pretty little sample sale

as usual this year, i heard about the prada sample sale WAY too late. actually, i wouldnt even have known if it wasn't for cheryl's blog. but anyways, needless to say, i had to do what i did last year... stalk the registration site until the 2nd or 3rd day when people start to drop out and cancel their appointments for later in the week. and boy... was i glad i did that.

you would think an alarm would have sounded off in my head when i started to read on blogs like Shophound and Racked that the sale was a complete waste of time with nothing but rips, tears, and stains on everything left. but sometimes, i just have to see for myself...

Wednesday, 5:00pm appointment

By late afternoon wednesday, everyone had begun to cancel their appointments so i frantically made one at the earliest possible i could get there after work. i arrive at 5:45 pm, and head straight for shoes. unlike last year, there were actually a couple of size 37s left. i try on a pair of yellow and brown tweed wedges from Fall 2004. they fit, and i carry the box around like a baby wearing dior.

Wandering around the showroom, i stop by a cart next to the shoes, where some abercrombie-ish guy asks me... "um, excuse me, but what is this??" he holds up a flat satin fabric boomerang with some black ribbon hanging off the ends. i know this one. "its a necklace!" ok, i am actually embarrassed that i know. i didnt want to come across like a prada-fashion-snob or anything. i leave the cart before he can ask me what the other mysterious miscellaneous items are.

I linger at every rack and shelf i pass by, making a mental note of all the stuff i see there -- ribbon belts, straw necklaces, fushia turban, navy skullcap looking things, pink leather prada boxes, weird printed see-through button downs, khaki slacks, high waisted undies, random dresses from couture past... all the dresses are still marked $500, even though its a hefty discount from their previous price tags -- $2000-$4000. I fall in love with a wooly corset top that i distinctly remembered from last years fashion mags. The price is $820, and its got a blue dot next to it which means.... 60%. I type the numbers into the giant calculators they have posted up on some of the walls and yikes! its still too much. and everyone around me now knows very clearly from the HUMONGOUS numbers that $300 was my max.

Eventually, i ring up the wedges and a funky wool necklace with sequins on it. And i tried it all on when i got home.

Sure that the next day (last day of the sale) would mean further discounted prices, i made an appointment for the earliest time possible thursday morning.

Thursday, 9:00 am appointment

I get there at 9:10, only to find that they hadnt even begun letting people in yet and there was a huuuuge line in the hallway outside the door. Hot and sweaty, they eventually let us in and I ran straight for the rack where I found that corset top i had wanted so badly the night before.

Score! Top marked down to $50. I grab an armful of the same style in different fabrics and slightly varying cuts. I try all of them on... well, the ones that had working zippers anyway. I chose 2 of them, one a dark grey wool and the other a slate-ish green wool, and wandered over to the lingerie rack where everything was $15. Picked up a pair of plaid organza-ish undies. I like them! and they're only $15 anyway.

Walk over to the dress rack and notice a green dress hanging on the end. As i reach up to touch the fabric, a woman sneaks up behind me and starts playing around with the hem. I'm watching her, as she is doing this, curious, because I wouldve done the same thing. We're both confused about how it works, she's trying to find the opening in the bottom of the dress where the legs would poke through so i try to help her, even though i desperately want her to ditch the dress so i could try it on. Eventually, she's so consumed by confusion and doubt that i was able to ask her politely if it was alright that i take it if she wasnt going to, and she let me! YES! catfight avoided!

I try it on, amazed by the fabric, how lush it looked but also how potentially wacky. someone could easily mistaken it for a curtain. but there was something about it that i really liked and i vaguely remembered seeing it somewhere.. it looked so familiar. Needless to say, $100 for a miu miu dress didn't require much persuasion at all. I ran to the counter before i could pick anything else up and ditched one of the corset tops to lessen the guilt of purchasing the dress.

I then proceed to grin all the way to work.

the wool corset top, which i imagine i will be wearing with a lot of my loose fitting slacks and over tank tops.

the miu miu dress from fall 2006.

and this is why it looked so familiar. mary kate olsen wore it and the image was capture by the paps.