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    A Decade of Shopping

    The decade is coming to an abrupt end and before we head out of town to celebrate we wanted to take a moment to look back at the past 10 years. At the start of a 2000, the Dow was above 11,000, my magazine editor never heard of Osama bin Laden and Sony PlayStation 2 was nearly impossible to come by.

    Wow. How times have changed. Check this out: In 1999, the word fashionista was published in about 233 print articles around the world. So far, this year, the word has shown up in 5,978 articles. Overused? Perhaps as much as the Chanel bag/ Louboutin shoes uniform.

    In 1999, the Fendi Baguette was the snazzy bag and one with signature interlocking Fs, appliqued with snakeskin leaves and flowers was $1,250. Today, you can buy a mulit-colored embroidered Fendi Baguette on Overstock for under $1,000.

    In contrast, a basic Hermes Kelly bag, in 1999, cost $4,450. The 32cm Kelly with “Clemence” leather will set you back $7,550 today. Karl Lagerfeld’s signature Chanel bag, ten years ago, was called “2005” and was meant to double as a pillow on long flights. The cost of the pillow/handbag was $900. This year, Lagerfeld’s “Cocoon,” which also happens to look like a pillow, cost $2,395 for the medium size. The hot Gucci ‘Jackie’ bag cost between $500 and $600 (depending on materials), a decade ago. This Spring, the Gucci “New Jackie” costs $2,995 for a leather trim bag to $9,900 for the ostrich-skin version.

    So, in the past decade, the Hermes bag has nearly doubled, the Chanel bag almost tripled and the Gucci purse has increased in price by 600%. Suddenly, the Kelly bag doesn’t seem so expensive. Perhaps the old adage about quality is true!?

    Happy New Year!

    XOXO
    Lila

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    Manolo Blahnik First Markdown

    Starting Monday, the Manolo Blahnik boutique will be reducing their winter season shoes by 1/3. Anxious shoppers will be saddened to know that here is no presale this season.

    Before you start gathering to form a line we would like to point out that there are two more markdowns to come. In past seasons, shoes were reduced to 50% and then 75% off. We don’t see why this sale season shouldn’t turn out similar discounts. All it takes is patience.

    Manolo Blahnik
    31 West 54th Street (b/w 5th and 6th)
    Monday to Friday 10:30 to 6:00
    Saturday 10:30 to 3:300
    Contact: Abby 212-582-3007

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    Versace 50% Off

    Remember Versace? Yes, they are still around and the boutique is hosting a 50% off sale. A 50% off sale at this time of year is not at all newsworthy but when all the luxury labels were discounting merchandise last year, Versace announced it would hold firm to its pricing scheme.

    The horror of teeny-boppers carrying Versace bags through their local mall caused the company to revive its lower-priced Versus line, which had been discontinued in 2005. Subsequently, Versace has hired a new CEO, fired their CEO and fought off rumours of bankruptcy.

    Fast forward to Christmas 2009 and we have 50% off. What is even more shocking is that last week, the boutique discounted prices 75% off as part of invitation-only sale. As a matter of fact, one invitation holder tried hocking their discount on Craig’s List for $1,000. The entrepreneurial posterpointed out that discount “means you can buy $10,000 worth of merchandise for $2500.” (A gift for math?!)

    Unfortunately, the 75% off sale is over but our experience tells us that if a store is discounting deeply for friends and family, it’s only a matter of time until the discount is wide-spread. In the meantime, we’ll keep popping our head into Versace and let you know when the Medusa hits final markdown.

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    Post-Christmas Saks

    Big stretch.
    It’s been a nice long weekend of shopping and our spies have been out in full force. Saks, again, wins the sale game. A 70% off sale– before Thanksgiving or after Christmas– apparently has the same response. Madness!

    Our first report comes from Dapper Homme who was on the scene at 7:45. (DP is one of our top special agents. To understand the caliber of shopper, we have to divert a moment to present an example: at a recent unnamed sample sale there was a throng of rowdy women lined down the block and around the corner. DP organized the attendees in such a manner that the sample sale organizers gave him early admittance. This man can easily win the silver metal in Olympic shopping. Sorry, DP, Lila takes gold.)

    So, Dapper Homme reports that there were about 150 people lined up, early Saturday morning, for the 70% off Saks doorbuster. Much of the crowed rushed two places: the shoe department and to Chanel handbags. To the dismay of many customers there were only four Chanel handbags on sale. We hear that Chanel sales people spent the entire rest of the day yelling, “We have no more sale bags.” That’s always a fun day at work.

    After scoping the main floor, DP headed straight to the ninth floor. For some crazy, wacky, unspecified reason, all mens’ sale items were sent to nine. The disorganization was somewhat like a Barneys Warehouse setup. Unfortunately sales people and customers were equally confused. Dapper had six pair of shoes picked out but his salesperson could only locate mates to three pair. After about 45 minutes of sorting through racks, DP, says he found some of what he wanted, including Kiton shirts for 70% off.

    Enough of the men’s stuff. Shoes! Or lady spies report that it was difficult to move at 10022-SHOE. The floor was so crowded that it was nearly impossible to find a sales person to pull a match or charge a purchase. We heard reports of women throwing their credit cards at sales people and buying shoes without even trying them on. YSL Tribute heels for $167 can make people do strange things.

    Moving down, floor five was overcrowded, but the designer floor was bliss. Premier ready-to-wear designers, including Dior, were priced 70% off or more. A $2500 Dolce & Gabbana sweater was found for $500. A $750 Marc Jacobs dress was marked down to $160.

    The store continued to get more crowded as the day drew on. At about noon there was a 10minute wait to get inside the store– and yes, it was raining!
    Shoppers who headed to Saks.com faced similar competition. One reader commented:
    Damn website kept crashing… even at 1:30 AM EST!!! I had a pair of Dior shoes in my shopping and when I was in the final stages of checking out, my shopping bag was suddenly “empty”. Shoes now gone.
    Most continuing reports are that Saks is wiped out. We are sure, however, that after-New Years returns, the store will be amply supplied with enough sale merchandise to hold us over until consolidation . Just remember, there’s always something to buy!

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    Sex and the City II

    We don’t know if we approve of the whole idea of a Sex in the City movie influencing fashion, but it happens, and it’s happening again. Just today, the trailer to Sex and the City II was released and gals all over are preening for Carrie’s fashion.

    While it’s Christmans Eve and most of our readers are already arguing with family we know that some of you are stick in an office building. To pass the time we came up with The Sex and the City Guessing Game: It’s up to you to guess the plot and the fashion.

    We already know that in the the opening clip Carrie is wearing limited edition Mykita & Bernhard Willhelm sunglasses ($525 @ Patricia Field.) Her white dress is Halston and the necklace is Solange Azagury-Partridge, and costs almost $200k. The shoes are Louboutin and the clutch is Chanel. Big is treating Carrie very well!

    In the clip taking place in front of Bergdorf Goodman, we have Samantha with a VBH bag ($1300) and black Ray Bans. Miranda is wearing YSL Tribute heels. Charlotte is in head-to-toe pink Dior (including the bag) but not the shoes. Those are Loubs.

    We also know that the girls’ trip is to Morocco, or at least, that’s where they shot. (Yes, we have spies all over the world.)

    Below is the trailer. What do you know?

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    Kevyn Aucoin Sample Sale

    Our favorite cosmetic brand is undoubtedly Kevyn Aucoin. We first fell in love with the mascara, which flakes off rather than smearing off. Then the eye shadows, which has incredible pigmentation. You see where we are going with this?

    There aren’t many stores that carry the line. Bergdorfs seems to be the Aucoin hub but it can be found in Sephora for the time being. The problem, like most high end brands is the price. Well Aucoin fans, listen up: the headquarters is having a sale where their cosmetics are being sold at a fraction of their retail prices.

    For just $10 you can get lipsticks, glosses, eye and brow pencils and eye shadows. Most of these products retail for $24 to $28. The $15 category includes powders, which retail for about $40. In the $20 category you can find eye shadow sets, foundations, lose powder and primer, which range from $42 to $62 in retail outlets. There’s also two amazing brush sets the travel set is $50 (regularly $140) and the deluxe is $140 (normally $350).

    Just be careful that you go home with the correct product. We have to plan a return trip tomorrow to make adjustments. Tomorrow (Wednesday) is the last day of the sale and the hours are short. There are no mascaras but if you have the time it’s definitely worth the trip.

    Kevyn Aucoin Insider Sale
    Wednesday, Dec. 23rd,
    9am to 1pm
    1412 Broadway, 25th FL

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    Online Shopping Round-up

    Lets face it, shopping can be exhausting. That’s why we love browsing the Internet. There’s no blisters, no crowds and no over-anxious sales person hoping for a commission. Just you and your trackpad. To end our week of round-ups we’re searching cyber space for the best sales. We know that purchases made today will not get there for Christmas but isn’t holiday shopping mostly about finding great things for yourself anyway? Below is a list of sales occurring at our favorite online boutiques. We imagine that the prices are subject to change at any moment.

    Don’t forget to check out our past round-ups were we dove into the department stores, Meatpacking District, men’s boutiques, 5th Avenue/ 57th Street and, of course, Madison Avenue.

    25Park.com: Sometimes you can have the best of both worlds. 25Park started off as a Internet-based retailer but for the holiday season opened a pop-up shop on Third and 74th Street.( We hear the location may become permanent.) The owners of the site have a great eye for style but they are a bit green when it comes to sales. Nobody wants to buy last year’s Behnanz Sarafour when it’s still over a $1000. Department stores already reduced the dress 75% off and it’s bound to show up on Yoox or Guilt for even less. Keep an eye on this site, they have a great variety and once they become more seasoned they will learn the key to successful retailing is “turns.”

    In the meantime go for last year’s Missoni scarves, which were originally $390 and now $175. Missoni isn’t putting their scarves on sale this season. So this is the best you’re going to get.

    MyTheresa: The German based site carries all the best designer names and ships them literally all over the world. It’s up to you though, to figure out the tax situation. You can deduct the 17.5% VAT but you’re going to have to pay import taxes through DHL. We imagine it evens out. You also have to do a currency conversion. Right now EU100 is about $143. Keeping that in min,d we shopped the sale section and found: YSL cage boots that are just 30% off. So last summer! A Matthew Williamson brocade jacket is EU935 but comes out too about $1350, once you do the conversion. Basically, everything on the site is way too much money after the conversion but it’s still fun to look around.

    Net-a-Porter: Most designer labels are 30% to 40% off. That’s not enough to compete with department stores and we expect prices will be dropping momentarily. If you scroll around or sort by discount, you will see there’s lots of 70% merchandise. We found a silk tulip skirt for $87, lots of Stella McCarney, and a great animal print Clements Ribeiro dress, now $427 from $1425.

    Vivre: Right on the homepage there is a link to items “up to 75%” off. We love the colorful suede lambskin gloves , $62 from $125. A $395 Michael Kors satin bow clutch is now $99. How about a Roberto Cavalli top reduced to $491 from $1965?

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