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    Bloomies Friends & Family

    Bloomingdales friends and family will begin Tuesday, October 1 and run through Sunday, October 6. It’s been a while sine we’ve had a good friends and family sale but we’re not sure if this sale really counts as good. The discount is 20% but almost all luxury brands and cosmetics are excluded.

    Presale will begin this week. Online shoppers can use the code FRIENDS. Don’t worry if you miss this sale at Bloomies, there is usually another in November.

    Those waiting for the Saks friends and family promotion will need to wait until the third week of October. The discount is the same 20% off and the exclusions are similar.

    The IT-it: Sophia Webster

    It’s a new season and you can’t be surprised that there is a new IT shoe designer. British footwear designer, Sophia Webster started as an assistant to Nicholas Kirkwood and debuted her first solo collection just a few seasons ago. The new designer already has huge distribution and can be found in Saks, Net-A-Porter and Nordstrom. As a matter of fact, she just debuted a capsule collection for J. Crew during fashion week. The J. Crew collection will launch spring 2014.

    Photo Credit: VivaLuxury

    Webster’s shoe designs are playful, unique and exude confidence. Her style closely resembles the kitsch of Charlotte Olympia with the sexiness of Alaia. This season we are especially loving the almost completely sold out Riko cutout patent-leather and suede sandals. They are both edgy but feminine. They also play well with the still-going-strong black and white fall trend. These shoes are dress-up ready but we also love how fashion blogger Annebelle Fleur paired them with jeans and a blazer.

    Sophia Webster Riko $695

    Why the Hermès Sale Was a Bust

    Now that we are one day into t Hermès sale we can say that the event is officially a bust. There are no bags, no leather goods, no jewelry, no beauty products, no scarves or ties and anything that attracted most shoppers to this high-end sample sale.

    Photo Credit: LA Racked

    We couldn’t help but wonder what had happened to the days of great discounts and unbelievable finds. Hermès insiders, who insisted upon anonymity, say that Hermès recently consolidated all of their overstock and past season merchandise in anticipation of reopening their Beverly Hills boutique after a lengthy renovation.

    The Beverly Hills Hermès recently renovated their West Coast flagship store. Before reopening, the brand hosted what seems to have been an epic sale. According to LA Racked, the sale included an ample supply of silk scarves, ties, jewelry, enamel bracelets, small leather goods and, would you believe, handbags! (Ladies, there were Medor clutches priced at half off.) That’s in addition to the standard ready-to-wear, shoes, hats and gloves.

    Obviously, the sale was “pandemonium inside and out.” One attendee commented that the customers who shopped this epic sale event more closely resembled Honey Boo Boo’s family than the normal tony customer that patronizes the brand. Without saying, VIP customers were able to shop the sale during a very secret presale.

    For those wondering if another sale like this will occur our answer is a hopeful yes but just don’t expect it will happen at Soiffer Haskin. We hear that the Hermès boutique in Houston will be moving down the street from their currently location at BLVD Place on Post Oak. The move isn’t likely to take place until later in 2014 but perhaps brand enthusiasts should consider pitching in to charter a plane from New York.

    An Early Look Inside Hermes Sample Sale

    Most of us rather wait on a line for discounted Hermes, than a Cronut or Target’s new designer collaboration. This season, however, a Cronut or a Target Philip Lim bag would be more satisfying than the Hermes sample sale.


    Photo credit: NY Times

    Hermes VIPs were invited to shop today but early indications are that the sale is another bust. Our insider says that the discount event was a complete disappointment. She couldn’t even find any style bottle of perfume or horse print plate. 


    The sale does include a scattering of undesirable gloves, clothing and shoes. Shoes and ready-to-wear are both 50% of retail. That means you can expect to still pay about $1000 for most any item. Most of the clothing was more than two years old. 


    If you feel compelled to buy anything go for the shoes. Our spies had the best luck there. There are H slides in bright shades of red, blue and patent. The sale also includes a good selection of boots and booties, which are perfect for the fall. 


    There is just one piece of good news. There was hardly any line today. At the start of the sale there were about 20 people waiting. In prior years we’ve waited two hours on the VIP day. Later in the afternoon, we hear there was no line at all.

    The Best of September

    Fashion week is officially over, which means we can turn our attention to the most important part of fashion: Shopping! It’s still early in the sample sale season but you might want to mark your calendar for the following upcoming shopping events:

    Philip Lim for Target
    September 15
    Get ready for Lim-mania. Philip Lim’s collection for Target dropped today and there are already over 800 of the bags listed on eBay. While the launch wasn’t as popular as Missoni, it did grab the attention of style lovers all over the country. The farther away you get from Manhattan the better luck you’ll have at snagging the most coveted items. Our favorite local Target location is Jersey City.

    Hermes Sample Sale
    Shopping for VIPs: September 17
    Public Shopping: Wednesday, September 18th through Saturday, September 21st
    9am~6pm
    Soiffer Haskin, 317 W. 33rd Street (off 8th Ave)
    The Hermes sample sale [formerly the mother of all sales] is scheduled to start later this week. Press, friend’s and top clients of the brand with invitations will are scheduled to begin shopping Tuesday. The sale will officially open to the public on Wednesday. Expect very long lines at the start of the sale and before you invest a lot of time head over to our review of last year’s epic Hermes fail. Oops, sale.

    Loro Piana
    Sunday, September 29th through Thursday, October 3rd
    9am-6pm
    Soiffer Haskin, 317 W. 33rd Street (off 8th Ave)
    The premier cashmere brand will be hosting it’s semi-annual sample sale. You can expect to find most items discounted at about 50% off retail. At prior sales we found scarves ranging from about $300 to over $1200, cashmere coats for about $1500 and sweaters ranging from $400 to about $2000. So even a half-off discount can be a bit more than some customers want to spend.

    DSW $99 Shoes: Prada, Gucci, Giuseppe and More

    Just when you think summer is over you get a 90-degree day to remind you that the season doesn’t officially end for a few more weeks. Before it’s too late, we suggest you head over to DSW’s website where summer shoes have been marked down dramatically.

    This dramatic Giuseppe Zanotti embellished suede sandal is $200 from $1600, these Miu Miu metallic patent flower sandals are $99 from almost $600 and these floral Dolce & Gabbana wedges are just $99 too.

    Generally, most sale heels are $199 and flats are $99. Be sure to click outside the clearance section of the Luxe810 category. There are lots of brands not listed in clearance that are deeply discounted too.

    Fashion Week Spring 2014: Top Picks

    New York Fashion Week is winding down and the tribe will soon begin to make its way through Europe. Before we depart from style coverage, however, we wanted to highlight some of our favorite looks from fashion week. Below is a sampling of the the most playful collections and our favorite collections.

    Playful:
    Fashion must not always be serious. Who can resist fashionable irony, sartorial suggestion or an inside joke from your favorite garmento? We loved Ostwald Helgason‘s motifs that seem inspired by Jeff Koons’ balloon sculpture. (Ya think?) Alexander Wang poked fun of the black box parental warning labels currently used on video games and music. Jeremy Scott’s colorful collection was irresistible and the his “Earth Sucks” tee is destined to be a editorial showcase.

    Sublime:
    Once in a while you go to a fashion show and you fall in love. We aren’t talking about the love you have for a cute puppy on the street. A great fashion show can be as intoxicating as the perfect first kiss. Prabal Gurung was one of those instances where grace meets fashion forward. We loved the elegance of the collection that was given a twist of modern personalty by way of pastels and acid bright colors. Against many odds Victoria Beckham has made a name for herself among fashion elite. This season she even gained more respect as she turned in her expected body-con focus into a collection that is both crisp and polished. This season Milly caught us off guard. We were expecting a procession of her lady-like Madison Avenue shift dresses but instead got a refreshing dose of goth care of lots of fishnetting.

    Fashion Week Spring 2014: Runway Trends III

    Our feet are shot and the novelty of celebrity spotting and free cocktails is wearing off but that doesn’t mean our fetish for fashion has fleeted. Today, we continue to call out the biggest trends of the season the moment they emerge.

    Floral Prints:
    May flowers are one of the most anticipated events of the Spring season and designers are embarrassing that love of nature. Grunge (for some odd reason) continues to inspire designers this season and Calla Haynes says her floral prints were inspired by 90s surf culture. Spanish design house, Delpozo combined both floral and plaid from pre-Clueless days, which resulted in an aesthetic much more posh than grunge. At Oscar de la Renta you could practically smell the spring bloom.

    The Mullet Silhouette:
    Get ready to ‘Party in the front, business in the back’ your wardrobe. The ape drape is destined dominating fashion this season. While a few fashion critics believe the mullet silhouette is ‘Achy-breaky-bad-mistakey’ — we just can’t get enough and neither will you. Check out Oscar’s version of the Mississippi Mudslide in a dazzling green croc embossed finish. Lisa Perry deviated from her usual a-line look a mullet gown in tennis white. ICB opted for a more casual but ultra chic hi-lo dress in black and white.

    Bright Lips:
    Throw away your barely there gloss and neutral lip stains because your lips are about to get a jolt of color. Dennis Basso colored puckers a bright red, as did, Suno. Badgley Mischka opted for a bright coral and Thom Browne went with a ghoulish bright lip.