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Friday, November 21, 2008

the november sass&bide sale, sydney.

All in all, it was one of the best warehouse sales I've been to. Also by this time I've managed to work out some sort of self control, and limit myself to only buying basics, and maybe one piece that I've been wanting for a while. I saw so many people spending a months pay much on all the gorgeous party dresses, especially when you see things that have been discounted from 650$ down to 200$. I went pretty early on, maybe half an hour after it opened. Partly because I couldn't actually find the entry, there was a massive entry sign taped to some trees outside. After rejecting the idea that it was likely to be anywhere near the trees I found my way up the street and into a very big hall full of screaming girls. Basically the hall itself has racks of clothing going all around the perimeter. It was relatively sorted when I got there, pants, jackets, party dresses and everything else. There are six tables of 30$ jeans, two tables which were called cheap thrills, I didn't actually get a chance to look at them but I believe they were mostly accessories for 10$. There were also about six tables of other jeans, around the 50$ mark I believe. A few tables of their absolutely awesome t-shirts. There were very few pieces from the current collection, but most of the sale was made up of this years winter stock and last summer stock. The rest was a mixture of their samples and older things. I initially went for the samples, I almost had a fight with a lady over an asymmetrical navy and white jacket, and considering there were hardly any small sizes for anything (zeros and twos) I was lucky enough to find most pieces that needed to be my size in my size! I then went over to the t-shirts, followed by the party dresses and then pants. I find it’s a good idea to sort of know what you want to look for, maybe not in styles of clothing but at least in relation to type of clothing. Also, one of the best tricks I've learnt for when you come later than the opening is to go to the girls who mind the change room and are folding the massive pile of clothing outside the change room ( ahh the massive pile of clothing outside the change room), have a quick look through there, all the small sizes are likely to be there as they go first, and that’s always a problem for me. Secondly, be prepared to be a floor grazer. Sounds so much worse than it is, but I found my favourite piece this way. By this I mean, go into the change room and look through the items people leave on the floor. As the communal change room is likely a tiny room filled with screaming half naked girls trying to squish into sample size jeans, it's really not a pretty sight ( more on this later) and by the time you get in there ( well the time I get in there anyway) you won't even see a floor, it'll be covered in clothes. Look through it! People just leave their stuff on the floor after their done (you never know, you may see someone trying on a piece of clothing you really like, wait for them to take it off and snatch it while they're changing.. not that I did that haha). If you're still a bit squeamish, you should know that’s where all the best stock is waiting for you.

To avoid the bitchyness and humid heat which builds up in the communal change rooms, just dress appropriately! I have a little laugh at girls who come in heels and tights jeans and little frilly blouses. There isn't time to look all lovely, unless of course you're main aim is to socialise at the sale. Wear loose clothing. I wore an oversized white t-shirt and very thin leggings.. that feel more like stockings but wear like leggings. I also wore a crop top underneath my t-shirt. I pretty much found a corner of the hall with a mirror and tried everything over my leggings and crop top. Not a look I’d go for, but very handy. Also crop tops not only help the shy hide lingerie, but are also good for seeing whether you can wear something that is too big for you. Because ideally you would have went with a different size but because after an hour the place looks like hell and you can't even remember where the style of top is hanging, its good to be able to see what else you can do with it when your bra is popping out of unnecessary places. My final tip for these kinds of things would be to take a friend with you, preferably a friend who isn't particularly interested in the sale. Weird huh, how on earth would you drag them to a sale they wouldn’t shop at? Don't worry you can treat them to food or other reward of some sort later. If they aren't interested they'll be happy to stand in a corner holding your stuff whilst you rummage around. They also won’t be interested in ditching you to look for stuff. AND they can start waiting in the ridiculous cues whilst you're trying things on. I went with my mum, which was ideal! I wish everybody happy digging at the remainder of the sale... and all others!

I bought quite a few things, I've taken a photos of only a few of the things to give a basic idea of what I like and look for. One of the most interesting things was a pair of harem, mildly drop crotch silk and viscose pants which were only 50$. They were the only pair and oddly were my size, must have been a sign! It was even more of sign when I was told they were only fifty dollars! Other things I bought were t-shirts, which I love! Sass&bide has the best blends of Egyptian cotton t-shirts, it was very hard for me to resist when they were 30$ and not 130$. I got the asymmetrical jacket which I am very fond of, a black silk singlet and a few other things. I'm pretty happy I don't regret anything yet, forcing myself to buy basics really helps in that department. Most of the girls at the sale went crazy for the jeans, I am not a fan of their jeans, but ended up grabbing a pair of thirty dollar jeans which I will cut into shorts. Thirty dollar sass&bide jeans, well thats cheaper than your everyday supre!



These were the jeans, I love the zippers at the bottom, it'll be a shame to cut them off. But I don't really look good in light denim jeans so I have no choice! Its very hard for me to find a style of shorts that I like, that is flattering and doesn’t make me look shorter than I already am. Especially at sales looking for these is impossible. Bit even generally its much easier to find jeans I like which can be cut how I want. Again, for half the price of what your average denim cut offs would have cost me, especially in the style that I would like, I’d say 30$ is a bargain.

The first dress was on the border between one of my favorites to the thing I shouldn't have bought. I watched this baby at the Paddington store ever since it came out, but I really couldn't justify the 650$ for it. Although I saw this as a very casual kind of dress, I realised it will be perfect for New Years, as the material is very loose (its absolutely the most hot and humid weather here for NYE), it has pockets (I like going out sans bag) and it’s all shiny and stuff... cause thats good for new years eve kind of things? The second dress is a plain black, silk dress with cute little pockets which have rodarte stocking-esq threading pattern and sequins. This will probably become a summer staple; I wore it today and fell in love even more.

14 comments:

  1. I absolutely fell in love with the top on the left. It's SO beautiful!

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  2. Yeah I went on Friday morning when it was much more subdued, there was still heaps, cause they were putting out more boxes through the whole sale.
    I saw the most shocking thing though, one woman in the fitting room came up to my pile of things and went
    "My clothes, where did they go? My actual clothes were in that pile!"
    Someone had taken her pile to rummage through themselves, and they had taken her shirt too.

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  3. i love those jeans! im going on sunday with my mum also haha so hopefully there wont be as many people and will still be stock left! x

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  4. Anon: I wasn't aware they opened in the morning, kind of sucks I went to around what i thought was the opening time, and when I got there it was pretty calm as well. I would have went earlier though if I knew!

    Its a shame about taking other peoples clothes, maybe she wore sass&bide and someone thought it was on sale? I ended up asking most of the people if the clothes next to them were theirs to avoid that, Id hate to go home shirtless ;)

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  6. re anon: Sorry i miss read that you said friday morning.

    and forgot to ask if you found anything interesting?

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  7. oh my freaking god.
    that first dress is just amazing.
    i want it !
    lucky lucky lucky youuuuu.
    why cant adelaide have one of thse sales? seriously lol

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  8. Oh my gosh you lucky girl! I remember going to one is Brisbane at the end of last year, it was utter crap. It was just filled with jeans :/

    And you think the girls in your change rooms were bad? I had girls in g-strings and no bra shoving them self into sample sizes. Welcome to the Gold Coast baby.

    That pink dress is a killer though, I love it. Must check out ebay to see what everyone is gonna put up...

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  9. Damn Sydney always getting the best sales! Your tips for shopping a warehouse sale are brilliant. I've only been to a few and especially the crop top is just too clever.
    Great buys!

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  10. wow. you are so lucky ! i never find out about these sorts of sales.

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  11. You got some great finds! I love love love those jeans, ankle zippers are wonderful.

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  12. I didn't have alot to spend, I got a dress for my friend for Christmas, a polka dot one, that I am going to give to her by putting on a dress form I got for her on ebay (I'm very excited about this present, as she is starting fashion design studies next year, I get very excited about presents, speaking of which, you should totally do a post about Christmas, tips and tricks, if you have any, or possibly, how much you hate, depending on how you feel about it)

    I also, got a red and white patterned trapeze shape dress, which I gave to my bf and said "This is what you got me for christmas, give it back to me in December" because the last time he got me a present, it was a bottle of perfume, the same as one I'd bought a month earlier.

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  13. *Christmas shopping I meant to say.

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  14. anon: That is the best way to get lovely christmas presents ever ;)

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