Made in New York: Anni Kuan Preview

Shop and help save the Garment District by shopping at this carefully curated collection of brights and neutrals with prices starting as low as $30 for jersey. Seeking solutions for humid nights of Shakespeare in the Park, a hot hike to the subway or climate challenged cab rides? Look for light linens and silks in perfect proportions for petites.
262 W. 38th Street #703. Cash only. Today and tomorrow.
http://www.annikuan.com/

/nancy brenner

Anni Kuan: Velvet: Flocked and Feminine

Anni Kuan was one of the most contagiously enthusiastic designers at New York's Coterie this year. Her line stands out for its texture, color and flattery of the female form. Also check out her glazed velvet zip coat for Fall 2011 - which looks like leather - with warm quilting underneath, but without the leather price....Look for Anni's on-trend velvets at better boutiques.

/nancy brenner

Men, Stripping, Sample Fatigue, Sticker Shock: Sample Sales 2010 in Review

The Men - are they all out of work, or turned into jobbers? They are running amuck at sales - Vivienne Tam - so many it felt like a construction site, and at Cynthia Steffe - men appeared, like apparitions hoarding with abandon. Would you like us to storm your sales while you are down to your skivvies or Man Spanx?

Most Improved Sale - Thanks to Cynthia Steffe for installing guards.  Boo to women who had no dignity and insisted on stripping as it was against the rules and the pleas of male security who begged women not to display their Victoria's Secrets.

Pushing and Shoving - More women MUST be working out. Wouldn't sample sales be a better place if it was a little bit more "Glee," Gwynnie Paltro guest appearance and a little less "Jersey Shore"?

Sample Prices? - Just so we're clear, a 60% off retail reduction is simply not an old-school sample sale (off of wholesale), especially when Fifth Avenue stores were already offering the same.
Leifsdotter was the swankiest sample sale setting, but not deepest discount!

Professional Place Holders - Everyone has a thousand friends on Facebook, but at a sample sale, 1-3 max.
Are people setting saving spots for cash like Merchant of Venice tickets at Central Park?
Beware the angry shoppers behind you.

Bragging Bloggers - Stop the line blogging about how you clocked the sample sale at a preview before the die-hard devotees! And how they won't be restocking.

Best Insider Access - Kudos to Gilt City for offering early access for $5 to Catherine Malandrino and others. It’s worth the investment.

True discounts - The $20 for anything and everything Cynthia Steffe and the Lafayette 148 with $40 skirts along (props for plus size finds) with the $50 Shoshanna samples, $5 intimates at Natori are just about the deepest discounts.

A-List Designer Treatment - Rebecca Minkoff, Isaac Manevitz, Kokin, Colette Malouf, Vivienne Tam treated discount-divers like full-price customers.

Indie designers - No not the ones plastered in Vogue.
Patronize smaller ones that sell in boutiques like Anni Kuan that are well-made and priced.

Consignment shops - Sample sale-aholics worked themselves and their credit cards into a frenzy will be probably be dumping their sample sale slip-ups in the consignment shop after-market.

Soon we'll need a clock keeping track of the number of samples sales, like the one for National Debt... hmm any correlation? The unofficial count was 200 sample sales in the last week causing sample sale fatigue to set in. Stock, but fewer real samples.

Women feeling pressure to buy after they've waited in line in extreme weather, fought off opponents, defended their finds and held in their bladders. Even if a friend tries talk you out of buying a La Perla bra with feathers at a “steal" of $80, it can be easy to make rash decisions on a post-Starbucks bladder, an empty stomach and exit waving a “V” sign to the nearest blogger interviewing you for her VLOG.

~Nancy Brenner

May 20-21: Petites Have Their Pick - Preview Anni Kuan

You might only know this designer if you shop at high end boutiques like Otto in Park Slope. Better than wholesale prices with designs that you won't see plastered all over Gotham. A snakeskin print skirt with a lace overlay look. Pop-art colors at prices that are a fraction of what other sample sales are charging. A real sample rack. And they will give you an honest opinion about colors and fit that flatters.


THURSDAY, MAY 20,10AM - 6PM
FRIDAY, MAY 21, 10AM - 8PM

ADDRESS: 262 W. 38TH STREET, #703 (BETWEEN 7TH & 8TH AVE)

colorful summer dresses: $60
embroidered silk dresses and jackets: $60-$85
printed jersey separates and dresses: $30 - $60
washed lightweight linen shirts and pants: $35 - $60

~Nancy Brenner

REPORT FROM THE FRONT: Petite Payday at Anni Kuan

Nancy Brenner, of course:

For anyone who always needs to shorten sleeves, lift shoulders and shorten hems, this is a sale for you. This sample sale is so sedate that you can skip your yoga class and it's safe enough for even the most recalcitrant shopper. You won't feel like you came from a kickboxing class. The selection is small, but curated for the female looking for basics to evening wear that has classic lines infused with trends, not one hit wonders. These are clothes you can collect. Not an official petite line, but the closest I've ever seen. Prices from $15-$100 - but the $100 buys you a coat! Usually found in upscale boutiques.

Anni Kuan 262 West 38th Street.
WHEN: Fri Dec 11TH 10am-6pm TO THU Dec 24th 10am-6pm (except Sat & Sun)


CASH ONLY!

http://www.annikuan.com/html/index_f.html