SAMPLE CIRCUIT: It's Time For Opening Ceremony's Big Brooklyn Blowout + Derek Lam & Fred Leighton

As we mentioned last week, its the off-season for sample sales, but this weekend should cause a but of a stir in the middle of the doldrums as shoppers will be flocking to Williamsburg for OPENING CEREMONY's seasonal sample sale and clearance event. This sale has bounced around Manhattan for years, but it seems to finally have found a steady location at Villain on North 3rd Street in Williamsburg, just an easy L train jaunt away. As always, the sale is expected to include a hefty amount of the SoHo retailer's eponymous collection overstock along with what's left of the store's clearance from Fall 2016 collections. Look for prices to reduce by Sunday, when shoppers with a sixth sense for finding needles in haystacks have been known to come away with hidden gems at giveaway prices. Shop from Friday through Sunday.

While nobody would be blamed for saving their pennies for that sale, there are still a few other worthwhile events happening this week. Today the 22nd, NORMA KAMALI is having another one of her signature one day sales at her midtown boutique with most items priced from $50to $100. Contemporary outerwear newcomers THE ARRIVALS are closing out their Crosby Street pop-up shop with a sale on all of its stock through Sunday the 26th. Look for wear-now savings on coats and leather jackets for men and women. DEREK LAM will be finishing off a three day sale through Thursday the 23rd at Clothingline in the Garment District featuring both his main and 10 Crosby collections. 260SampleSale is featuring its seasonal ROBERTA ROLLER RABBIT sale at its home base on Fifth avenue, and stylish sportswear from GERARD DAREL and FIGUE at its Greene Street satellite location pin SoHo through Sunday.

Finally, if you aren't into trekking out to Brooklyn this weekend but you still have money burning a hole through your wallet (and we mean heaps of money), diamond specialists KWIAT and vintage master FRED LEIGHTON are taking over Soiffer Haskin's ample showroom this weekend from Saturday through Tuesday the 28th. These are two top names in the jewelry business, so along with some discerning bauble collectors, you should expect a high-security experience, so expect to check everything except your wallet, and make sure you have proper I.D.

As always, keep an eye on our SALE ROLL sidebar at left for updated locations and hours along with any late-breaking sales. Next week The Shoe Box starts its epic clearance, and later on, cult hosiery label Wolford will be offering its wares.

JEWEL JUMBLE: John Hardy's First New York Store Will Be Steps Away From His Main Rival

 

Image: GoogleMaps

Jewelry designer John Hardy has built a strong business over the past few decades with his intricately handmade silver and gold creations sold mainly through major department stores like Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus, but now that his label is under new ownership, its distribution is being re-thought with his first freestanding U.S. boutiques opening this fall. One will be in Houston TX, but the other, more prominently, will be on Prince Street in SoHo, number 118 to be precise (pictured above) which happens to be just a couple of doors away from his main competitor in the luxury silver jewelry game, David Yurman. It's never a bad thing to place your store near your competition. It only makes it easier to fight for the customers you share, although placing it two doors away on the same block might be just bit obvious. The 1,200 square foot store (rendering pictured below), formerly a BareMinerals location, is set to open in November, just in time for Holiday Shopping, and customers will see a newly elevated offering featuring more gold and precious stones alongside Hardy's famous Bali-crafted silver chains and bracelets.

John Hardy Plans U.S. Retail Expansion (WWD)

Courtesy rendering via WWD

 

STOREFRONT SHUFFLE: Bally & Georg Jensen To Move A Few Blocks Up Madison Avenue

The game of Musical Stores on Madison Avenue will continue as famed Swiss shoe and accessory brand Bally will move from its current home in the GM Building to Georg Jensen's shop at 687 Madison. Georg Jensen, by the same token will relocate further uptown to 698 Madison.
what may seem like lateral move for both companies may in fact be something of marginal improvement for Bally, which has endured continuing efforts to reposition and improve its fashion image in its GM building location through a series of creative directors. The move will have it taking the entire southeast corner of 62nd and Madison including not only the Jensen store but also the adjacent former Church's shop which has been closed for several months now creating a total of about 3,000 square feet. It is a somewhat more favorable location just a block up from Barneys with a much more intimate scale than the cavernous GM Building space.
Georg Jensen's new home will have be the former Kentshire shop where, between the ground floor and the basement, it will have 1,600 square feet to display the famous Danish jewelry and silver designs.
No word yet on who will takeover the current Bally store which is on the back end of a wing that features a temporary (or possibly not so temporary if rumors are to be believed) Cartier store, and if there is a new Church's store in the works, something New York City hasn't been long without in decades, then it is still under wraps.

The WTC transit hub is an exhausting mess (NYPost via The Real Deal)

SAMPLE CIRCUIT: Spring Sale Special With Ghurka, The Kooples, David Yurman & More

We are just about to head into a busy Sample Sale period starting next month, but while this week's schedule isn't too heavy, there are a few heavy hitters sure to bring out the eager shoppers.

Classic, rugged accessory brand GHURKA has been undergoing a revival over the past few years. They have not been a regular on the sale circuit lately, but today we'll find them at Soiffer Haskin in Midtown West offering discounts starting at 70% off on luggage, bags & other accessories for Men and women. This will be a must-visit for longtime fans of the all-American brand running through Thursday.

Also today, fashion jewelry fanatics will be lined up at 260 Fifth Avenue for the BAUBLEBAR sale running through Saturday. This one is a seasonal favorite known for great bargains on shiny things.

Veteran stylist Andrea Lieberman's contemporary label A.L.C. will be on sale at Chelsea Market starting on Wednesday through the weekend. Look for savings of up to 60% off clothing  and accessories from the woman who has helped shape the style of women like Gwen Stefani, Kate Judson and Gwyneth Paltrow.

French contemporary phenom THE KOOPLES is bringing its sample sale back to 260SampleSale's new Greene Street location starting on Wednesday through next Monday. Look for lots of slimly tailored trendy sportswear in black. it's not for everyone, but the ones who it is for love it, so plan ahead if you are a fan.

On Thursday, premium denim and contemporary label BLK DNM will be offering up to 80% off its collections in SoHo through the weekend. Look for lots of stripped down basics from tees to jeans to tailored suiting along with exceptionally well-styled leather pieces.

Finally, the biggest event this week is likely to be the return of the DAVID YURMAN sale starting on Thursday through Sunday at the Altman Building in Chelsea. Look for up to 75% off the designer's coveted jewelry from precious statement pieces to sportier sterling silver items including Watches, Eyewear and Men's Collections. As always, 10% of the first day's proceeds will be donated to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

Keep an eye on our SALE ROLL sidebar at left for locations and hours as well as late breaking additions to the schedule.
Next week, look for Marchesa, Maiyet, Sferra and more.

RENOVATION ANTICIPATION: Bergdorf Goodman Raises Its Jewelry Game

The main floor at Bergdorf Goodman will be a construction zone for a while as a major overhaul continues through next year, but the first phase of the revamp has been unveiled (mostly). Not only does it consolidate the store's somewhat scattered jewelry display into a coherent salon, but it aligns the store with its immediate neighbors like Bulgari and Van Cleef & Arpels as a major player among the city's purveyors of precious baubles. While the previous arrangement which interspersed the handbag and jewelry offerings made for an entertaining meander through the main floor, it wasn't the most efficient format for selling either category, and specifically lacked the kind of intimacy expected from major jewel purchasers. Consolidating jewelry into the 57th Street side of the floor is a more conventional arrangement but gives the department a new potency that will be emphasized with a redesigned entryway and façade on that side of the store that will actually eliminate the large display windows in favor of smaller windows more suited to  jewelry. New plywood covering the ongoing construction (pictured below) shows the updated exterior design which will mimic 58th Street's main entrance. Despite its heavy traffic, the 57th street entryway was actually considered the store's "back door", but now that West 57th Street in being developed, for better or worse, into a "Millionaire's Row" of extravagant luxury towers, an upgrade seems to be in order. 
But back inside, the new Jewel Salon quietly opened over this past weekend revealing a 1930's French Moderne-inspired interior featuring a pearl-gray based palette that will eventually extend throughout the main floor. Now set off from the bustle of the rest of the floor, the new salon has a more hushed ambiance, but still has its share of visual excitement with a pair of  glittery, starburst chandeliers and paneled walls with beveled edges that recall gemstone cuts. Hexagonal display pieces also subtly allude to the shapes of the stones they contain. Another addition less apparent to the casually browsing customers is a private viewing room, a mainstay of the highest-end jewelers, for exceptional clients and special trunk show events. 
The new salon is only the first element of the store's elaborate "2020 Vision" plan which will include more renovations throughout the store and eventually allow it to capture two more floors of selling space as executive offices and other behind-the-scenes facilities are moved into an adjacent building next door on 58th Street. The whole project is meant to position the store for the future. "Timelessness is a very important mantra for us will all of our design decisions," senior vice president, women’s fashion and store presentation director Linda Fargo tells WWD, "What we do today in my lifetime is not going to be touched again for a long time. With something like a main floor, my feeling is this is definitely going to have to last another 20 years.”

Bergdorf Goodman Unveils Updated Jewelry Salons (WWD)

SAMPLE CIRCUIT: Just A Few Fashion Week Sales Featuring BaubleBar, Milly & More

Fashion Week has never been a strong Sample Sale time, and this season is no exception. Still, like Friends reruns, there is always some sample sale running at any given moment.

This week's big draw is likely to be the BAUBLEBAR sale starting today at 260 Fifth Avenue. The popular accessory retailer is promising trinkets starting at a mere $10 through Sunday the 19th, so you almost can't go wrong.

Popular contemporary label MILLY will be having a mono-brand sale at Clothingline starting tomorrow the 16th for three days only. Its promised to be the biggest Milly sale ever featuring all product categories including apparel and handbags.

Jewelry of a more precious kind will be offered on Thursday the 17th when Soiffer Haskin opens a four-day IPPOLITA sale, As usual, this venue requests that you leave the kids at home.

Finally, on Saturday the 19th, sportswear mainstay EILEEN FISHER will have her fans flocking to the East Village just for the weekend to offer 50% off samples from the current Fall season. Follow the shoppers decked out in loose, layered tunics and leggings.

See our SALE ROLL sidebar at left for all details and locations as well as late-breaking events. Next week, make time for luxury lines from Sferra as well as debuts from Links of London and WP Lavori's stable of classic labels including Barracuta, Spiewak and BD Baggies.

SURPRISE SHUTTERING: Robert Lee Morris Promises An Uptown Move

In a sad bit if year-end new, SoHo stalwart Robert Lee Morris (pictured right among his designs) has closed his longtime West Broadway boutique after being a fixture in the neighborhood since the late 1970s. One can only presume that rent issues have prompted the longtime presence to vacate the shop after 20 years, but the innovative jewelry designer remains undaunted, promising, with a note on the door and a post on his Facebook page, that the hunt is on for a smaller, quieter "jewel box" location uptown. Though his bold fashion jewelry designs have been highly influential over the years, Morris has also been a force in elevating American fashion jewelry design. His first store, Artwear, also served as a showroom of sorts not only for his own work, but for other up and coming designers at the time like Ted Muehling and Cara Croninger among others, whose editorial credits were often written as being "for Artwear", emphasizing a more artisan as opposed to commercial point of view. After 1994, Morris struck out on his own when his brand exploded, helped along by high profile collaborations with Calvin Klein, Geoffrey Beene and Donna Karan to name a few. His designs, based on natural forms and made of anything from semi-precious minerals to oxidized metals to sterling silver and gold, have become iconic, so hopefully, New York won't be too long without a Robert Lee Morris store. We'll be keeping an eye out for a new location soon.

Robert Lee Morris Shuttering NYC Store (WWD)

ALEXANDRA JACOBS GOES SHOPPING: SoHo Re-Appraisal Edition

In today's Thursday Styles, Critical Shopper Alexandra Jacobs returns to the beat with a visit to jeweler David Yurman's new boutique on Prince Street in SoHo —his second in Manhattan— that shows what a difference a new location can make.
For Jacobs, as is likely true with many potential customers, Yurman had been dismissed as a yuppie jewelry designer churning out his signature gemstone studded silver and gold cable bracelets for the uptown set. It is pretty easy to make this assumption as those cable collection classics still get prime display case space in Yurman's counters at Saks and Bloomingdale's, but the designer's latest store showcases a different, more adventurous side of his work. There is an expanded display of the company's men's line, designed by the designer's heir apparent, his son Evan, but it is Yurman's work with less conventional materials that turns our shoppers' head,

While I could well imagine the meditating male machers of Manhattan 2014, stockpiling young Yurman’s chewy leather bangles and titanium tags in between their readings of D.T. Suzuki, Eckhart Tolle and The New York Post horoscope pages, I was inevitably more interested in loot for the gals, like the turquoise torsade necklace ($5,400), very Mermaid Parade, that lurked in staging areas with names straight from Jim Henson in fantasy mode: Labyrinth, Willow, etc.

So was just a simple contextual change all it took to revitalize David Yurman's fashion image? It's probably more complicated than that, but it seemed to be enough to change our shopper's perception, and certainly enough to get us to check out the new store.

Critical Shopper : At David Yurman’s Store, Science Lessons From a Jeweler By Alexandra Jacobs (NYTimes)
David Yurman 114 Prince Street,between Green & Wooster Streets, SoHo

THIS WEEK'S MUSEUM VISIT: See The Dazzling Jewels Of Treasures From India At The Met

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To be perfectly honest, The Shophound doesn't need much of any kind of excuse to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, but the museum has been particularly generous in inviting us to preview its upcoming exhibits this month. This week's visit concerned Treasures from India: Jewels from the Al-Thani Collection the small but remarkable exhibition of Imperial Indian jewels from the collection originally formed by Sheikh Hamad bin Abdullah Al-Thani of Quatar. The exhibition features a carefully curated selection of pieces from the Mughal period in the 17th Century to contemporary pieces. More than just a collection of brooches and necklaces, it is a fascinating look into the lavish ornamentation of Indian court life, where it was the men rather than the women who were festooned with gemstones including daggers and swords, turban ornaments, anklets, nose rings and  basically any other possible vehicle for wearing jewels. There are items passed down through generations of emperors as well as newer pieces, but take it as an opportunity to Marvel over some of the mind boggling treasures that can be produced from vast, dynastic wealth from a bygone era. After all, where else are you going to see a headpiece made from enormous diamonds linked together with hand wrought golden bands decorated with huge ruby drops for good measure? (Have a look at a few of the pieces in the gallery above) Put it on your list of things to catch at the Met. This month we have already been treated to the Leonard A. Lauder collection of Cubist masterpieces, Death Becomes Her at the Costume Institute and now this lavish display of Imperial Indian splendor. Block out an afternoon and head up to the Met. It will be time well spent.

Treasures from India: Jewels from the Al-Thani Collection through January 25th, 2015 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street, Upper East Side

ALEXANDRA JACOBS GOES SHOPPING: Nostalgia In SoHo Edition

In tomorrow's Thursday Styles, our Critical Shopper Alexandra Jacobs tells us about Aurelie Bidermann's new jewelry store in SoHo with an uncharacteristically emotional point of view. "Thoughts of my father, who died in early June, overwhelmed me," she writes upon visiting the store, and so the usual nit-picking seems far beside the point. She is more struck by the emotional significance of jewelry as a gift or a symbol of shared affection.

With nature-based forms in precious materials, Ms. Bidermann's jewels are subtly scaled and easy to wear, if not particularly inexpensive, but our shopper is less interested this week in what these baubles look like than what they will mean to whoever eventually winds up wearing them.

Critical Shopper: Embracing Simple Pleasures By Alexandra Jacobs (NYTimes)
Aurelie Bidermann 265 Lafayette Street between Spring & Prince Streets, SoHo