in love with her love of ruffles, and the retail prices weren’t too outrageous (around $450 for most dresses), so I figured with an 80% discount I would probably find a few things I would like for the right price. I was right.

Venue: The sale is being held at the Metropolitan Pavilion, which is a really nice space on W18th that frequently hosts these things.

Coat Check: Yup, you’ve got to check any bags larger than a clutch, and your jacket, too, of course. (For sample sale rookies: the coat check is pretty standard – but don’t worry – it’s always free you don’t need to tip. When you have eight dresses and two pairs of shoes in your arms, you’ll be glad you’ve ditched your trench.) The line was almost non existent.

Clothing prices: Short dresses were $145, long dresses $295, blouses $95, skirts $55, pants $45, fabric coats $245.

Clothing quality: the clothing was in good shape. Generally not ripped or looking like it had been tried on by everyone and their mother in the Bloomingdale’s at the Mall of America (do they have a Bloomingdale’s there? I assume they do…) before being shipped to Manhattan. Some sales certainly have this look. I’m thinking J Crew sale, where half the stuff already has a rip in the armpit.

Clothing Quantity: Lots and lots of pretty dresses. A good number of blouses and skirts. Fewer coats. A sparse allotment of shoes and three styles of boots.

Crowd Control: Not crowded, even at 6pm, which is when all of us working stiffs show up.

Dressing Room: Upside: not crowded at all. Downside: even without the crowds, the mirrors were few and far between. Those tiny mirrors you hang on the back of your closet door are inadequate for admiring yourself in a (formerly) $600 dress.

The goods: I have a weakness for dresses (of the work or cocktail variety), and apparently so does Malandrino. I immediately had a half-dozen dresses, a blouse and a skirt in my arms and was headed off to the dressing room. I loved four or five of the dresses, so my decision was a difficult one.

I mean, where do you wear a dress like this? Awesome it is, but practical it is not. I ended up with another ruffled number that will be perfect for New Years and a skirt that is work appropriate but has a little sass to it. Success!

Final Score: 7 – not crowded, great merchandise. Lower the dress price to $100 for the last day of the sale, and you’ve got a return customer!

Why the Blog?

Riding the subway towards my next sample sale, I find myself wondering: am I about to find the dress of my dreams, or is this going to be an hour of my life I will never get back? It’s the chance of finding the former that keeps me going back to sale after sale. Sometimes I find that amazing bargain. But sometimes, as I wander empty-handed back to the F, I just wish someone out there had warned me.

If only there had been some woman who had posted on her blog that bras at the La Perla sale were “already picked over after the first morning,” or (much, much better) “dresses at the DVF sale were only $70!” Then I would know if the sale was a hit or miss, and could save myself the trek to Chelsea and back after work!

As far as I can tell, there’s no one out there with such a blog. And I go to so many sample sales, why shouldn’t I be the one to start blogging about them? Now, I’m a busy girl, don’t get me wrong. Fashion is not my full time job (in fact, my job is quite the opposite), so I don’t intend to go to any more sample sales than I already do. But for the sales that I do go to, I’ll give you the scoop. The prices, the quantity, the quality, the lines, the dressing rooms.