SAMPLE CIRCUIT: Comme des Garçons and Dover Street Market's Super-Market-Market Rules The Week, But Don't Miss Paul Smith, Public School & More

Were you waiting for a busy sale week?
Well, it's here. This week offers a bona fide plethora of sample sales timed just before retail stores start their first seasonal markdowns. Let's get started because even the highlights are a lot to cover.

MONDAY 5/16
Yesterday was the first day of NANCY GONZALEZ's always anticipated sale, but don't worry. The popular designer's exotic skin bags and accessories will be on sale in midtown through Wednesday, so you still have plenty of time to snag a nice little crocodile clutch or whatever strikes you.

TUESDAY 5/17
We have a big day happening on Tuesday.
Starting off we have PAUL SMITH's ever-popular seasonal sale at 260SampleSale's Greene Street location just a few steps from Smith's own flagship store in SoHo. Look for deep discounts on Men's and women's designer apparel and shoes along with books and the other collectible furnishing items that he loves to spice up his shops with. Speaking from our personal experience, we can report that it is tough to go through a Paul Smith sample sale without finding some must have item. Be prepared for eager crowds. Today's session starts at 3 PM after the VIP's do their shopping, but more regular hours will continue through Sunday.
UPDATE: The Paul Smith sale is mostly menswear with a smaller women's section. Shoes and Gift Items are downstairs and priced by colored dot. See the price lists after the jump.
260 Fifth Avenue has been give over to an unusual triple header cosmetics, fragrance and candle sale featuring TOCCA candles, STILA makeup and GHD styling tools, so it should be popular for beauty and fragrance fans through Sunday.
Heading back to SoHo, CANVAS HOME has moved its warehouse sale from its former Chelsea home to to a new venue. Look for its signature table and glass ware along with furniture and other modern home accessories through Sunday.

WEDNESDAY 5/18
It's a good day for ladies as Texas-born LELA ROSE's popular dresses and ready to wear will be up to 75% off in the garment district for three days through Friday.
For something a little sportier, head to the West Village for designer Rie Yamagata's RHIÉ contemporary collection on sale for two days only. Look for quirky dresses and sportswear at great prices including both samples and stock.
It wouldn't be a big sale week without some kind of THEORY sale. This one is at the Chelsea Market and promises 70% off the women's collection only.

THURSDAY 5/19
One of fashion's most influential designers, NORMA KAMALI has almost become almost like a best kept secret. Her sales are short but productive and shoppers have but one day, Thursday, to pick up items from all her collections past and present for a mere $50 to $100. RSVP HERE to ensure admission. 
One of the season's most reliably satisfying showroom sales kicks off Thursday at THE NEWS in SoHo. This hub for men's and women's upper contemporary collections is always worth a serious visit. Go for PUBLIC SCHOOL, TIM COPPENS or COMMON PROJECTS' coveted sneakers and stay for all sorts of other labels like Cheap Monday, Officine Generale and more. Shop through Saturday, but go early for the best selection.
Also on Thursday, jewelry designer ALEXIS BITTAR will be offering deep savings on his jewelry designs ranging from fashion pieces staring at $25 to more important pieces featuring precious metals and gemstones through Sunday

FRIDAY 5/20
One big event is scheduled for today, but it might have shoppers waiting outside all week. It's the only-once-every-few-years COMME des GARÇONS DOVER STREET MARKET SUPER-MARKET-MARKET which promises not only items from all of the myriad Comme des Garçons collections including Noir and Junya Watanabe, but also Dover Street Market collections. Whether or not this means private label only or previous season overstock from the many other designers carried by the store is still in question, but either way, this is one of the main events of the season. Be prepared for a wait, although the location at Skylight Clarkson Square in SoHo should allow for plenty of room and hopefully lots of room for everyone to shop.

SATURDAY 5/21
Finally, if you have been unable to shop all week, take advantage of Soiffer Haskin's FRETTE sale to restock you luxury bed and bath needs through next Tuesday.

That's a full week by anyone's standards, but there's more coming next week including James Perse and Roberto Cavalli's main collection along with plenty of last-minute additions. Keep an eye on our SALE ROLL sidebar on the left for times and locations as well as the inevitable late breaking sales.

ATTENTION SHOPPERS: The Comme des Garçons Mega-Sale Is Coming Back With Dover Street Market Too! + More Last Minute Sample Sales

We told you that there would likely be a few last minute sale announcements this week, and we weren't wrong. Like the private JIMMY CHOO sale that went public today at Metropolitan Pavilion (through tomorrow the 5th), Several covetable labels made their sample plans know with only days and even hours to spare, but the big exciting news comes from COMME des GARÇONS who announced that their only-once-every-few-years blowout sale is coming back in a couple of weeks on May 20th for three days at Skylight Clarkson Square, a new venue for them that should hopefully be cavernous enough to mitigate the inevitable long lines that this event has generated in the past. The "Super-Market-Market" will be offering not only every brand user the Comme des Garçons umbrella (and there are always more of those than you think), but also DOVER STREET MARKET brands as well. We're not sure if this means DSM-labeled merchandise and specialty items like their housewares, or if this will be more of a warehouse sale meant to include clearance leftover merchandise from past seasons? Maybe it's a little of both? Either way is fine with us.

But back to this week. There's plenty to fill out your shopping schedule if you weren't already booked up.
Tomorrow, Thursday the 5th, brings a one-day GIAMBATTISTA VALLI sale in West Chelsea that is promising up to 80% off the popular couturier's ready-to-wear collections. It hasn't been fully specified, but we are guessing that the sale would include both the luxurious main collection as well as the more accessible and sporty Giamba line. 

Anyone looking for more prosaic fare should look for JAMES JEANS on Greenwich Street just north of Tribeca where denim for men and women will be 50% to 80% off from Thursday to Friday.

The other longtime seasonal fave happening tomorrow through Saturday is the Staff USA sale in Chelsea featuring the DSQUARED2, MAISON MARGIELA and MM➅ collections for men and women. Bargains aplenty have been known to be found at this event in the past, but novice shoppers should be warned that it is typically heavy on sample sizes. It is a veteran crowd-pleaser, so it's one worth getting up early for.

As always, find details and locations on our SALE ROLL sidebar at left where we do our best to update any other last-minute additions that we catch wind of.

WEEKEND SHOPPING: Fivestory's Clearance Returns Downtown + Dover Street Market Transforms For Fall

The Sample Sale Season has tapered off by now, and if you haven't gotten your fill from Proenza Schouler's one day sale yesterday, then you might want to head to the Bowery Hotel sometime between today and Wednesday the 23rd for the return of FIVESTORY's Hotel Sale (pictured above). The Upper East Side's quirkiest luxury store has brought back its off-site clearance for what looks to be a seasonal event. The Shophound stopped by for a preview yesterday and found the unassuming basement space crammed with goods. A broad range of the store's exclusive range of designers was included on those tight rolling racks, but as with most such sales there wasn't more of one or maybe two of a particular style to be seen, so there is a little bit of luck in finding a great item in your size —but that's really what these things are all about. We saw notable pieces from labels like Balmain, Alexander Wang, Carven and Giambattista Valli to name a few. Spring '14 items were marked at 60% off the original retail, but the real deals were the previous season items at 80% off. There were greater size ranges for men, and many sportier items whose sale prices even fell under $100 from cult labels like Wings + Horns, White Mountaineering, Sacai and Visvim. Beautifully made leathergoods from Lotuff were standouts as well as bins full of cashmere knitwear from designers like Christophe Lemaire as well as classics from Fivestory's own label. What you may want to do first is check the shoe stacks, of which there was an abundance. Gianvito Rossi, Aperlai, Sergio Rossi were all well represented for women, and Mark McNairy New Amsterdam fans should head there immediately for the men's shoes which also offered Del Toro slippers, Ovadia & Sons classics and Maison Martin Margiela's Converse collaboration. The space is a bit cramped and can crowd up easily, but anyone hankering for just one more Summer bargain should make a point of visiting before the sale ends. Have a few looks at the sale in the gallery below.

For those of you who are sick of clearance and ready for new goods, DOVER STREET MARKET is undergoing its first tachaigari in New York. This is the Comme des Garçons-operated store's seasonal "new beginning" for the upcoming season in which a whole new look id created for the multi-level boutique. Promised changes include a redesigned 4th floor and new environments for Prada's and Nike's shops with new exclusive items throughout the store. Closed since yesterday, the store reopens on Saturday when it will introduce new collections like Hood by Air, Melitta Baumeister and J.W. Anderson's first collection for Loewe as well as a host of fresh collaborations including Sacai x Vans, Rick Owens x Adidas, Raf Simons x Adidas and the latest batch of Riccardo Tisci's Nike x R.T. sneakers. If that's not enough to entice you to Kips Bay, remember that on Saturday only, the store's popular Rose Bakery will be serving free drinks and snacks all day long, which is definitely not something that happens every day.

FIVESTORY Hotel Sale through July 23 at the Bowery Hotel, 355 Bowery, entrance on 3rd Street, East Village
Dover Street Market reopens on July 19, 160 Lexington Avenue at 3rd Street, Kips Bay. 

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COLLABORATION ANTICIPATION: Nike X Riccardo Tisci Launches Tomorrow With A SoHo Pop-Up

One of the more intriguing designer collaborations of the season hits a few select stores stores tomorrow. As far as we can tell, Nike X Riccardo Tisci will be available only at the Nike Sportswear store on Mercer Street in SoHo and Dover Street Market in New York, except for a special pop-up store at 151 Wooster Street devoted to the line that will be open through the weekend. The R.T. Air Force 1 capsule collection will be released in two batches with the white versions arriving tomorrow, and the black and brown styles set to deliver in April or May. 

Tisci spoke to The Cut about his first major design foray under his own name since joining Givenchy. “I know what it’s like to be frustrated, to not have money to buy something that you love,” he says, “The most important thing for me before we signed the contract was to sit down and say, Okay, they have to be design shoes, but they have to be reachable for everybody.” The line will range from $240 to $340 for his special boot variation on the classic Nike Air Force 1 sneaker style that Tisci has been wearing faithfully for 15 years. It is a premium price to be sure, but a bit lower than some of Nike's other collaborations, and certainly more affordable than the designer sneakers that have deluged boutiques in recent seasons. Tisci names painter Frida Kahlo as the sort of woman he would like to see wearing the collaborations, and as for celebrities still alive, he lists Björk, Courtney Love, Madonna and Rihanna, who has already worn them to the Givenchy Fall runway show earlier this month. Will there be more collaborations with Nike going forward? Tisci doesn't say no, but doesn't confirm anything either, so expect more lines tomorrow in SoHo and Murray Hill for what may be a one-off team-up that is likely to have collectors acting fast.

Q&A: Riccardo Tisci on His Nike Collaboration, Wanting to Fit in, and More (The Cut)
R.T. Air Force 1 Pop-Up store: March 21 - 23 at 151 Wooster Street between Prince & Houston Streets, SoHo
Previously:
Have A Look At Riccardo Tisci's New Nike Collaboration

 

JON CARAMANICA GOES SHOPPING: Avant-Garde Vortex Edition

Right on cue, today's Thursday Styles has the Critical Shopper take on the extravagant Comme des Garçons Dover Street Market multi-brand complex that opened last month near absolutely nothing in Murray Hill. It is the male ocunterpart Jon Caramanica who takes on this task, but gender hardly matters at the store which mixes men's and women's lines randomly throughout the store. Our shopper sees it as a Wonderland for those New Yorkers, native or not, whose aesthetic proclivities might find them disenfranchised elsewhere, represented in microcosm by the staff, which "— uniformly beautiful, uniformly friendly — suggested the population of Rei’s Ark after rescuing everyone living at fashion’s edges: chipper kids in beat-up Rick Owens next to neo-organicists in Visvim next to willowy things in Demeulemeester dresses, all huddled for warmth." Like Alice's Wonderland, however, there are pitfalls along the trails.

On the days I visited, around the recent snowstorm, the place was filled with tourists, so it’s no wonder half the floors feature what essentially boils down to a Comme des Garçons gift shop. This is the gauche shadow cutting across Dover Street: the PLAY Comme des Garçons Converse sneakers with those now-unbearable hearts, or any number of goofy wallets, or the distractingly pajama-like offerings from Comme des Garçons Shirt.

His tip is to avoid the tourists and their designated merch, and instead watch for the adventurously styled locals who have come to pay tribute to patron saint Rei Kawakubo. That's where the show is, and if you happen to be one of them, you will immediately find yourself at home.

Critical Shopper: Inside With the Outsiders By Jon Caramanica (NYTimes)
Dover Street Market New York 160 Lexington Avenue at 30th Street, Murray Hill/Kips Bay
Previously:
Auspicious Arrival: Dover Street Market Opens With An Eclectic Splash

AUSPICIOUS ARRIVAL: Dover Street Market Opens With An Eclectic Splash

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We knew it would be an event, but we weren't totally sure that we would see a line stretching all the way around the block of people eagerly awaiting entry when Comme des Garçons' Dover Street Market opened its doors for the first time on Saturday morning. The Shophound groaned, but begrudgingly queued up and felt a little bit better when we noticed that the president of Estée Lauder was a couple of people behind us. At least it was a high-class line, full of Comme des Garçons enthusiasts dressed specially for the occasion. A few minutes after 11 AM opening moment, however, we were relieved when a staffer came down the line to pull out anyone who wasn't waiting for a special Supreme limited edition release, and let us right into the store. So, the line really wasn't as bad as all that, but it made for a dramatic picture (below).

The question was whether or not this store could live up to the full year of anticipation for what was supposed to be New York's most exciting new store in some time? The answer depends on what excites you in a store. If you like a posh, plush shopping environment where things are clearly ordered, categorized easy to find, then you might be flummoxed by Dover Street Market's cerebral and occasionally surreal seeming set-up, but if you are the kind of shopper who likes to explore a store and searches for surprises, then the shop for you has arrived.

The key to enjoying DSM, is not to think too much or have a particular destiniation in mind, at least at first. The store is designed for wandering and discovery. Things start out looking logical and ordered on the first floor with the Rose Bakery, a jewelry and accessory section, and a three-month Louis Vuitton section under a wooden cage that will switch from men's to women's in Fesruary. Venture upstairs, however, and thing begin to take on a more free-form arrangement. There is no distinction between men's and women's designers, though some designers will put their men's and women's collections in different area. Customers are encourage to ignore such arbitrary distinctions, and much of the sales staff happily demonstrate the results of such thinking. If you are concerned about the proper gender requirements for wearing culottes, then keep moving up Lexington Avenue until you get to Bloomingdale's. You'll be happier there.

As promised, wood is the pervasive design element throughout the store, in all its forms, mostly unfinished. Rough wooden shacks placed in the middle of each floor serve as dressing rooms, and the whole place kind of smells faintly of a lumberyard, at least for now, while everything is new. Of course, some designers like Hedi Slimane for Saint Laurent and Thom Browne simply adapted their signature retail schemes to their sections, and seemed less exciting for it. Others took the opportunity to have some fun. Even hyper-controlling Prada decorated its intimate space with an unusual mural that seems inspired by the set from the recent Spring 2014 runway show rather than boilerplate Prada store interior. Vuitton's wooden cage resembles nothing found in its own boutiques, and fit in more with the spirit of the store even if its current offerings, a men's Spring collection featuring signature pieces with specially designed badges and appliqués designed by artist Terence Koh, falls on the more conservative side of things.

Odd surprises abound. Tucked into a corner we discovered what almost looked like a storage closet, but was actually the Good Design Shop offering a Muji-like selection of humble and practical items. Nearby, a display for Michael Costiff's World Archive offers a rotating selection of antiques and artifacts from faraway lands. We could go on and on describing each corner, but it won't compare your own visit. we spent about an hour inside, and still feel like there's plenty of stuff we missed, so we are looking forward to a return visit. Luckily, the staff was not terribly discouraging of photography (which will probably change soon), so have a look at the gallery at the top for just a few interesting views of the store, and plan a visit for yourself when you are in an adventurous shopping mood.

Dover Street Market New York 160 Lexington Avenue at 30th Street, Murray Hill/Kips Bay

3 DAYS AND COUNTING: T Magazine Previews Dover Street Market Exclusives From Prada & Nike

The Shophound is salivating for this Saturday when Comme des Garçons' Dover Street Market opens its doors and makes Kips Bay a fashion shopping destination neighborhood for the first time ever. While the store has been relatively discreet about what shoppers can expect at DSM, The New York Times' T Magazine appears to be the main press outlet given any kind of a look inside. In the past week, it has previewed items from a few key vendors. First off, there's Prada's capsule collection made exclusively for the store (at right).Along with the brand's current resort collection, the Prada Section on the top floor will also offer 12 classic pieces including apparel, shoes and handbags from past collections in hearty fabrics meant to be worn right now. To distinguish these pieces from all the other Prada product out there, they will bear a rare co-op label that reads Prada Dover Street Market New York.

Another exclusive comes from Nike, who has re-produced a special all-black version of of the 1987 Nike Air Python (at left). The first swoosh-free style from Nike has had a rocky reception from sneaker aficionados in other re-release iterations, but the thinking here is that with the fashion authority of Comme des Garçons behind it, this Air Python will give the model some more credibility. At a mere $160, it is likely to be among the most affordable items in the store, so it has that going for it.

And finally, as a hint about what to expect inside the store, Comme des Garçons mastermind Rei Kawakubo recently released a statement to everyone on the Dover Street Market mailing list. We know that the West Chelsea Comme des Garçons boutique is being renovated with a golden theme, but her remarks regarding DSM go as follows:

"In contrast to the multilayered complexity of New York City, I wanted to design all the CDG spaces with extreme simplicity. with a humbleness derived from the time honoured worship of nature, a feeling that is somewhat lost in the west today. To express this spirit, I used only one material: wood."

Can you make a functional store interior using only wood excluding all other materials? More intrigue to be hopefully satisfied this Friday.

In Store | Prada’s Vintage-Inspired Separates for a New Dover Street Market, In Store | Retro Nike Sneakers Aimed at the Fashion Set (T Magazine/NYTimes)
Previously:
Retail Preview: Rei Kawakubo Promises "Beautiful Chaos" At Dover Street Market

 

RETAIL PREVIEW: Rei Kawakubo Promises "Beautiful Chaos" At Dover Street Market

In this past weekend's T Magazine, Suzy Menkes scores a rare interview for the New York Times with Comme des Garçons designer Rei Kawakubo in which she expounds upon the concepts behind what will soon be a trio of innovative multi-brand Dover Street Market emporiums when the New York City branch opens on December 21. 

“For Dover Street Market New York, I wanted to keep the no-rule, beautiful chaos feeling of the first two Dover Street Markets,” the designer tells the Times as her husband Adrian Joffe translates. “But in contrast to New York itself, I wanted to design it with extreme simplicity, unsophisticated, almost primitive and with naïve artlessness.” Well, nobody really expects her to be especially specific, but several interesting points came out in the article, as well as in a more explicit preview published alongside the profile.

Most significantly, designers and vendors will be responsible for creating their own spaces within the seven-level, 18,000 square food building. Does that mean that Hedi Slimane will install a boilerplate steel-and-mirror Saint Laurent shop-in-shop for his section, or will he and other designers go the extra mile and offer more unique decor for the shop? “There’s egos to deal with, politics to deal with,” Joffe tells T, and then Kawakubi comes in to give final approval, and make even more changes.

The top floor will pair New York cult streetwear brand Supreme with Prada, who will create an exclusive collection of signature classics in new materials for DSM. These types of unorthodox juxtapositions upend the neat categorization by floor that most New York shoppers typically expect form a department store.

The fourth floor mezzanine will be devoted to emerging designers, most of whom you probably haven't heard of yet including 1205 by Paula Gerbase, KTZ, Sibling, Craig Green, Phoebe English and Proper Gang to name a few. Each will be given a 5 by 7 foot space to make their own. In addition, highly regarded independent designer André Walker will be making his first new collection in 12 years exclusively for the store.

There will be art of all kinds, generally centered around the three columns that cut through the building. Most of it will be avant garde including "sonic experiences" created by Calx Vive, a 60-foot knitted sleeve for one of the columns by Magda Sayeg, and a mysterious "Reversible Destiny Space" around a staircase by Madeline Gins of Arakawa.

There will also be food provided by the Rose Bakery from Paris, which serves the same role in the London and Ginza DSM stores. The menu will be vary depending on what local suppliers have to offer as well as the tastes of the customers.

There were no photos of the new interior included in the articles, only images from the other DSM stores, so things are expected to remain tightly under wraps until the doors open later this month. The articles did have a bit of interesting information about the City Landmark building at Lexington Avenue and 30th Street (pictured above) that houses the new store. Built in 1909, it was once the New York School of Applied Design for Women, which prepared young women for careers in Arts and Crafts. How fitting that it is now the province of one of the world's most inventive designers, who happens to be a woman and is using it, in part, to showcase the work of other emerging artists and designers. Now we are even more intrigued.

The Making of Dover Street Market New York, 
Fashion’s Purest Visionary By Suzy Menkes (T Magazine/NYTimes)