Fall 2011 Trends: Hemlines do double duty as dusters...

Photo: Dan Lecca for Cynthia Steffe

...for your floors, unless you have a handmaiden to lift the bottom of your dress as you scurry about town. Boy blazers, boy flats with shoelaces, menswear-inspired plaids, shapeless bulky sweaters - for girls - why do designers design to dress dames like dudes? Guys look out for a little extra competition from women tomorrow at the Barneys Warehouse Sale who may be stocking up for themselves for Fall 2011. Leather everything. A resurgence of jade, emerald and sea foam greens -- redheads, this is your season to rule. Lush luxe fur looks in rainbow of hues. Sleeves on dresses are back - finally. Opaque tights - use those Lord & Taylor coupons now! Cozy neck wraps. Antique gold. Red. Color me happy.

/nancy brenner

Jan 29: Gilt City Warehouse New York $10 Charge - Will Barney's Warehouse Start Charging Too?

Gilt City New York
Ticket to Warehouse Sale: $10

Includes ticket to Gilt Groupe Warehouse Sale for one. Enjoy complimentary cocktails, coffee, coconut water and treats.

Timeslots available for the $10 entry fee:
Sat 1/29 10:00AM; Sat1/29 12:00PM; Sat 1/29 2:00PM; Sat 1/29 4:00PM

For one day only--Saturday, January 29 -- men's, women's, and children's collections will fill a section of Manhattan's Altman Building. Brands: Gryphon, Cynthia Steffe and more. Also home design for your kitchen, bathroom, bedroom and beyond from Gilt Home.

On beauty: stylists from Mizu will be offering blowouts and styling from a pop-up salon.

/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

Cynthia Steffe: Survivor Edition report From the Front

This year there were two gangs of women line-cutting and fighting for the narrow space in the vestibule of the narrow, cramped rented sample sale space for Cynthia Steffe where everything was $20 - except for leathers.

Original tags are $195, $225, $295. Last year's group of hoarders in contention for space in small cramped hallway arguing with a ring leader of another group - who cut the line by at least 7 people. Lobby chaos by 9:30 a.m. By 10 a.m. people were allowed to enter the elevator - only 10 at a time - so be prepared to wait. "Ladies put your clothes on," was the funniest line ever at a sample sale as the Cynthia Steffe male security guards and female salespeople were trying to keep women from disrobing. One woman kept begging a security guard to look - he seemed as if he was standing before curdled milk.

It is a mini-battle zone with happy warriors, so good luck:
Tuesday Dec. 7 - Friday Dec. 10 (I doubt anything will be left)
10am-6pm all days
218 W. 37th St (between 7th & 8th ave), 7th Floor
Cash and major credit cards accepted

~nancy brenner

Report From the Front: In Suede: Did you dislocate your shoulder

at your last sample sale? Try In Suede where Joann will treat you like a shopper at an upscale boutique (Runway in SoHo) and where luscious leathers in colors from peacock to camel are sold. Did I mention the $45 sample rack? Most shoppers skip over sample sales that last no longer than a snow flurry, but this one is worth your perusal, especially if you're going to attempt the Cynthia Steffe sale nearby.

463 Seventh Avenue

Through December 17

~nancy brenner

Nanette Lepore Sale - No Amazing Deals

kay so, the crowd was clamoring for the renowned racks stocked with samples at $20 and $30.
There were none.
Many shoppers clicked their heels and disappeared - even the infamous Cynthia Steffe hoarders. If you are an absolute die-hard (and this sale has many devoted fans), you should stop by before noon and see what the early birds left behind after deciding if they wanted to spend $150 on dresses or $95 for cardis.
Best buy: white leather lambskin jackets that were selling for a little over $200 and retailed for close to seven.

225 West 35th Street.

~Nan Brenner

Bring Brass Knuckle Rings! Report From the Front: Cynthia Steffe...

...and a mouth guard to the Cynthia Steffe sale as it is one of the roughest rides of the year.

Sale tips: Pop in your contacts - no matter how itchy your eyes are from the 10.9 pollen count. Don't stop to tweet, IM, update your Facebook status or check out the Rue La La sale on your iPhone app. Do not haul your 50 lb. IT, bag; it will just slow you down. Bib necklace? Remove, even if you just bought it at the Lee Angel sample sale, no time to untangle an unwieldy top. Say "hi" to guard Bobbi on the way in, who organized the Pamplona "running of the bulls" this morning.

Dresses with tags still attached for $275 sold for $30. Silk tops for $20. Leathers - only saw two pieces - one skirt fit for a tiny 10-year-old at $50, leathers were wiped out by the "friends and family" start at 9 a.m. Watch out for the gang of merch and mirror hoarders from Cedarhurst - some of them are reselling and they grab the goods like no one else. Tip: Shop the floor near their posse for discards.

If you've been feeling an urge to splurge, go. Not for the shy or uninitiated.

550 Seventh Avenue - 10-5 Thursday 10th Floor, Friday, no telling what will remain...

Because SOMEONE has to do it...thanks Nancy Brenner!

Cynthia Steffe Barbie Dress for Grownups...

...with peek-a-boo parts in eye-catching cobalt is part of the Cynthia Steffe Fall 2010 collection hitting stores in late June for $255. The touch-me, feel-me Mongolian curly lamb vest in wine is a scene-stealer. Retailing at $625, it is a costly addition, but an instant conversation starter. Wear with caution. It may compel
complete strangers to fondle the fur. Oh Fur!

<3 Nancy Brenner

Lambskin Lovers

...will have their pick of designs for Fall 2010 (ahem, lambskin leather).  Depending on your mission, select the black strapless touch-me dress at Shoshanna or the combat-ready Cynthia Steffe Amber-style frock in chocolate, either of which will set your balance sheet back more than $500. No accessories needed. Think of the money you'll be skipping on pricey statement necklaces.

'cuz Nancy Brenner said so.

Sample Sale Trends for 2010

The ever-anticipated year-end wrap up, care of Nancy Brenner:

- Showrooms vs. retailers - Many sample sales stated up to 80% off retail, when it was really only half off - sales like Botkier, Hype and Autumn Cashmere. Shoppers groaned that they could score better deals at dept stores "friends & family" and flash sales.

- Team hoarding - Highly orchestrated teams of four or more that stripped the shelves - antics that would rival the opening scene of James Bond flick. Even Daniel Craig wouldn't survive these renegade shoppers stocking up for resale on eBay.

- Sugar daddies - no bailout for men squiring their younger "friends," partners, wives to sales to foot the bill - when frocks start at $600 plus level; the "take my credit card honey" days are gone. I've yet to see a sugar mamma footing the bill at a sample sale.

- No inhibitions - women openly stripping in front to their bras and whatnots in front of of males at Proenza Schouler.

- Competition fiercer than femmes vying for Tiger Woods - as die-hard retail shoppers convert to frugalistas.

-Less merch - as designers managed their inventory, like Ben Amun, there was less to choose from at prime sales.

- Designers skipping sample sales - fashion faves like Rebecca Taylor, Cynthia Steffe (where I snagged a $5 patent leather jacket last year), Beth Bowley (where I picked up $25 skirts in seasons past) did not hold public sample sales.

- The waiting game - nearly every sale offered mark downs on the last day as merch didn't move at near retail prices.

- Longer hours - once restricted to "ladies who lunch," time slots, there were a number that stayed open until 8 or 10 p.m.

- Contact sport - Nanette Lepore's sale at progressive prices shoppers in training for the 45th Superbowl at Miami's Dolphin Stadium could show the leagues that sample sales are the ultimate contact sport.

Why does it still pay to go? The one of a kind of items. Instead of Rent-the-Runway, I own the runway. Great costume jewelry designers who will adjust their beautiful bracelets for tiny wrist. Supreme selection of a favorite designer, rather than hop-stopping at Fifth Avenue stores where each brand's space has been shrink-wrapped along with the economy. Garments, hats, leggings in colors, fabrics or shapes that were never mass produced because of the cost. Meeting the designers in person. And the savings, of course. Hurray for sample sale showrooms that still believe in sample sale prices - that means discounts off of wholesale!

What will next year bring? More shoppers competing for fewer sales, fewer choice and higher prices.

Report from Cynthia Steffe Sample Sale

From the Guerilla Shopper's Guerilla Shopper, Nancy Brenner:

Let me tell you about the fabulous Cynthia Steffe sample sale - I bought five items for $75 including a black patent leather jacket that still had the $550 tag hanging from it and the dress was $265 from the holiday collection. It will be a holiday for me next year when I rock this $15 frock! These are not recession prices. These are depression prices. There were tons of people on line waiting to get in this morning - even in the torrential rain and the women were hemming and hawing about hitting Tracy Reese, Catherine Malandrino, the Spade sale, etc. It was one of the most hectic sales I've ever been to - hardly anything except for coats and leather was more than $25. Women walked out with whole wardrobes. The mirror situation was tight - only four and hard to find - hogged over by a few women - as is usually the case in these situations. Two were totally hijacked by groups of friends or frenemies and acted as if they brought the mirror with them to the sale - you know the type. Again, if you are the sample size, go to the sale in-person, otherwise hit the Gilt Group one online.