SAMPLE CIRCUIT: A Strong Fall Sale Week Featuring David Yurman, Dolce & Gabbana, Paul Andrew, Milly & More

Hey Shophounders, the sample sales are back this week. It's a something for everyone offering that ought to satisfy anyone who has got some funds burning holes in their pockets featuring some old faves and promising newcomers. Here are some highlights:

REISS LONDON is returning all week to 260SampleSale's NoMad home base on Fifth Avenue featuring a hefty 75% off their men's and women's collections —a known favorite of none other than the Duchess of Cambridge herself.

Starting on Tuesday, contemporary powerhouse MILLY will be back at Clothingline in the Garment District for four days. Look for Fall/Winter collections, but be prepared, it's sample sizes only at this one.

Also starting on Tuesday, luxe boutique THE LINE will be unloading its clearance in at 260SampleSale's Greene Street featuring deep savings on advanced designer apparel, shoes and accessories along with a selection of home merchandise. Shop through Sunday.

On Wednesday, accessory designer EDDIE BORGO will be offering savings of up to 70% off his signature jewelry and handbag collections for two days only on Elizabeth Street in NoLita

On Thursday, CFDA Award-winning shoe designer and newly anointed Women's Creative Director for Salvatore Ferragamo, PAUL ANDREW will offer a limited selection of women's footwear for two days only at his midtown showroom. Look for sample sizes, so be prepared for limited availability.

Later, head downtown for jewelry maestro DAVID YURMAN's seasonal blowout at the Altman Building in Chelsea. Look for 30% to 60% savings on a wide range of Yurman;s offerings ranging from precious jewelry to his signature gold and silver pieces to men's jewelry to eyewear and watches. It's a smorgasbord that attracts his fans in abundance, so plan carefully.

Finally, the week's biggest event will also open on Thursday at Soiffer Haskin as DOLCE & GABBANA takes over for four days through Sunday to clear out of the brand's vast product offerings for men, women and children. Look for crowds as the ever-popular mega-brand offers deep discounts on previous season collections.

Be sure to keep an eye on our SALE ROLL sidebar at left for locations and details as well as additional events and late breaking sales. Next week, Bonpoint and Soulcycle hit the racks along with much more.

SAMPLE CIRCUIT: A Major Sale Week With Phillip Lim, Dolce & Gabbana, Carven & Two Big Showroom Sales At Aeffe & Staff USA

Folks, it sneaks up on you, but this week is one of those weeks that Sample Sale shoppers wait for with clear credit cards and careful plan. There's at least one major sale every day, so here are some highlights:

Today, Tuesday the 2nd kicks things off with an always anticipated 3.1 PHILLIP LIM sale on Greene Street in SoHo featuring both the Women's and Men's collections, shoes and accessories. Shop through Sunday.

On Wednesday, the AEFFE showroom opens its doors in midtown for one of New York's longest running sample sale favorites featuring MOSCHINO, ALBERTA FERRETTI and EMANUEL UNGARO as headliners along with the manufacturer's other collections including FUZZI knitwear, PHILOSPHY by LORENZO SERAFINI, CEDRIC CHARLIER and POLLINI. Womenswear is expected to be the bulk of the offerings, but a small selection of Moschino menswear has been promised. Shop through Friday

Parisian Haute Couturier turned Contemporary powerhouse CARVEN is also taking Wednesday to kick off a three day sale in its Chelsea showroom featuring 80% savings for both Women and Men.

Wednesday's third entrant is possibly the only Project Runway designer to launch a sustained business, CHRISTIAN SIRIANO who will be offering up to 75% Off his Ready-to-Wear collection including both samples and regular stock. Shop through Sunday.

Keeping Thursday all to itself, the iconic Italian label DOLCE & GABBANA will take over Soiffer Haskin through the weekend with savings on all of its offerings for Men, Women and Children. Expect lines and crowds, but you may want to save some money for the next day when . . .

The Staff USA showroom in Chelsea will open to the public through the weekend for its long-running seasonal sample extravaganza. DSQUARED2, MARNI, MAISON MARGIELA and MM➅ will form the bulk of the offerings, and as experienced shoppers know, this is another one requiring an early arrival to catch the best stuff.

There's more on our SALE ROLL side bar at left including late breaking events and all hours and locations. Next week, get ready for Rebecca Minkoff, Sandro, Sferra and more.

SAMPLE CIRCUIT: A Mid-Winter Sale Surge With Dolce & Gabbana, Rodarte, DKNY, Bespoken & More

The dead of winter is typically the off-season for sample sale, but this week is showing some exciting signs of life for scavenging shoppers out there.

First off, DKNY is kicking off its sale at a new venue, Clothingline in the Garment District, today. Through Friday, the Fall and Resort 2015 collections for women will be discounted up to 75% Off. This includes the last seasons of the brand before the guys from Public School took over creative direction for the label, so it;s the last chance for fans of the label's recent past who should be flocking there to stock up.

Also today, the burgeoning men's brand BONOBOS will be offering up to 70% off sportswear, accessories and its famously well tailored men's trousers at 260 Fifth Avenue through the weekend.

Fans of more adventurous ready to wear will have marked their calendars for Wednesday when RODARTE holds one of its rare sample sales for one day only. Pricing can vary wildly at these events, and no details have been publicly released, so prospective shoppers have been urged to email the company at [email protected] for times and location and the opportunity to get on the admission list.

Another up-and-coming men's label BESPOKEN will also be holding its seasonal sample sale starting on Wednesday for three days in its well appointed showroom atop the Turnbull & Asser townhouse on East 57th Street. Look for up to 80% Off classic-based menswear with clever modern and high-tech twists.
See a selection of items expected at the sale after the jump

This week's wild card comes form the Chelsea boutique STORY, which famously changes its theme every season with new merchandise and partnerships with vendors. If you are wondering what's leftover after the big switch, then you can find out on Thursday when it will be sold off starting at 50% off. Expect to find everything from men's women's and children's clothing to books, accessories, home items and all sorts of other gifts.

One more in the series of THEORY sample sales that we have come to expect also arrives on Thursday. This time it's for men only —in a week that is shaping up to be a good one for bargain hunting guys. Running through Sunday at Chelsea Market, this sale is promising savings starting at 60% Off retail prices on the label's men's collections.

New York's most promising shoe designer PAUL ANDREW is also starting his seasonal sale on Thursday at his showroom on West 58th Street not far from Bergdorf's. He won last year's CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund competition, and his following is growing fast. His shoes are pricey, but the last sale reportedly had deep discounts starting at $50 for some styles going up to about $225. We can't promise that the prices will be the same, but it's worth a visit for shoe mavens.

Finally, the big event this week is the DOLCE & GABBANA sample sale starting on Thursday for 4 days at Soiffer-Haskin on West 33rd Street. As far as we can tell, this is the first time that the Italian mega-brand has held its sale at the location of choice for major luxury labels. Look for a very well-organized sale featuring all of their collections for men, women and children including clothing, accessories, shoes and handbags (pictured above).

Be user to check our SALE ROLL sidebar at left for all details including locations, hours and any late-breaking sale news. 

TODAY IN BONEHEADS: In Which Dolce & Gabbana Act Like Idiots & What Will Longtime Supporter Madonna Say About It?

Some people do not know when to shut the hell up.
If you are familiar with hashtags, you may have noticed that the latest one making the rounds in #BoycottDolceGabbana. Yes, the renowned Italian design duo Dolce & Gabbana have put their collective foot in their collective mouth in an interview released last week with an weekly Italian magazine called Panorama where they declared that, as a couple, they are against gay adoptions. Quotes abounded over the weekend, among them:

"No chemical offsprings and rented uterus: life has a natural flow, there are things that should not be changed."

Procreation “must be an act of love,”

and that children born though any method other than good old sex are “children of chemistry, synthetic children. Wombs for rent, semen chosen from a catalog.”

So far, a translation of the entire article has been tough to track down, but at this point, the damage has been done. Leading the swift response is, not surprisingly, Elton John who, with his husband, has two children conceived through IVF and launched the hashtag while declaring that he would not wear another stitch of Dolce & Gabbana clothing. Naturally, a barrage of celebrities followed, and before the weekend was over, the designers were on the backtrack trail with little success. On Sunday, the designers released a statement claiming that "it was never our intention to judge other people's choices. We do believe in freedom and love," without actually apologizing for the insults.
Of course, it's hard not to glean a judgmental tone from the initial statements which echo a similar sentiment expressed by the designers in the pre-Twitter days of 2006 where they again expressed antipathy toward non-traditional families. It looks like the designers will be on Gay Twitter's shit-list for quite some time to come, but the question among many retailers who have devoted a great deal of floor space to the label is just how big this controversy will go and whether or not it will evolve into a John Galliano-level damaging scandal? Considering that the designers have a huge celebrity following including endorsement deals with Scarlett Johansson, Matthew McConaughey and Colin Farrell for fragrances and cosmetics, it is hard to imagine that an actress wouldn't think twice about wearing Dolce & Gabbana to a high profile event in the coming weeks.
While modern boycotts of massive businesses like Chik-fil-A and Target for proclaimed and perceived anti-gay bias have not really had much material effect on the companies, Dolce & Gabbana have a much smaller and more specialized business where it can be presumed that the designers have not just insulted many of their customers, but probably a good portion of their employees at many levels of their organization, not to mention buyers and members of the fashion press whose favor it is important that the designers maintain. Joining Elton John in admonishing the designers is a cavalcade of celebrities including Victoria Beckham, Ricky Martin, Courtney Love, Ryan Murphy and Martina Navratilova just to name a few, but notably still silent at this point is Madonna, whose early support in the 1990s gave a crucial boost to the designers when they were still a little known label globally. She has continued to wear their clothes over the years and starred in their advertising campaign in 2010 (pictured below). The designers' comments fly in the face of Madonna's longtime support of gay rights, and though the singer is currently appearing in ads for Elton John's pal Donatella Versace, it is hard to imagine her remaining silent about this, especially as she is in the middle of a heavy promotional schedule for her latest album and upcoming tour. It's hard to imagine the controversy ending before Madonna weighs in in some way, so, we're waiting , Madge.

FLAGSHIP FLASH: Dolce & Gabbana Returning To SoHo

About two and a half years ago, Dolce & Gabbana shuttered the big D&G boutique on West Broadway as the secondary collection was folded back into the main line. They left with promises of a new boutique for the neighborhood that would be different from from any other Dolce & Gabbana boutique anywhere, and then we never heard another word about it —until now. Our friends at Racked are reporting that the designer duo has signed a lease for 15,000 square feet over four floors in a former firehouse at 155 Mercer Street (pictured below) between Prince and Houston Streets. Placed between boutiques for Zadig & Voltaire on one side and Marni on the other, the upcoming store will join what is probably SoHo's most designer laden single block that also includes twin Balenciaga boutiques, Versace, Marc Jacobs, Vera Wang and the back side of Prada. So far, the only word is from landlord Thor Equities, so there's no official word from the designers when the shop is expected of open, or even that it is happening at all, yet. Keep an eye out for this one. We would conservatively estimate a Fall '16 opening given the incredibly long time it can take to convert the aged buildings that make up SoHo's streetscapes, but maybe they will surprise us with an earlier opening.

Dolce & Gabbana Is Opening a Shopping Empire in Soho (Racked)

LEGAL BRIEFS: Dolce & Gabbana Will Not Go To Jail

Fashion watchers can lay off the Designer Schadenfreude for the moment. Italy's highest court has declared that the designing duo Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana are not guilty of tax evasion. This overturns two lower courts' verdicts and logically should be the end of the appeals process for the designers (although the Italian justice system does operate differently from what we are familiar with in the U.S., so who knows if this closes the case or not?).
Anyone who was picturing the two behind bars in impeccably styled prison wear will have to wait for the next high profile tax evasion case which shouldn't be too far off. Italy's post-Silvio Berlusconi prime minister, Matteo Renzi has pledged to clean up rampant tax corruption. He is obviously not afraid of going after wealthy and famous figures like movie stars and fashion designers, so expect more of these court cases as long as he is in office.

Dolce, Gabbana Found Innocent (WWD)

JUNIOR STYLE: Dolce & Gabbana Expands Across Madison Avenue —For Kids?

Dolce & Gabbana has had an odd history on Madison Avenue over the past 10 years or so. First they had a sizable boutique there. Then they renovated it and expanded into the building next door, and then de-expanded back down after opening an immense brand palace on Madison Avenue last year. Now Italian design duo are on a growth trajectory again by taking over what appears to be the entire townhouse across the street at 820 Madison.

Once the home of a Baby CZ, a luxury children's boutique, and the Valery Joseph salon on the second floor, it now appears that the entire building between Jil Sander and Proenza Schouler is being taken over by the designers, and if the imagery on the plywood is any suggestion, they are planning... a huge children's store? While pricey kids clothes are no strangers to Madison Avenue, or even this particular address, two or three floors of them seems like a lot even for Dolce & Gabbana. We would have guessed that the brand might be following the lead of neighbors like Lanvin, Ralph Lauren and Bottega Veneta by opening a separate men's store, but maybe their children's lines are growing faster than we might have presumed. Details are scarce at the moment, but the sign says "Coming Soon", so maybe we won't have to wait too long to find out for sure.

LEGAL NOTES: Are Dolce & Gabbana Going To Prison?

Well, if Martha Stewart did it, perhaps Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana will survive a stint in prison. In the midst of preparing to debut their Spring 2013 Men's Collection in three days, the Italian design duo known as Dolce & Gabbana were found guilty of tax evasion in Italian court yesterday and sentenced to one year and 8 months of prison time. The case alleges that the 2004 sale of the designers' brands to a Luxembourg based holding company allowed the designers to avoid taxes, and, naturally, the designers are expected to appeal.

So what will happen to the pair who have surely grown accustomed to enjoying the palatial rewards of their great success? It's hard to imagine the pair pictured at right pacing around jail cells for 20 months. Do they have the kind of "executive" prisons for white collar crime in Italy that we have in the U.S.? Will they design collections remotely from their cells? Will we see a runway show inspired by orange jumpsuits? Do they wear those in Italy? It's worth nothing that they are in good company by having problems with Italy's tax police. Lots of Italian designers have been targeted. In fact it's something of a confirmation of Dolce & Gabbana's status that they share with Valentino, Giorgio Armani and Roberto Cavalli among others who have all tangled with the tax police with varying degrees of success, but have gotten out of serving jail time either through exoneration or heavy fines.

Of course, how this will all turn out is anyone's guess. Italian courts are notoriously slow and function in whimsical ways that defy the kind of logic that American's are accustomed to in our own justice system. Just ask Amanda Knox.

Dolce, Gabbana Found Guilty (WWD)

FLAGSHIP FANFARE: Dolce & Gabanna Fifth Avenue Is Open

Over the weekend, Dolce & Gabbana quietly joined the Fifth Avenue Brand Palace club when the label's latest flagship finally opened its doors right next door to Giorgio Armani's own splashy showplace. Though the storefront is partially obscured at the moment by some particularly large scaffolding, it is, as we expected, mostly glass allowing for tall window displays. Inside, the general ambiance is grand with the pristine white marble we saw earlier this month covering the walls in sleek slabs. If the Madison Avenue boutique (currently undergoing its own renovation —again) is intimate and residential feeling, then this location is meant to be monumental with three spacious and lavishly appointed floors which should be just enough to hold the huge amount of merchandise produced by the label. Naturally, the place is swarming with super-cordial and eagerly helpful staff,which is to be expected after such a high-profile opening. We were only able to sneak a few quick shots, but visitors will find a mélange of the designers' interior signatures like huge tufted velvet ottomans, oversized mirrors with gilded rococo frames, enormous Venetian glass chandeliers and the occasional scroll-patterned damask wall panel. Downstairs, the men's floor (pictured below) is more clublike with wood parquet floors replacing the stone and giant steamer trunk-style fixtures, articulating the brand's unmistakable mix of the classically opulent with the sleekly modern.

Dolce & Gabbana's arrival on Fifth Avenue boosts Fifth Avenue's ipmortance as a showplace for European luxury labels, which makes us wonder when more American designers (Ralph Lauren?) will step up with their own, full Fifth Avenue flagships? (and, no we aren't counting Juicy Couture)

Dolce & Gabbana 715 Fifth Avenue between 55th & 56th Streets, Midtown
Previously:
Works In Progress: A Peek Inside Dolce & Gabbana's Fifth Avenue Site

WORKS IN PROGRESS: A Peek Inside Dolce & Gabbana's Fifth Avenue Site

Perhaps to take their minds off the immense tax bill the Italian government has handed them, the designers behind Dolce & Gabbana can look forward to the lavish Fifth Avenue flagship that they will be opening sometime this year. The plywood scaffolding has come off the storefront, now restyled from its previous tenant, Escada. Though a view through the new glass façade is still mostly obscured, the contractors left the front doors open yesterday just long enough for The Shophound to get a glimpse at the construction inside. While there is still plenty of work to be done, we could make out a good bit of white marble on the floors and the walls, which suggests we should be prepared for a bright but rich and sleek interior when the boutique finally opens.