Speaking of Shopping

I've been shopping a lot lately, must be all of the end of summer sales. But one sale I am really looking forward to is the Prada Sample Sale.

I've been once before and I found a really cute pair of shoes, a belt, and a skirt or two. That was a while back, now they have this whole system of reserving a spot, etc. Which is way better than waiting in line for an hour.

My appointment is for next Wed. at 3pm. My partner in crime, Aphrodite, is going to go with me. Luckily she was able to squeeze this shopping trip in right before she flies off to France for 3 weeks.

Shop 'Til I Dropped

Every once in a while, the stars align and a couple of my good friends don't need to go in to work in the middle of the week. So of course we get together for a day of lunch and shopping.

We had lunch at Alice's Tea Cup. You can't get any girlier than that. It is such a great place to go with your girlfriends. After a long lunch where we ate small bits of tea sandwiches (okay, I had big bites of steak salad) and sipping cups of rose tea, we were ready to go shopping.

Time flew by so fast. We were only able to visit a couple of shops within the 2-3 block radius.

Believe it or not, I went to all new stores. I bought some great finds from Searle, pookie & sebastian, and Lingerie on Lexington. I am not sure why I've never been to these stores, maybe they are more popular with the upper eastsiders.

At Searle, they were having a trunk show, so we helped ourselves to complimentary glasses of wine. After a glass, I had to get out of store, before I moved from the sales rack to their new fall merchandise.

Gen Art Emerging Designer Sale

On Tuesday, New York's young and fashionable gathered at the Puck Building for the Gen Art Emerging Designer Sale.

Even though I got there early, I still had to wait in line to get in. What is it about NYC and lines? I saw a sign that said that I can skip the line if I waved my NY:INC American Express Card. Can't believe I just cancelled that useless card 3 weeks ago!

When I got in, the list lady couldn't find my name on the list ... but she stamped me anyways. So off I went, shopping.

First I tried on these really cute shoes, but couldn't find one in my size. Next I wondered over to a handbag place and set my sights on this large, roomy, leather bag with gold studs. I don't know what I was thinking, after all, I was at a sale where all the items were below wholesale prices.

I put the bag down to check out the rest of the selection, and before I knew it, someone else picked it up and started fondling it. I kept following her around, telling myself that she was just looking, there's no way she was going to buy MY bag. Well, I think you can guess how that story ends ... that girl bought my bag!

Dejected, I went to get a free bottle of water, and thought about drinking a couple of Bailey cocktails. Since I was shopping by myself, I felt kinda silly drinking by myself. So I went on to visit my friend Grace Sun who was showing there.

I had previously went to her private sales, but didn't buy much because everything was in sample size so I couldn't try anything on. This time however, I was able to try things on and ended buying a dress and a blouse. I wish I could have bought more, but I don't think she had her full collection there.

I also bought a whole bunch of french lace lingerie from a designer named CLO. My DH really liked them :)

All in all, a great shopping experience, can't wait for next year's!

Who do I hang with?

My friend Aphrodite had these $25 off $100 purchase coupons for Bloomingdale's. So I joined her on her little shopping's spree. I just can't pass up a good deal.

I must say we did very well. We ran around the store finding things we liked that matched up to the $100 total so we can maximize the discount. It helps that Aphrodite is a super mathematician, I would have given up a long time ago.

I did have an opportunity to shop the store before while waiting for her to show up. First I circled around the dress department. This is where they have all the cocktail/evening dresses with labels like Vera Wang, Badgely Mischka, Tadashi, BCBG, Nicole Miller, Carmen Marc Valvo, etc.

Bloomies was having a great sale, so there were a lot of items for around $100 after discounts and coupons. But the retail prices of the section were around $200 to $500 for cocktail dress and $400 to $1000+ for long evening gowns.

I noticed that while some dresses were cute, overall I did not find them stylish or fashion forward. I was quit disappointed because I have respect for all of the above mentioned designers.

Then I went to the designer collection floor. Each designer had their own section whether it was a section of a wall with names Stella McCartney, Alberta Ferretti, Petere Som, etc. or a separate "boutique" like Chanel, Armani, etc.

I concentrated more on the dresses from each label. I found them to be inspirational, fashionable, and very well constructed. All were made with high quality fabrics with superior finishings and foundation construction. I was quite impressed until I saw the prices. Nothing was below $2,000, even for the simplest shift dress.

So this whole time I was having an identify crisis. I kept asking myself, "who do I hang with?" and could not come up with an answer.

Even by the time I left I couldn't come up with an answer. I didn't want to hang with the dress department, 'cause I felt that the quality and style were sub par. I didn't want to hang with the designers, 'cause I was afraid it would be too expensive for my target customers.

Then I read a blog entry on fashion-incubators.com .... and I figured it out ... I just don't hang in Bloomingdale's.