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

Lingerie La La Land at Natori: Report from the Front

Sorry you missed the La Perla sale?  Don't be.  The Natori line is insanely priced and you'll wonder two things:  can I buy enough underwear to avoid doing the laundry ever again and why did I ever pay $50 or more for underpinnings?  Sheer shopping giddiness ensued at this sale where bras were $4 and $8, panties for $8, bodysuits for $5 and so on and so forth.  Josie Natori underpinnings that sold for hundreds are $20.  Don't berate yourself for being sidelined by an untold number of sample sales this week.  There is a new shipment coming in. Be prepared to sift through this one - it's worth it. Communal dressing room.

Today only
104 Madison Avenue, 3rd Floor
9-4

~Nancy Brenner

Nov 8-11: La Perla Sample Sale

La Perla Sample Sale
Up to 75% off retail

Lingerie, sleepwear, swimwear, and men's lounge wear

Sunday, Nov. 8, 1-5 p.m.
Monday, Nov. 9 - Wednesday, Nov. 11, 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.

4 W 58th St., 4th Floor
Between 5th & 6th Avenues

All sales are final
Cash & major credit cards accepted.

FRETTE & LA PERLA Sample Sale, April 19-24

FRETTE & LA PERLA

Sample Sale

Sunday, April 19: 1pm to 6pm

Monday, April 20 to Friday, April 24: 9am to 6:30pm

4 West 58th, 4th Floor, NYC

Home Linens & Women's Lingerie Sample & stock sale. Save up to 80 percent off fine Italian linens and luxurious Italian lingerie. This sale will be held in the New York showroom of Frette and La Perla and will be the only sale this season. Bed sets, duvet covers, light quilts, bed covers, robes and tabletop from Frette. Bras, panties and sleepwear from La Perla.

All sales final, cash and credit cards accepted. No strollers please.

For additional information:Call 212-920-1211 http://www.shellyandrenee.com/

Behold the Bra

Someone sent me this article from Consumer Reports. Thought it might be useful, and give my female readers some extra support:

3 bras, 3 prices
Which is the best deal?

Twenty-two percent of women in a new CR survey said they always or often regret bra purchases. That's especially annoying when some bras cost more than $100. But does a woman need to pay that much for a well-made bra that fits? We bought three nationally available bras of similar style and size—seamless, with lightly padded cups and underwire, in 34B—for very different prices, then put them to the test. We hand-washed them three times, had three women who wear 34B try on each bra and comment on comfort, and had our experts and a lingerie designer with more than 50 years' experience check the bras' construction.The results show that women may be spending lots of money for no reason. (In fact, the designer said that her own everyday bra costs $14.) Below, the intimate details.

La Perla Vintage, $127

The bra, sold at several high-end stores, boasts top-quality materials, nicely contoured cups, and flexible, well-padded underwire that won't cut into skin. But after three gentle hand-washes, the elastic material in the back twisted and curled, and stitching on straps puckered.

Victoria's Secret Ipex demi, $45

It has cozy fabric and cups that provide coverage without bulk. But the underwire may pinch, since fabric around it is thinner than in others, and strap stitching is flimsy. Poor cut of the fabric on sides made it pucker, and the straps curled in the wash.

Gilligan O'Malley padded demi, $11

Bra-vo! It has better cup molding than the Victoria's Secret bra; the underwire is flexible and well padded, so it won't pinch or poke. This bra (sold at Target) also held up better after washing. All three panelists found it comfortable, with a good fit.