NEWSTUESDAYS: SHOPPING
Dec. 5 2007, Published 7:00 a.m. ET
One of my favorite things about living in New York City, one of the fashion capitals of the world, is sample sales. NYC’s ‘Fashion District’ is crammed with offices full of clothes (showrooms) where celebrities shop for clothes, magazines borrow them for cover shoots and store buyers, well, buy. When the season is over and the showroom needs to clear out for the following season’s collections they have sample sales, in-office sales where designer clothes can be purchased for up to 80 percent off retail. This is where I derive most of my wardrobe.
The showroom where I shop the most is Showroom Seven. They’re having an extra special sample this season because they’re moving offices and the more they sell, the less they have to schlep. I ‘stopped by’ today after work and my visit turned into two hours. I navigated my way through Robin, designed by one of the showroom’s partners, Mandie Erickson, aka the character made out to be the villain on the “Fashionista Diaries” (although in reality she’s generally quite pleasant), Orla Keily (a favorite of all Londoners, and myself), Issa (my wardrobe staple), Tony Cohen (my new favorite) and more. By the time I was done I lined up all of the things I liked on a rack and narrowed it down. In the end I walked away with a couple of comfy and cute Orla Keily dresses, a Tony Cohen dress, Tara Subkoff for Easy Spirit shoes (already classic) a Romeo and Juliet rocker dress, or perhaps sweater that I’m short enough to pull of as a dress, an Erickson Beamon necklace (a la Gossip Girl), Charlotte Ronson tank (will be perfect in Cancun next week) and a black vintage belt I found lying in a basket. Happy Hanukkah to me ;) xo
If you’re in the area, you can print out a VIP pre-sale invite here and tell them Jen from OK! sent you: http://info.showroomseven.com/SHOWROOM_SEVEN/S7SampleSaleVIP.pdf
The regular sale is Dec. 10-21. For those details click here: http://info.showroomseven.com/SHOWROOM_SEVEN/SamplesaleDEC07.pdf
PS: In between Sunshine/Sachs and Assoc. Holiday party (where their client John Mayer made a cameo) and the Dolce & Gabbana dinner party on the rooftop of the Gramercy Park Hotel, I stopped in Soho House for a five-minute hello to a friend. After exactly five minutes I left. I went down the elevator, walked out and nearly ran into…Richard Branson, who was waiting to get in the elevator. If I’d stayed a minute longer or left a minute later I would have missed him. It was a sliding doors moment.
