Like any reasonably minded Vandy girl, shopping (along with napping, eating and tailgating) falls among my list of favorite things to do, and is a field (along with napping, eating and tailgating) that I would consider myself unusually skilled at. My favorite thing about shopping other than getting clothing (duh) is snagging a good sale. As a result, you'll often find me at sample sales and digging through racks of ugly vintage garments in the hopes of finding a deal. I subscribe to various listservs that inform me of the “whens and wheres” of sample sales, get daily Shopbop emails, and have signed up for the incessantly annoying Bloomingdales and Shop It To Me alerts. As Carrie Bradshaw once wisely said, “I have an addiction, sir,” and this addiction has been hugely fueled by my membership with Gilt Groupe this summer.
For those of you who do not know, Gilt Groupe fuses two phenomenal shopping developments —sample sales and online shopping — into one glorious Web site. To join, you have to be invited by a current member, who in turn gets a $25 gift certificate for every 10 members they recruit (interested? Email me. Just kidding. Not kidding).
Upon joining, Gilt will send you a daily email informing you of the goods they have available that day. Sales start at 11 a.m. or 8 p.m. Central and last for 36 hours only, and for good reason — they sell out fast. Gilt's current brands for sale include Herve Leger, Judith Leiber and Jil Sander fragrances, Alexis Bittar jewelry, Marc by Marc Jacobs apparel, Ralph Lauren shoes, Cole Haan handbags & sunglasses, Earnest Sewn denim, L.A.M.B watches, 3.1 Philip Lim clothing and Converse by John Varvatos.
Shall I continue? Upcoming labels for this week include Judith Leiber women's clothing, Judith Ripka jewelry, Tory Burch handbags, shoes, and apparel, Vera Wang Collection, Moschino Cheap and Chic, and Tracy Reese. And the prices are usually slashed by 50-80 percent, and the selection is wide. Gilt's downfall comes in that it is a rather high-end Web site that doesn't offer returns, only exchanges, and that the Marc by Marc jumper I wanted sold out in sizes 4, 6 and 8 within 10 minutes of sale entry. (Boo!) But when Gilt has graced me with Michael Kors bags for $150 and BCBG shoes for $50, hell, I'll take it. It’s even embedded into my Google calendar, thank you very much.
And it gets better — for those of us who are craving sample sales on less designer brands, Gilt offers Gilt Fuse, it's less expensive sister site. Current selections on Gilt Fuse include Sass & Bide and Juicy Couture. Membership is completely free to both sites and comes no-strings-attached except for those pesky daily emails. So, let's get to shopping.
