My Stylish Week in Review!

1. First I stopped by the Zara sale going on right now in stores & online. Available sizes are limited, but there are HUGE savings to be found. Be sure to check it out! They had some lovely dresses for $50 and shoes for $30.
2. Next, I had a delightful lunch with a Central Park view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art Members' Dining Room. You too can become a member of the Museum for as low as $70! That's free admission to The Met for a year, access to the Members' Dining Room, & more. Sorry, Blair, but who has lunch on the *steps* of The Met? ;)
3. I caught the NYC red carpet premiere of "The Way Way Back" near Lincoln Center. It's a funny, whimsical coming-of-age story about a delightfully awkward young man and the friends he makes during a summer vacation. It's loaded with stars like: Steve Carell (snapped my obligatory blurry pic), Sam Rockwell, Allison Janney, Maya Rudolph, Amanda Peet, & AnnaSophia Robb. It's written by the Oscar-winning writers of "The Descendants".  I highly recommend it as a great summer flick to see with friends or family. You too can get passes to advanced screenings and premieres like this in NYC for FREE by signing up for Gofobo.
  4. I had a lovely evening sipping cocktails and checking out the latest arrivals at London Times's Savvy Summer Cocktail Party at Goldbar. You can hear more about it in my previous post.
5. Finally, I ended the week with a special screening of "A Birder's Guide to Everything", a Tribeca Film Festival 2013 audience favorite. The screening supported the Wild Bird Fund and ended with a Q&A with the film's hilarious Writer/Director, Rob Meyer. I'm spreading the love for this delightfully quirky film so that it will get picked up by every theater in America!!! The screenplay was both funny and witty and the cinematography was beautiful! I really loved all of the kids' performances, and of course Ben Kingsley too! Join their Facebook page for updates on future screenings.

Have a fantastic weekend!

Style: Have a #SavvySummer with London Times!

Tonight I had the pleasure of attending London Times's "A Savvy Summer" cocktail party at Goldbar. It was a really elegant event full of delicious cocktails, gorgeous dresses, and some lovely ladies at one of my fave venues in NYC! 
Sending a special shout-out to familiar faces like Jackie from Living After Midnite and new ones like Sam from La Petite Pear, Divina from Dancing Hotdogs, Scherrie from Thirty Mommy, and Lisa from Mom a la Mode. Be sure to check out their blogs too!

If you haven't already heard of London Times, they're an online dress retailer with really diverse appeal. They have nailed the "day to night" look with peplums, maxis, and sheaths you can dress up or dress down. All of the looks are fabulous on women of every shape and size. Note: They offer regular sizes 4-16 and plus sizes 14w-22w!
Best of all? They are PERFECT for the wallet-conscious fashionista. Their dresses range from $68-108, with most well under $100! They're a great option for work attire, weddings, and lots more.
Here are a few of my faves:

Check out their "Savvy Summer" campaign featuring some of my favorite bloggers and enter to win $1,000! 
Just click HERE.

Style: Wishlist Wednesday ~ Sea Creatures

{Patchwork iPhone 5 Case} // Vineyard Vines $38.00 {Maybe I'm A Mermaid Tee} // Billabong via Swell $24.00 {Sea Jewels Crab Stretch Bracelet} // Betsey Johnson $55.00 {Turtle & Seashell Stud Earring Set} // Lauren Conrad for Kohl's $8.99

Everything pictured is under $60! I'd like to be under the sea! :)

Style: 25% OFF @ J.Crew Ends Today!

Today's the last day to take advantage of one of J.Crew's best sales! They're currently offering 25% OFF everything (including sale) in stores and online! This deal ends at 11:59pm ET tonight. Enter code "NEWSTYLE" at checkout. 
Here's my pick of the sale:

Treat yourself!

Style: A Report From the J.Crew Sample Sale

Today's the second-to-last day of the J.Crew Sample Sale in NYC. It's open until 9pm tonight and is open tomorrow (Sunday) for its final day from Noon-5pm. I stopped by this afternoon to see what great bargains might be left after the mad-house opening of the sale on Tuesday. To my surprise, the clothing selection and overall prices weren't especially great. 

The Men's section was much smaller than expected - just some khakis and a number of casual shirts and sweaters I'd describe more as "Brooklyn hipster" than "Uptown preppy". The women's clothing for the most part was pretty plain - lots of solid color cotton blend pants and tees. There were quite a lot of damaged items (see light blue pants below) and the few notable "dressier" items still had price tags of $150-$300. It's important to note that some items were marked at higher prices than their current sale prices in J.Crew retail stores - be careful! The gilded dot brocade cafe capri pants below were marked $179 and are currently $109.99 in stores & online plus 25% off! The jewelry was pretty well picked over as well, with fairly plain pieces selling for as high as $35-65.

By far, the best deals to be found were in the shoe department. Heels ran on average $100-$150 (still not cheap, but high quality & lovely styles). Solid color and cap toe plain leather ballet flats were $65 and more elaborate ballet flats were $80-90. J.Crew Factory bow flats and some other casual styles were around $65 too. The most styles were available in sizes 7 and 7.5. However, there was a decent selection in all sizes. I took home a pair of pink & navy cap toe ballet flats for $65. Although I liked a number of other styles, I really felt that those were the only true bargain for what I needed. They retail for about twice that price.

Tomorrow could bring some price cuts. So, it's definitely a sale worth checking out if you'd like to build up your dressy shoe collection! There was practically no line today so it's was pretty hassle-free shopping. Here's the current price list they had posted:

The retail sale going on in stores and online right now (25% OFF everything, including sale) seems to be almost as good a deal for some things. So, depending on what you want, that might be the better option for you.
Happy Shopping!

Happy National Wear Your Lilly Day! Link-up Your Lilly Pulitzer Outfit!

Happy (official) first day of Summer!!! Today also happens to be National Wear Your Lilly Day! Appropriate? I think so! Today's all about showing off your bright summer wardrobe. There are my two favorite day and night Lilly looks right now. I'd love to see yours too! Just link-up below!

Ocean Blue Atlantis Pants: Lilly Pulitzer (old, via Greene Street Consignment),  Top: Ravi Khosla via TJ Maxx, Clutch: Tory Burch (old),  "Lilly Loves NY" Bangle: Lilly Pulitzer (old),  Necklace: Betsey Johnson via JC Penney, Shoes: Reaction Kenneth Cole via TJ Maxx

Dress: Lilly Pulitzer (via Lilly Pulitzer Warehouse Sale 2013), Seahorse Earrings: Lauren Conrad for Kohl's, Coral Necklace: Kenneth Jay Lane, Clutch: Tory Burch (old), Shoes: Reaction Kenneth Cole via TJ Maxx
~~~~~
Share your Lilly Pulitzer outfit of the day below.  It's super easy - just submit the URL for:  a blog post, online photo (Facebook, Flickr, etc.),  or Instagram / Twitter post!

Spread the Lilly love!

Style: Amrita Singh Online Warehouse Sale

One of my absolute favorite jewelry designers, Amrita Singh, is having a special sale to clean out her excess warehouse stock. During this event, you'll get an EXTRA 60% OFF all styles in the bargain section (which includes a lot of best sellers!). Discount is taken at checkout with the code "CLEAN2013". This reduces a lot of very popular styles to under $20 each!!! Going to a summer wedding? These accessories will make any dress in your closet shine!

My earrings: East Lake Summer Earrings in Fuchsia/Turquoise.

These are lower prices than anything you'll find on sites like HauteLook or RueLaLa. The only other place I've found Amrita Singh for this cheap is T.J. Maxx and that's on rare occasion and pretty hit or miss. So, you won't want to miss this sale! It ends on 6/25/13. Here are a few of my favorite pieces from the sale:

My Sale Edit ~ Necklaces:

My Sale Edit ~ Earrings:

My Sale Edit ~ Rings & Accessories:

Elegant & exotic - gotta love Amrita!

Style: Wishlist Wednesday ~ Full Sail Ahead!

{Ratti Regatta Shorts} | J.Crew $98.00 {Sailboat iPhone 5 Cover} | Fubish $25.00 {Men's Sailboat Dopp Kit} | Furbish $29.00 {Enamel Sailboat Earrings} | Fornash $25.00 {Sweater with Embroidered Boats} | ASOS $37.33 {Embroidered Sailboat Paper Clips} | Anthropologie $9.95

Everything pictured is under $100. Set sail for great adventures!

Style: J.Crew Edie Purse Giveaway!

J.Crew Edie Purse Giveaway!

Today, I'm giving you the chance to win this gorgeous Edie Purse from J.Crew (MSRP: $238)! All you have to do is enter via the form below using your e-mail address or Facebook account. No other fields are mandatory, BUT - the more fields you complete, the more entries you'll receive! Who doesn't love this classic ladylike style? Hurry! You've only got 1 DAY to enter this time!

Fingers & toes are crossed for you!

Style: Celebrate Flag Day with C.Wonder Sales!

Happy Flag Day, everyone!
C.Wonder is currently offering TWO fantastic sales. Until 6/17 you can get 25% OFF of all clothing, bags, and shoes. The discount is automatically applied at checkout. You can also get an extra 50% OFF all items in their sale section with the code "SALE50". If you use ebates.com, you'll also receive an additional 5% cash back on everything. Get patriotic with primary colors!

Clothing:

Accessories & Home Decor:

Three cheers for the red, white, and blue!

Events: A Report From Shecky's Girls Night Out

Over the past few years I had seen several advertisements for Shecky's Girls Night Out. A few times each year Shecky's hosts ticketed nights in different cities throughout the USA in which they host fashion & beauty vendors (small boutiques as I understood), serve cocktails, offer mini-makeovers, and give out their infamous goody bags. I had always planned to go to one at some point because they sounded and looked so fantastic in their marketing materials. So, when a complimentary ticket offer came up on Goldstar this month, I decided to finally give it a shot.

Photo Source: Goldstar

Wait time: The event lasted from 4:30-9:30pm on Thursday. I went just a little before 5 and left about 30 minutes later. There was no line when I arrived. When I left, a line had formed to get into the venue. While I was at the event, there were no lines for any booths. It only takes about 30 minutes to circle the room several times and pick up all the samples you'd like.
Location: This year's venue is all the way over on W. 37th Street between 10th & 11th Avenues. If you plan to take the subway to get there, you will definitely have quite a bit of a hike from any of the closest stations. If you're coming from the east, some nearby areas aren't that great. Not all streets are through streets because of the Lincoln Tunnel. You may also have to walk through the 37th Street NJ Transit bus parking lot on your way. Keep that in mind if you go alone and it's getting dark.
Retail Booths: I was thoroughly disappointed with the quality of the products that were on sale. Luckily, I had read all the Yelp reviews the night before so I tried not to go in with high expectations. However, an event that is advertised so well seems like it would be a great venue for booths by smaller-but-quality retailers like Three Jane, GiGi New York, or Fibi & Clo...or at least independent sales representatives from companies like Stella & Dot, Chloe + Isabel, or Avon. However, the majority of the products were of the quality I would see at a flea market or being sold on the sidewalk in New York (and often at much higher prices) or possibly on an infomercial. There were a few exceptions but only a very few. My favorite was the Tracy Chambers Vintage clothing booth pictured below. At that vendor, dresses averaged around just $40 and seemed to be the highest quality products at the entire event! I heard a number of other guests commenting on how they weren't going to buy anything because it was all too "chintzy" or "cheap looking". Judging from what I've heard about past years, I think the crowd has become less upscale because a lot of people know by now that the quality of the events has gone downhill. Note: many of the booths were cash-only.

Cocktails: If this is what you're looking for, this is the one element of the event that's exactly as advertised. There were three different booths to get free drinks and none of them had lines. There was: 1) Sweet n' Low booth making a diet fruity cocktail that was delicious, 2) Parrot Bay booth serving pre-mixed frozen drinks like daiquiris and piña coladas or peach bellini Smirnoff Ices, and 3) Blush wines. As far as I could tell, there was no limit on drinks. So, if you just look at this event as a "happy hour" with your friends, you're set. Note: there were a few food options at the event, alcohol infused cupcakes and casserole dishes heating on hot plates. However, you had to pay extra for any of that.

Goody Bags: First of all, they DON'T come in those reusable Shecky's branded bags you see in ALL the photos. They come in a flimsy 99 cent store throw-away pink clear plastic gift bag. The contents include: 

• Tampax/Always sample size packages of products (3)
• Paperback romance novels, "Waking Up Married" by Mira Lyn Kelly & "Tempted" by Megan Hart (2)
• Honest brand organic juice (1)
• Shampoo & conditioner samples from Salma Hayek's line Nuance (2, 2 fl. oz. each)
• Small packets of Sweet n' Low (2)
• Travel size Dickinson's Witch Hazel pore perfecting toner
• 1ColorProof's CrazySmooth extreme shine hair treatment oil (1, 10mL sample size)
• GoMacro Granola + Coconut Macrobar (1, .9 oz.)
• Miss Jessie's Jelly Soft Curls (1, 1 fl. oz.) 
• A bunch of paper advertising

Any extra items you see in my photos were things I picked up from the different booths. Overall, the bag had a minute retail value, especially if you aren't interested in the romance novels and don't have curly hair. There's nothing particularly high-end or indulgent about it. They were worse than even the bad Yelp reviews had described and photos of bags from years past had a lot more product in them and were given out in attractive re-usable bags.

Mini Makeovers: These were virtually non-existent. There were two small tables set up with people offering to straighten or curl your hair with flatirons. At least one of them was trying to sell you the flatiron at the same time. There were no make-up artists or anything like that.
Speakers: I didn't stay for any of the guest lectures. However, there were about 5 throughout the night. I recognized one of the speakers' names, Laurie Davis the "eflirt expert", from having met her at the HowAboutWe launch party a few years ago. I hadn't heard of any of the other speakers before.
My Verdict: If you just want a cheap happy hour or get a free ticket, it could be worth 30 minutes of your time. Personally, if the quality of the vendors and goody bags don't improve, I probably won't go again. I would never pay full price for a ticket. Every single one of the Yelp reviews seem to agree with me on these points.

Style: ModCloth NYC Pop-Up Shop Tomorrow!

You're invited to...

Elegance for All

A ModCloth Pop-up Shop

featuring clothes for women of ALL sizes!

Curvy fashionistas rejoice - ModCloth will be introducing their new Plus Size collection at this event! (Regular sizes will also be available.)

What to expect:

• Darling clothing & accessories available in all sizes
• Fun DIY activities
• A $100 gift card contest
• In-person style advice from the ModStylists
• Free ModCloth tote with each purchase

Location05

Friday, June 14th, 2013 | 6-8pm

509 W. 34th Street (10th/11th Ave), 2nd Floor

New York, NY 10001

Credit cards only.

Kindly RSVP at: http://eleganceforall.eventbrite.com/

If you're not already familiar with ModCloth, it's a great online store that offers flirty vintage-inspired fashion at wallet-friendly prices. Check out some of their great designs as modeled by a lovely blogger I met this year, Sarah Hartley of StoryGirlSarah. She was the winner of ModCloth's Year of Dresses Contest!
Here are a few of my fave items at ModCloth:
Regular Sizes:

Plus Sizes:

Get your Betty Draper on!

Style: Wishlist Wednesday ~ Haute Off The Runway

{Beaded Messenger Bag} // Zara $89.90 {Stone Shield Collar} // Topshop $50.00 {Mini Moon and Star Earrings} // Topshop $12.00 {Homies White & Gold Tee} // Reason Clothing $28.00 {Mattie Lucite Wedge Sandal} // Calvin Klein via 6pm $66.99
Everything pictured is under $90! Who doesn't love looking chic on the cheap?

Style: Report on the Tory Burch Sample Sale

Original Photo Credit: Huffington Post

Clothingline is hosting a Tory Burch Sample Sale this week. It started yesterday (Monday) afternoon with a surprise opening one day earlier than originally announced. The sale will continue through this Saturday. It's open every day from 11am-7pm except Saturday when it will close at 5pm. Clothingline is located at 261 W. 36th Street (close to 8th Avenue). All the details you need are posted HERE.

I went today and barely made it into the sale! I arrived right after work (shortly before 6pm). I waited in line for about 30 minutes and then they started handing out red tickets. If you didn't get one, they sent you home. Luckily, I was one of the last 10 or so to receive one! I still had to wait about another 30 minutes in the line (~6o minutes wait time total). I heard that earlier in the day (around lunchtime) the line was about 2 hours long! So, I guess I should be thankful :) 

If you do aim to arrive later in the day, keep this in mind: 1) they close down the shoe case earlier than everything else so you might miss out on shoes, 2) they close the changing room promptly at 7. They did keep the sale open until around 7:30pm for the last people in line.

There was a particularly large number of items in size 10. However, there were plenty of items in sizes 2-14 (at least, probably some smaller too) as well. There were not many tunics/kaftans and not a large variety of pants either. It was mostly dresses, tees, blouses, and skirts. Lots of people were also there to just pick up shoes or bags. 
Here's the price breakdown:

• Tees & Polo's: Regular $65, Embellished $75
• Sleeveless/Short Sleeve Tops & All Bottoms: $85
• Cardigans, Tunics, & Long-sleeve Blouses: $95
• Sweaters $125
• Dresses/Kaftans: $150
• Blazers & Sequin Items: $195
• Outerwear: $225
• Leather & Suede: $250
• Shoes: $75-$150
• Handbags: $95-$295

You can pay with cash or credit card. Sales are not final! You can exchange merchandise other than handbags and shoes later on during the same sample sale. All shoe and handbag purchases ARE final.

My verdict: It was a pretty stressful experience getting in and not too many "signature" Tory Burch items. The prices weren't overly low either. I really loved the design of a few items like the highly sought-after black flower sweater above (I jumped for joy when I saw the last one). Unfortunately, in person it was too sheer like a few other items, made from a lower quality material than I'd expect, and just didn't seem worth the $120 :( As far as handbags are concerned, the cheapest $150 & $175 were made of canvas and nylon respectively. You definitely had to pay almost $200 for the cheapest leather one. Next time I might save the time/energy for a trip to the Tory Burch outlet at Woodbury Common. It is of note, I had about the same amount of mixed feelings about the stock last year. Pro Tip: Bring a good book to read in line & don't bring big bags/accessories because you'll have to check them inside!
My pick - best quality, value, and classically Tory:

I survived - still mad for Tory!