Liberty of London for Target

I was really disappointed with the Jean Paul Gaultier for Target collection. The thing about Target collections is that the cheap construction constraints that they have can make some of the pieces look really tacky. Everything in the JPG collection was polyester, making things stiff and shapeless, but Target made up for it with the Liberty of London collection that was released last weekend!
The pop-up shop that they opened in Manhattan sold out and closed two days early. The collection also sold out online immediately, but luckily I was at home in New Hampshire where people don't care as much about Designer for Target. Our stores were completely stocked with everything Liberty.

 I focused mainly on some cute housewares for the apartment that I don't have yet (but I will!). I picked up some adorable pillows for my couch, fabric covered storage boxes, and peacock feather coffee mugs and ceramic bowls for the kitchen!

 As usual, I had to be a little more discerning with the clothes, but I ended up walking out with some really cute pajamas, a blouse, and a printed cotton dress. I'd stay away from the polyester dresses in this collection -- the maxi dress was so cute, but I think the material would make you die of heat wearing it in the summer!

Nordstrom Rack

Sometimes if you need an escape from the city and a fulfilling shopping trip all in one, White Plains can be a great way to spend a weekend afternoon. If you can get an express train from Fordham, it's only a 15 minute ride away. I went this past weekend to get my Target fix (and discovered that the Jean Paul Gaultier for Target collection is so not worth the time), and I also stopped in to do some damage at Nordstrom Rack, which is in the same shopping center.

Nordstrom Rack is the outlet version of Nordstrom department store. They get shipments in from the department stores on a pretty regular basis, and discount the items pretty heavily (usually by at least 50%). Unlike some outlet stores that I've seen, these aren't just the cast-off items that nobody bought through multiple markdowns and clearance sales -- there are actually some really great pieces to be found! The only catch? You'll have to be in for some digging.

Some of the racks are separated out by brand, so that makes it easy if you have brands that you like. Other racks are separated by type of clothing, so you could have a $400 designer dress on the same rack as a cheap $20 dress by an obscure brand you've never heard of (and for good reason -- often lots of polyester!).

This weekend, I was able to get a really cute Marc by Marc Jacobs silk top that was marked down to $80 from $200, and a versatile silk-cotton blend wrap cardigan by BCBG for $70 marked down from $200. Not bad!

This is also a great place for designer jeans, especially 7 for All Mankind and J Brand, since they usually have quite a few styles in stock and they are marked down to around $99. They actually had my favorite pair of 7's this weekend because the wash is being discontinued, but they didn't have it in my size! Luckily I got a new pair for my birthday this week, or else I probably would have tried to justify buying them too big and having githem tailored :)

Nordstrom Rack is opening a location in Union Square on May 11, 2010, so pretty soon I won't have to go quite as far to get my bargain shopping fix! I just hope that it doesn't turn into as big of a mess as Century 21 always is.

Nordstrom Rack
7 City Place
White Plains, NY
Metro North to White Plains

Jean Paul Gaultier for Target This Weekend!

I’m a big fan of the Designer for Target collections, because I’ve scored some pretty sweet pieces from them over time. On March 7th, Target will release the Jean Paul Gaultier collection, and I’m eager to get my hands on a few pieces of it for the spring!


My favorite things came from the Thakoon for Target collection, but I’ve amassed pieces since the beginning of the Designer for Target lines from Luella, Tara Jarmon, McQ by Alexander McQueen, and Rodarte. Shopping these Target lines can be sort of tricky, because the clothes often look better in the press photos than in person, and the sizing is often really sporadic. I’ve found that the more simple pieces are often the best ones to grab, because intricate detailing often doesn’t translate well with Target’s relatively cheap production.

To continue reading this post, go to OMGHaute.com

Surviving NY Fashion Week

Ports 1961 Fall 2010

As I've mentioned before, I edit and write for a beauty blog, FlauntMe.com. The company I work for is also launching a fashion blog, so we've had our hands really full lately. Luckily, we were granted press access to New York Fashion Week and invited to some shows. It's been exciting so far since its always been something I wanted to do, and this season is the last one showing in the tents at Bryant Park. Yesterday, I saw Ports 1961 and Farah Angsana. Today I'm seeing Christian Siriano, and I have a bunch lined up for this weekend too.

From what I can tell so far, dressing etiquette goes something like this:

• If you are a PR person you wear black (and, oh have I been there before).
• If you are an editor it doesn't matter what you wear (I saw editors on the front row in rainboots and frumpy sweaters who looked like they hadn't brushed their hair all day. Of course, this does not apply to Anna).
• If you are a celebrity/socialite, you wear the designer.
• If you are a nobody (aka the majority of the people hanging around at the tents), you dress to the nines.

I'm trying to do something in between all of these because I do love dressing up, but I want to be relatively comfortable too, since I sometimes have long gaps between shows and spend a lot of time on my feet. Of course, this doesn't mean that I'm sacrificing heels all together, but some days I'm wearing flats.

I had to really exercise some self-restraint in order to keep myself from going on a mad shopping spree in the name of Fashion Week, but here is the strategy that I came up with: splurge all of my Bloomingdales/Macys/Sephora gift cards from Christmas (which I normally hold onto forever before I can decide what to buy), and buy all of my tights from H&M since they are really cheap there. And try not to spend too much more money on other accessories. Not much of a strategy, but sometimes even a frugal girl like me needs to sacrifice.

Online Designer Sample Sales

So, nothing is really new as far as the institution of the online sample sale goes. Gilt Groupe was the first online sample sale company to really make it big, and now there are a bunch of others popping up, like HauteLook and Rue La La. The story is the same pretty much everywhere -- you have to be invited by an existing user to get a login, there are set start and end times for each sale, and you have to either love what you get or send it back for store credit only (no credit card refunds). This isn't any different than a traditional sample sale, except that it's online and not in-store.

This way, you don't have to play that little game with the other shoppers where you both want the same pair of jeans and you keep an eye on each other so that when one person puts down the jeans, the other makes a quick move to pick them up. I may seem like a fairly amiable person, but I've been known to get a little territorial at a sample sale. Be forewarned.

While some of these sites do offer great discounts on clothing, accessories and cosmetics, sometimes the prices are still really high. If you think about it, a $1,000 Zac Posen dress is still $500 at 50% off. Luckily, Gilt just launched a great sister site called Gilt Fuse, which focuses on up-and-coming and young designers, subsequently making the prices a little more manageable. You can find some pretty awesome shoes for around $50 and dresses under $100, depending on the day. This week the site is featuring some of my favorites, like French Connection, Dolce Vita, and Torn by Ronny Kobo.

Recently, I was able to get a top that retailed for $50 for $5 after I used a Gilt credit that I got at Fashion's  Night Out last September! Credits are another great initiative that these sites are using -- if you send someone an invite to join and they make their first purchase, you get a $25 credit!

For more information, visit the individual sites. And if anyone needs an invite for any of these sites, I'd be more than happy to send you one :)