November Sample Sale Report - Most Wonderful Time of the Year

November has proven to be a very trying time. For my savings account. Not for me, I’m having a grand ol’ time. I will say that last week was one of the most thrilling and intense as far as following a blog goes – RackedNY kept my heart racing with a constantly expanding list of November’s sample sales. Just when you thought the list couldn’t get any longer. Boom. Alexander Wang, Thakoon, 3.1 Phillip Lim – the heavy hitters. November is the perfect time for such sales for two reasons: it’s the last chance you have to buy yourself a new wardrobe before people judge you as selfish for not holiday shopping for others, and also if you are the generous type, it’s close enough to the holidays that you can start finding gifts for the fashionably aware in your life. I do hope you’re saving the best for yourself, though – if I’ve taught you anything.

The Wang sale has already come and gone – as if it were nothing more than a blip on our shopping radars. Oh, but it was so more, so much more. How flying time can obscure the magnitude of a – sorry, I can get carried away when talking about sales. It’s just that I’m getting a little teary-eyed at the moment. I experienced a high and a low with the Wang sale. I first went on Thursday, two days in. I waited on line for about fifteen minutes, it moved very quickly. And when I got in, I faced none of the elbow-flying madness that I’ve come to expect from Wang sales, and had heard was taking place here. Maybe the frenzy had died down thanks to most of the bags being gone. I’m lucky in that I seem to be the only Wang fan who likes the clothes best. I had my pick of the litter with the clothes – I wish there was more of a selection but there were good pieces and plenty of stock. There was also a section of the forlorn pieces left behind from past sales – forlorn but still fierce and recognizably runway – for just $50. There were already markdowns when I was there. I got this amazing piece I’d been wanting for months for just $75 – it should have been $150 and when I was rung up for that I nearly collapsed into a fit of joyful tears. 

I tried to go back Saturday for the final hour, based on my only personal Moby Dick moment two Wang sales ago when I snagged a very memorable, very amazing runway dress that retailed for $1,500 for $80. But I was to face no such life-changing moment this time. It was picked clean, and there were no frantic markdowns. Ah, well, at least I got my surprisingly cheap top. And that is a success. 

I want the same success and more for you, my lovelies, so here are my favorite the best of the sample sales listed for the rest of the month - go forth, shop, make me proud.

Anna Sui: Monday, November 12th to Friday, November 16th. Divided into these time ranges: 8AM to 9:30AM, 11:30AM to 1:30PM and 4PM to 6PM. At 250 West 39th Street between Seventh and Eigth Avenues, second floor, room 207.

Rebecca Minkoff: Monday, November 12th to Saturday, November 17th. Monday: 12PM to 9PM. Tuesday to Friday: 10AM to 8PM. Saturday: 10AM to 3PM. At 260 Fifth Avenue between 28th and 29th Streets.

Thakoon: Tuesday, November 13th to Saturday, November 17th. 8:30AM to 6:30PM. At 270 Lafayette Street at Prince Street, Suite 1005.

Yigal Azrouël: Tuesday, November 13th and Wednesday, November 14th. 9AM to 7PM. At 225 West 39th Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues, fifth floor.

Noir Jewelry: Wednesday, November 14th to Friday, November 16th. 10AM to 7PM. At 350 West 38th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues, fifth floor. 

Tibi: Wednesday, November 14th to Friday, November 16th. Wednesday: 12PM to 8PM, Thursday: 10AM to 8PM, Friday: 9AM to 3PM. At Happy Monkey Studio, 348 West 38th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues.

Nanette Lepore: Wednesday, November 14th to Friday, November 16th. 9AM to 7PM. At 225 West 35th Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues, fourth floor.

Mandy Coon: Thursday, November 15th and Friday, November 16th. 4PM to 8PM. At 93 St. Marks Place between First Avenue and Avenue A, second floor. Proceeds go toward Sandy relief!

3.1 Phillip Lim: Thursday, November 15th and Friday, November 16th. 10AM to 7PM. At 304 Hudson Street between Spring and Vandam Streets, eighth floor. (Use freight entrance on the north side of Spring Street between Hudson and Varick Streets.)

Info via RackedNY.

Handbags and Hugs,

Astor