X


    Retail Therapy: Gigi Mortimer

    Fashion week has just ended and we couldn’t resist recruiting Gigi Mortimer for our Retail Therapy hot seat. Gigi is best known among friends for her sharp sense of style and relaxed attitude. Most people, however, don’t appreciate her knack for spotting great deals.

    Gigi tells the story about how she fell in love with Baccarat’s black chandelier collection. She was unsure of the lofty price, so she decided to hold off on its purchase. Everything changed when Gigi received a phone call about an upcoming Baccarat price increase. She just couldn’t resist the opportunity to save money on the showpiece and swooped in and purchased it for her foyer.

    In addition to her great shopping skills, Gigi has a design resume that could overshadow even the most decorated garmento. She has held senior design positions at some of the world’s most recognized brands, including Ralph Lauren, Vera Wang and Tory Burch. Um, the woman even designed the Vera Wang Barbie with Mattel. Talk about a dream project.

    Most recently, Gigi and long-time friend Courtney Moss started Glamourpuss NYC, a playful accessories brand. For fall, the company produces rabbit fur hats, scarves and hoods. This summer, the company is introducing the most delicious watercolor caftans and beaded jewelry. We love the fact that most of the items in the Glamourpuss collection are under $200 and can be found locally at Saks Fifth Avenue and Calypso.

    What’s your most prized deal?
    Ten Years ago, while shopping deep in the corridors of the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, I stumbled upon a magnificent pearl and semi precious stone tassel necklace. I bought the necklaces and gave one to my mother, grandmother, and best friend. For the last decade its timeless style has been a staple in my wardrobe. I love wearing it with traditional pearls and a suit to a ladies lunch or pair it with a white tank and a tan and wear it to a beach party. For our Glamourpuss NYC spring collection we are recreating this necklace in five fabulous colors. Cultured pearl with shocking pink quartz, Turquoise with cultured pearls, gold nuggets with pearls and navy quartz with pearls for $475. We recently saw a similar necklace in WWD from Van Cleef in Paris.

    Biggest regret that you didn’t purchase?
    No regrets. I always find something new to fall in love with.

    This season you are looking for…
    After this long cold dreary winter, I am looking for COLOR.

    What’s your number one shopping tip?
    Never buy two of the same thing even though you think you need two. Never buy pants loose they always stretch. One more thing, Saks Fifth Avenue’s Fifth Avenue Club has fantastic service and elegant changing rooms.

    What’s your biggest weakness?
    Organic Avenue juices they are a healthy luxury. I’m also obsessed with chocolate drizzled popcorn from Greenberg Bakery, two-inch T-bones from Leonard’s grilled with truffle salt and olive oil which challenges Mario Batali’s finest.

    Is there an item for which a shopper should never mind paying full price?
    If you love it and it will become a part of your seasons uniform, its worth every penny.

    Photo Credit: Joshua Bright for Vogue

    Ralph Lauren Home Sale

    If you’ve always dreamed of surrounding yourself within the equestrian theme of Ralph Lauren, here’s your chance to decorate for less. Ralph Lauren Home is hosting a sale where furniture, lighting, home accessories, decorative pillows, gifts, vintage items and antiques will be significantly discounted.

    The sale runs from Friday through Monday. In prior years, this promotion was only open to Ralph Lauren employees but the discount was great with markdowns up to 75% off. We hope that the sale this year offers the same pricing but we have our doubts.

    Beware, organizers don’t want your kids and their sticky fingers. So no children under 12 will be admitted. On the plus side, there will be shippers on the premises to assist you with your purchases but costs and arrangements are the responsibility of the customer.

    Ralph Lauren Home Sale
    Friday, February 25 to Monday, February 28th
    Fri 12pm-7pm, Sat 9am-6pm, Sun 9am-6pm, Mon 9am-5pm
    110 West 19th Street
    For more information: (718) 747-1656
    CREDIT CARDS ONLY

    Mi Casa su Armani Casa

    Amani’s Casa can now come to your casa at much more reasonable prices. The Soho store is currently hosting a sale where select merchandise is up to 60% off. The sale runs until Sunday, February 27th.

    Wether you’re purchasing merchandise on sale or full price, be sure to take advantage of the boutique’s resident interior designer who can help with everything from accent pieces, furniture placement to full on decorating.

    Armani Casa
    97 Greene St. (near Spring St.)
    212-334-1271

    Bloomies Fashionable Fundraiser

    Bloomingdales is hosting their Fashionable Fundraiser promotion where customers can save 15% on purchases in honor of the department store donating $75,000 to Mentoring USA. The event starts Friday, February 25th and runs until Sunday.

    Unfortunately, cosmetics and all designer brands except Max Mara are excluded. We’re not sure what that leaves us beyond “Aqua” but we’re sure you will find something to put the discount to good use.

    If only the promotion could be applied towards 40 Carrots…

    Luxury for Pennies

    Would you ever imagine scoring a $100 gift card to Neiman Marcus for just 40-cents, a 3G Apple iPad for under $21 or a Gucci bag for 84-cents?

    Those types of savings are usually reserved for dreams but the users of ScoreLuxe.com did exactly that. Penny auctions sites like ScoreLuxe.com are the newest and most exciting sector of entertainment shopping. (Haven’t we always said shopping was part of the entertainment category!)

    Unlike auction sites like eBay, where you’re lucky to spend full price and not get a fake. Penny auctions allow you to purchase bids and score great luxury items for a fraction of their retail price. What’s even better is that all the items on the site are purchased directly from the retailer and are guaranteed authentic and brand new.

    Yes, it may cost $99 to buy 100 bids, but you’re ahead about $800 if you win a Chanel wallet for $20. A Chanel wallet for a total of $120 (the cost of 99 bids and the acution amount) is a score in our book. How about yours?

    Be sure to check out ScoreLuxe.com to find a neverending line-up of wonderful items at even better deals.This week, ScoreLuxe.com is offering up great prizes like, a Verizon iPhone 4, a Louis Vuitton Neverfill and a $500 gift card to Nordstrom.


    Sponsored Post

    Robert Marc Winter Sale

    The high end optical store, Robert Marc, has started their winter sale. Handmade corrective glasses and sunglasses for men and women are now up to 50% off.

    Robert Marc glasses are both fashionable and high quality. The best part is that there are no obnoxious logos. Faithful customers include, Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, Julianne Moore, Uma Thurman and Matt Damon. Prices start at about $400 and work their way up to very expensive. In addition to the house imprint, stores carry hard-to-find brands like Lunor and Retrospecs.

    In our case, it’s always when the sale ends that we realize we need new glasses. So if you’re optically challenged, this is truly a good opportunity for eyewear rebanding.

    Locations:
    190 Columbus Avenue (between 68 & 69), 212-799-4600
    400 Madison Avenue (between 47 & 48), 212-319-2900
    551 Madison Avenue (between 55 & 56), 212-319-2000
    782 Madison Avenue (between 66 & 67), 212-737-6000
    1046 Madison Avenue (between 79 & 80), 212-988-9600
    1300 Madison Avenue (between 92 & 93), 212-722-1600
    386 Bleecker Street (at Perry), 212-242-6668
    436 West Broadway (between Spring & Prince), 212-343-8300

    A Woodbury Common Holiday

    The holiday weekend is upon us, which usually means major outlet reductions. We started snooping around Woodbury Common and found that many of our favorite outlet stores are adding extra discounts to lure customers. Don’t worry if your plans don’t include driving an hour north to go shopping. Most stores are willing to ship merchandise.

    Bottega Veneta
    We are told that there is a very good selection of shoes and ready-to-wear, which is are additional 50% off for the long weekend. Select older style bags are an extra 30% off, exotic skinned bags are another 40% off and small accessories are an additional 50% off. Unfortunately. there are no woven styles included in the extra markdowns.
    845-928-4563

    Chanel
    Get this: The outlet store permanently closed on January 22nd. Don’t feel like you’re missing anything, the selection was always awful.

    Chloe
    The entire store is an additional 20% off for the weekend (except for classic style bags, of course.) The clothing collection is a bit sparse but the savings are huge. The total markdown, including the extra 20%, comes out to almost 90%!
    845-928-6260

    Dior
    Select handbags, belts, hats and shoes are an additional 30% off. There is no extra markdown on ready-to-wear but the discount is currently about 75% off retail.
    845-928-4602

    Etro
    It sounds as if Etro may be hosting the best sale of all the Woodbury boutiques. All winter merchandise is an additional 70% off. This includes clothing, shoes, handbags and accessories. The sale selection for men is very small but your gal can walk away with the most sensational coat for about 90% off.
    845-928-9256

    Giuseppe Zanotti
    The outlet store just received 200 pair of sample shoes, which are all marked $99 and $149. The more expensive styles are heavily jeweled styles. There’s one hitch, they are almost all size 7s. If you’re not a perfect sample size shoe you can still benefit from the discount on the majority of shoes, which is now 75% off retail.
    845-928-4828

    Prada
    Prada has become a lot more conservative with their markdowns. Clothing and shoes are just an additional 30% off. That’s on top of the basic 40% outlet discount. Small accessories, handbags and Prada sport merchandise are not included in the additional markdown.
    845-928-7415

    YSL
    All bags, except Muses, are an extra 20% off. Ready-to-wear from the most recent collection is an additional 40% off. Shoes will be discounted an extra 20%. Don ‘t get too excited, there are no high Tribute sandals.
    845-928-2169

    Fashion Week: Milly by Michelle Smith

    Milly by Michelle Smith is always dependable for creating a collection that is uptown chic but still suitable for the under 40… 30… and 20 crowd. This season was no different. Michelle wowed an audience with bright colors like orange, hot pink and red. The new handbag line was also a great attention grabber with shapes that are both practical and stylish.

    Standout item: The assortment of hats and bags were the perfect punctuation to Milly’s girly and preppy fall designs.

    Our take: Michelle Smith seems to have invented a winning formula for dressing girls from the right side of town without making them look old past their age. We hear that a kids line is in the works and can’t wait to take a bite the collection, which is sure to be as sweet as a bin of gumdrops.

    Twitter reviews:
    womensweardaily: Milly returned to girly looks for fall with sweet, ruffly dresses & bright & preppy maxi coats & pants.
    sunlovey: head over heels in #LOVE with this look—head to toe. the hues! the frills! Milly by Michelle Smith
    shefindseileen: Milly proves you CAN wear color when it’s cold. Gotta get outta my all-black rut: http://bit.ly/hmrWKk