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

Ben-Amun Sample Sale Today

Five dollar earrings and stop-traffic trinkets at Ben-Amun sample sale where shoppers as eager to see the affable designer Issac Manevitz and his wife Regina as the art deco collection which was selling quickly.  Issac has his tool kit ready to shorten bracelets and necklaces. Get the same service as Ben-Amun fan Kate Moss today at 246 W. 38th Street 12A.
www.ben-amun.com

~nancy brenner

Ben-Amun Sample Sale Devotees Get White Glove Treatment: Report from the Front

Beyonce, Leighton Meester and Rhianna have all been spotted sporting the funky line. If you're a regular Ben-Amun devotee, designer Issac Manevitz and his wife Regina are on hand to help you select your baubles, unravel a pearl necklace or even shorten a too long bracelet in a matter of minutes. Manevitz actually pulled out his tool kit in the midst of Ben-Amun addict mayhem - this is a designer always cares about treating his customers like jewels, even if they don't grace the pages of Vogue or In-Style. If you can't make it to the showroom, which you really should to discover one-of-a-kind treasures, bracelets starting in single digits - check out their facebook page where they have an item of the day offer for a green resin ball necklace going for $35, originally $180. Collectible looks range from the popular coins, to military to resin to crystal and everything in between.

• Coin bracelet $58, reduced from $145
• Hanging star pin, $24-$60
• Military hanging pin $30 from $75
• Yellow and red bracelet $10 from $25
• Crystal chain necklace $48 from $140

~nancy brenner