Woodbury Common outlet trip (lots of Jimmy Choo pics!) and secondhand treasures :)

Last week I spent the day checking out second-hand stores in the City. I hit at least a half-dozen locations but as always, I only found a couple good pieces at Crossroad Trading. After years of thrifting I'd like to think of myself as a pretty good editor. But every so often I make a mistake.

I scored this Rachel Coney red silk crop-top for $20 (retail about $300). I love this piece but when I got home I realized I don't have any summer skirts to match LOL. All my skirts are pretty wintery. No worries, I know I'll figure something out.

However, I broke my cardinal rule of thrifting when I took home this Stella McCartney dress. NEVER buy something just for the label. In the moment (despite my friend warning me) I got caught up in the excitement of finding a $1000 dress for $30. It's a size 42 (which is a 6-8) and it's completely wrong for me. It's a boxy shape and it's just too big. I tried belting it but it just looked like a blob with a belt in the middle. But it was Stella. And it has pockets. Did I mention the cute bows at the shoulders?

I wore it to Woodbury Common the next day, not realizing how bad it was...

After taking photos I realized it wasn't as good as it was in my head. In my head it was a cute easy dress that I could just throw on. Cut a hole in a black garbage bag and I could have saved myself 30 bucks. I know I'm being pretty hard on myself but I pride myself on dressing for my shape and this was just wrong. Sigh.

Look from head to toe:

• Sunglasses: Moschino, Century 21, $60 - but was free with my rewards :)
• Dress: Stella McCartney, Crossroads Trading, $30
• Bracelet: House of Harlow cuff, Rocksbox - first month free with code SHOPPINGGALXOXO
• Bag: Balenciaga, Nordstrom Rack, about $300 after I used some Nordstrom Notes
• Shoes: Franco Sarto sandals, Nordstrom Rack, $.01

Shoefie of my penny sandals and Bal :)

As for Woodbury, no great deals to be found right now. At least not for me because I'm super cheap. I only popped into a handful of stores as my time was limited because I went with my husband and kids. 

I thought it was funny that out of all the stores in the entire outlet center, Tory Burch had a line to get in LOL. I didn't even bother. You know how I feel about Tory :)

I stopped in Valentino, Balenciaga, Saks, Neiman Marcus, and Barneys...and nada. Here is Ella fooling around in front of the Valentino store in her head to toe thrifted look - everything was about $5 total :)

I popped into Jimmy Choo to compare pricing with my sample sale scores. It's a lovely store, chock full of eye candy. Little miss Ella wanted to share her picks. She loved the tassel on this black patent clutch.

And she kept picking up colorful pieces from the Rob Pruitt collab - this sprinkly Cayla clutch was hands down her favorite piece in the store.

Then I spotted my new Jimmy Choo tote :) I knew it was an expensive bag but I had no idea just how much when I got it at the sample sale. I feel really good about spending $250 (instead of $1,829 or $3,050). Can't wait for Fall...

I've been on the fence about keeping my $250 gold python tote (yes, I got two of these totes) but when I saw the bronze with a $2,639/$4,395 price tag I decided to hold on to it for a little longer. 

I still can't believe nobody wanted the purple large hobo that I had in my blog sale - here it is in blue for $989 (retail $1,650). My purple is still available - you can see pics here. Last call before eBay!

Remember my $75 studded wallet? It's currently $499 (retail $825) at the outlet! 

A friend of mine wanted to get her SIL Jimmy Choo bridal shoes so I took a pic of their displays. Here you go, V. 

Before I forget, your first stop at Woodbury should be the visitors center where you can pick up this VIP coupon book for free if you have a AAA membership. I was also informed it's free for VIP members - and it's free to join :)

So bottom line, skip Woodbury for now. I'll have to check back (sans kids) another day to do a little more "research." 

Hope you had a great weekend! Mine was jam packed and I have TONS to share with you this week. Stay tuned :)

XOXO

-Shoppinggal

Yosca sample sale haul and City finds :)

We have a winner! Congrats Nancy S. on winning my first giveaway. I'll have your package in the mail tomorrow :)

After living in Manhattan for 14 years, it's been an adjustment moving to the burbs. NJ isn't that bad (I'm right over the bridge and can be in NYC in minutes) but several times a month I need a "fix" and head into the City. I've been going to Gerard Yosca's sample sale for YEARS and have followed him to several showrooms. I got married about 12 years ago and wore Yosca earrings and hairpins at my wedding - it's gotta be 15-16 years now that I've been a Yosca fan.

I got in a little early so I popped into H&M by 34th and 7th. Another reason to leave the suburbs to shop. H&M has much better stuff in the City! I find an occasional collection piece on markdown by me (I did score a $350 top marked down to $30 yesterday locally) but they had racks and racks of the good stuff on sale! If I had more time I probably should have headed to 5th too.

Here are a few silhouettes that caught my eye and I'll be patiently waiting for them on the sale racks :)

I grabbed a few things and headed to the dressing room. When I saw this dress I fell in love. It's so romantic and the shape is very flattering. Thing is, it's completely sheer. I asked the dressing room attendant if it was missing the lining and she said this was how it came. When I asked her how to style it, she said to wear it sheer as a swim cover or with a slip. So now I need a black slip...

ETA - decided to return it. I tried several dresses under and nothing worked :(

I was in such a rush to get to the sample sale that I ran out of the dressing room with my dress inside out. Luckily I figured it out at the checkout and ran back to the fitting room to fix it. A couple people said "I was going to tell you" yet NOBODY did. Thanks people.

I got to Yosca a few minutes early and was there just in time as they opened the door. I checked my bag, grabbed a tray and got started.

My shopping strategy is to load up on past season stuff which is a fraction of the current lines. Then I grab inexpensive pieces for gifts from their lines for stores like Banana Republic. I gave myself a budget of $100 and filled up a tray.

Here are my finds:

Everything in this picture cost $3! I got a few duplicates for gifts :)

These are my silver pieces. I tend to buy 90% gold but I always look for silver for a little diversity. Bracelets were $8 each and necklace was $5.

Mod shot of bracelets stacked

These are my gold chains - plain was $5 and $10 for pearls.





And last but not least, these were my past collection earrings for $20 each. (Current season earrings run for $75-40.) I'm sure you've noticed that I chose a lot of green this time. Had I realized while I was editing I probably would have skipped the ones on the top right, especially because they remind me of my Argento Vivo earrings I just got at TJ Maxx.

There were women grabbing up his collection pieces for $100-$150 left and right. I used to select a special piece and then a few cheap ones but I have so much (I should probably show you guys my jewelry collection one of these days...) that now I just go for the bargains :)

If you're interested the sale is still on tomorrow, 6/18 from 10-16 at 246 West 38th Street. If you have some time it's worth popping in. PLUS tomorrow the Alexis Bittar sample sale (143 W. 19th St.) begins so you can hit both.

************

After loading up on jewelry I headed back to H&M to see if I could find anything else. I didn't. I even went to the other 34th Street store and nada. Zara was next door so I peeked in but they don't have a sale right now, and I'll be back when they do :)

I started to head down to 14th Street to visit Nordstrom Rack and I passed by the Rebecca Taylor sample sale (260 5th Ave.) I went in and out in 2 minutes. No samples, all stock for reduced prices which wasn't all that impressive.

I kept walking south and had to pop into Crossroads (24 W 26th St.) to see what they had. Honestly, I have not seen so many beautiful things there in a long time. Unfortunately their air conditioning is broken and it's a sweat house in there. I'm guessing that's why they had so many designer pieces - it's too hot to shop. After 15 minutes of shopping I headed to the dressing room because I had to stop before I passed out. I saw Chanel, Gucci, Pucci, Leger, Burberry - it was insane!

I regret not having them pull this Pucci dress (center) down for me to try on but it was too darn hot and I couldn't think straight.

I did purchase a couple black dresses. Hey, I'm a New Yorker and that's what we wear.

First is a Elizabeth and James dress that I'm guessing is a sample. No size or care tags and the sleeves were insanely long - and I have really long arms. At first I thought it was PVC but when I looked closer I realized it was leather insets. Scored this beauty for $37.50.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the back - it's pretty open. I really don't want to wear a layering shell so maybe I'll have a piece put in. When I was taking pics I noticed that the hem fell but I think I like it this way. If I do any alterations I'll shorten the sleeves as well.

I also got this Jessica Simpson dress for $9. I just noticed a belt loop so I guess it's missing a belt. For now it drapes nicely so I'll wait to loose more weight before I belt it. Last week my health conscious brother yelled at me and helped me put together a diet plan. As of Friday I've been eating clean and I increased my workouts. So far, so good. All I can say is that I've been dropping a pound a day :)

ETA - I wore it and it needed to be belted.

By the time I finally made it down to the Rack I only had 10 minutes to shop. They didn't have any designer bags on display and I didn't see any refurb shoes so after a quick stop at the dress racks and the water fountain I headed back to pick up the kids from school.

So that's all folks! A little birdie told me that Chanel at Neiman Marcus is starting their pre-sale Thursday morning. It will probably be 30% off the seasonal bags and jewelry so if you're in the market make sure you are online outside the store by 9 AM. I'm waiting for second markdown before I even hit the stores - I don't want to be tempted by what I can't afford. Plus I think I'm a little dehydrated from today and I should probably take it easy for the next couple days.

Happy shopping!
Shoppinggal