Ladies, start your engines! The Spring-Summer 2010 sales have already started, and Ms Incognita has some great resources for you. If you move into action right now, you’ll be able to add some designer items to your executive wardrobe at a fraction of their original cost.
While we’re over a week into the sale season, there are still many incredible deals out there. The key to success (i.e., a quality piece in your size at a great price) is to move quickly. The selection will start getting sparse in the coming weeks. Seriously consider spending a few hours on the hunt this weekend or next week. Chances are you’ll be very glad you did.
Here are 5 fantastic Internet resources for professional clothing as well as a wonderful sale of custom couture at a designer’s studio in NYC if you happen to live there or travel that way on business. (Why the emphasis on the Internet? Check out the reasons at the end of this blog post.)
YOOX
Some Internet sites brag about their name designer duds at low prices, but often their selection is small and the items appear to be discounted because the material or construction is cheap. For example, this sometimes (although not always) appears to be the case at Gilt.com. Other sites such as Net-a-porter.com do in fact have truly top-end designer clothes. However, their selection tends to be more fashion-forward than corporate, and by the time the clothes are on sale, the supply can be very limited.
But then there’s YOOX.com. YOOX is a somewhat unassuming looking site that carries a HUGE selection of attire by famous designers, along with clothes from high quality brands that are better known in Europe than they are in the US. Even outside of sale season, you always can find beautiful pieces for your wardrobe at reasonable prices. But during sale season, the bargains are astonishing. And the selection on YOOX is enormous. In the blazer section of the sale area alone, there are 2,600 blazers!
How good are the bargains? Last year, Ms. Incognita scored a Giorgio Armani forest green boucle sheath for $350 and a beautiful Michael Kors angora/wool blend jacket in a rich tobacco color for $118! Last week, Ms Incognita bought another Michael Kors blazer—this time in ivory twill—for $400. Pricier than last year, but still a steal given the original price and the high level of quality.
Be aware that the site can be stingy with alternative views and desciptions of items. And Ms Incognita was extremely irritated by the YOOX security requirement that you e-mail them a scanned copy of your credit card if you are a first time buyer at the site. (Ms Incognita argued with YOOX and suggested several alternatives, but to no avail. According to YOOX, the copy you send them is destroyed once the card is verified.) However, there appear to have been no adverse consequences from sending them this copy, and the spectacular bargains have gone a long way in calming Ms Incognita down.
The Big Three: Nordstrom, Saks and Neiman Marcus
All three of these major retailers have sales in progress at their stores. If there’s one nearby, you can always check what’s on offer. However, there can be definite advantages to skipping the stores and shopping instead on their websites. Often, the selection of business appropriate attire is more extensive. And if you register at each site, you’ll get advanced notice of sales and further markdowns during the sales. This can make a world of difference. That Armani or Theory jacket might be too pricy for you at the beginning of the sale season, but if a further markdown is taken, it may suddenly become affordable. It’s pretty cool to be able to scoop it up before anyone else does, all without leaving your office or home.
Most of the time, shipping is free from these retailers, so long as you enter the correct promotion code when you’re checking out. The sites usually make this easy for you by printing the promotion code at the top of each page.
Ralph Lauren
What’s not to love above this brand? The designs so often achieve that balance between stylish flair and retro that works so well in the professional world. You can now find a great selection of discounted jackets, dresses, slacks and other professional attire at www.ralphlauren.com. Remember the Blue Label Heidi jacket Ms Incognita cited in the blog post entitled Spring 2010 Trend: Khaki and Utilitarian? That same jacket, as well as many others, is now on sale at the site.
Dara Lamb
Dara is a designer of beautiful custom-made clothing, and her showroom is located at 37 W. 57th Street in NYC. Custom clothing can often be a very expensive option, but the fit and quality is fantastic, you have the freedom to get exactly what you want, and if you chose classic pieces, they will be worn and treasured forever. If you are an executive at the very top of a large organization (or aspiring to be) or find it difficult to get a good fit with off-the-rack clothing, you will definitely want to consider adding custom pieces to your wardrobe.
Ms Incognita will write more about Dara and things to consider when working with a custom designer in a later post. However, for the purpose of this article, the important thing to know is that Dara is now having a sale on custom couture at incredible discounts to make room in her showroom for the incoming fall line.
You can check out Dara’s site at www.daralamb.com for general information on her and her clothes. If you’d like more information on the sale, just send a request to msincognita@executivechic.com and I’ll forward you the sale notice. If you do visit Dara, please mention that Ms. Incognita recommended her. We’ve had many conversations about professional attire for women, and she’ll get a kick out of the connection. Please note I don’t get a commission or discount for recommending her. I learned about Dara from a very good friend who also happens to be a CEO, and just want to pass on the favor!
Internet shopping or going to the store?
For Ms. Incognita, this is a no-brainer. Internet shopping is the savior of the busy professional woman. Don’t get me wrong—there can be some advantages to shopping in-person, the biggest of which is the ability to try something on. But there are also some major disadvantages during sale season. The legions of crammed sale racks can be overwhelming, the ladies of leisure generally have gotten to the good stuff before we can find the time to get to the store, and the pressure to get in and out can lead you, like Ms Incognita, to make some spectacularly bad decisions.
On the other hand, when you shop on the Internet you can do it stress-free in your bathrobe at 10:00 at night (which regrettably is often the only free time an executive woman has). You also enjoy (a) priority over other purchasers if you have signed up for advance notice of sales, (b) special Internet only discounts (again if you have registered at the site), (c) a larger selection than is available at the stores, (d) the space to consider whether you really want an item without pressure from a sales person, and (d) a faster total shopping experience.
Of course, there are some challenges to shopping mainly on the Internet. However, Ms Incognita has the following tips to minimize hassles:
- Start keeping a written record of your size in particular designers. This can vary from designer to designer so it’s helpful to keep track.
- If you are wavering between two sizes, order two. The minimal cost of returning the item that doesn’t fit is more than outweighed by the efficiency in achieving certainty. Remember—you’re ordering through the Internet to save time. You don’t want to drag out the experience by having to re-order something if the size is wrong.
- Keep a supply of strong reinforced packing tape on hand. Most internet retailers make returns easy by including preprinted and prepaid UPS or US Post Office return labels in the original package or by allowing you to print out these labels from their sites. However, you will have to tape up the package yourself, and that tape may need to be strong if the package is slightly beaten up.
Here’s hoping you have a fun, fast, and totally successful shopping experience during this sale season. Be sure to let us know if you see any other great sales of business appropriate attire out there, and if you score any particularly incredible deals, feel free to brag!
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