Posts with tag discount

The rock-bottom economy has caused an influx of designer sample sales. But with so many options and so little time, might we suggest Divine Design: a shopping extravaganza (and no, we don't use the word lightly) that benefits Project Angel Food.

Thanks to the hundreds of you who shared inspirational stories as part of the StyleList Giveaway of a BaByliss flat iron in pink for Breast Cancer Awareness month. Whether it was your mom, sister, friend or in some case yourself, it's clear that there are so many strong -- and surviving -- women out there.

Marshalls Shoe Megashop is indeed somewhat "mega." We almost drowned in our own drool. We are doing okay.

Unfortunately, you can't shop online, but if you click on "Take a Tour of the Megashop," you are taken to an interactive Quicktime video of a Marshall's store where you can zoom in on the shelves. We don't really know what you're supposed to do with this tool, but we totally played with it for a good two minutes.

The hottest hair accessory these days, and we mean that literally and figuratively, is the mini flat iron.

We tried out the BaByliss Pro Nano Titanium Mini-flat iron, and it's popular for a reason. At just six inches long and 1/2" wide, it's much easier to use for bangs or quick touch ups than your regular-sized flat iron.

It also can travel really easily, not that we recommend dragging a flat iron out on a date, but if you're going somewhere after work and want to smooth out the end of day frizzies in the ladies room, this is the way to go.

Hey y'all! We just wanted to know that until Friday, ShopBarbara, (you know, the place with the chic, cheap clothes and $5 shipping) is having a wee sale. For us.

Don't you feel special? Pictured is one of their newly arrived dresses. Now is the time to pick up great finds for the end of summer! Read on for the discount code.

Times are tough, both on our pocketbooks and the environment, so if we're going to shop (and you know we are), we want to shop for items that are easy on both. And to do so, we need to look no further than You Deserve.

You Deserve offers clothing, accessories, health and beauty products as well as home decor items made of natural and eco-friendly materials like bamboo, organic cotton, denim, and more, all at 30% to 70% off the original price! Granted, that means that some items, instead of being $190, are now $130, but there are loads of fabulous clothes available for well under $100 -- in some cases, under $50.

Christian Siriano's fierce designs are now available for the masses exclusively at Bluefly.com! And, it's very much what you'd expect -- black, shiny, and tight, with some funky details.

What you might not expect is the discount -- 20% off! That makes the gold silk 'Red Carpet' shift dress $325 and brings the black cotton 'Posh' puff sleeve blouse down to $590. Okay, so maybe those prices don't exactly make the pieces affordable for everyone, but the collection is still selling really quickly -- some items have already sold out!

This is Part One of our interview with Patrick Robertson (CEO), Christina Angelacos (whose role ranges daily from Marketing to Sales to Operations to Customer Care), and Joselle Yokogawa (Fashion Director), the folks behind DesignerLaundry, a high fashion online boutique that sells designer clothing donated by celebrities, stylists, and others and donates a portion of the proceeds to one of several charities.

Often, people try to see the world in black and white. Either you love fashion and crave designer clothes like Colin Farrell craves a cigarette, or you're more charitably-minded and wouldn't dream of spending that kind of money on clothes when you could be feeding a child or building a home with it.

What makes DesignerLaundry more than just an online shop of discounted designer duds is the fact that they give back. They support a number of charities: American Cancer Society, World Wildlife Foundation, Alzheimer's Association, Planned Parenthood, St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital, and Musicians on Call.

Christina explained how the charities have been chosen, saying, "The charities we support have been chosen in two ways. First, the three of us each chose a cause we were passionate about for our own personal reasons. My father is living with a vascual dementia so I chose the Alzheimer's Association, and Patrick was raised near a Game Reserve in South Africa, so his natural choice was the WWF."

"My father recently passed away from pancreatic cancer and during the whole experience I did a lot of my own research on the disease," added Joselle. "The American Cancer Society was an obvious charity for me."

The remaining charities are chosen by the clients who donate clothes to DesignerLaundry, allowing those who donate to "turn their wears into donor dollars. We like to think of it as a cycle of giving," said Christina.

If you're interested in learning more about DesignerLaundry (or just want to start shopping), you can check out their website here, or read the DesignerLaundry blog.

While there's no doubt that discount designer duds that benefit charity is a great idea, you're probably wondering where these clothes come from -- nobody wants a dress that's been worn a million times by a random 20-something socialite, right?

You have no need to worry with DesignerLaundry. According to Christina, "I'm proud to say we're pretty picky. First and foremost, the merchandise has to be essentially flawless. Unlike other websites that sell vintage or used designer clothing, we pride ourselves on selling items that are in new (sample) or nearly new condition. Must of our donated inventory has never even been worn and we receive it with the designer labels still attached. If an item has been worn it's usually been down the runway or the red carpet."

As far as the styles they sell, it "has to be saleable," says Joselle. "If ... any of our colleagues wouldn't wear it, then chances are our customer wouldn't wear it either." However, you will find some other items that are hard to find or iconic. Once example is the Prada wetsuit jacket. "Sure not everyone can get away with wearing a piece like that. But that collection put Prada on the map," says Joselle, "and that particular piece, in my opinion, is very symbolic. It's a collectible."

According to Patrick, the clothes come from a variety of sources, including celebrities, publicists, and designers. He adds, "The majority of our inventory consists of items from taste-makers within the fashion industry (press/editors), socialites, and the like."

Designer labels you can find at DesignerLaundry include Catherine Malandrino, Alexander McQueen, Burberry, Chanel, Givenchy, Vivienne Westwood, and many, many more.

Perhaps you've received one after making a purchase at Banana Republic. That extra receipt with a url and the promise of 20% off your next purchase for answering a few questions about your visit to the store. Gap does them, too, as part of the same corporate monster.

The survey takes a good five to ten minutes, and you have to actually think about the service you received. But you get a discount code good for one full price item which must be used within three months.

Too bad it doesn't come with an alarm, or glowing red light to remind you to a) bring it with you when you go shopping or b) pull it out of your wallet where it's been folded for two months and 28 days. After all, the discount is only worthwhile if you use it!

We have a winner of the Star 50 Bag Giveaway! Terri is going to be taking home the fabulous Star 50 Louisiana Market Sac so she can carry whatever she needs in style!

However, even if you didn't win the free purse, you're still in luck! Star 50 is inviting StyleDash readers to a Purse Party, meaning that now through May 12 you can purchase any Star 50 bag (including the Louisiana Market Sac) for 50% off! All you need to do is go to the Star 50 website and enter this code: Star50ME. For more information on the Purse Party (and any other contests Star 50 is holding) click here.

Thanks to all of you who participated, and keep checking in for more giveaways. As a matter of fact, we have one happening right now ...

Students are lucky. They might not know it at the time, but come graduation, they'll probably end up like the rest of us -- bitterly reflecting on the erstwhile days of freedom and reduced-price museum admissions.

Lucky brats. If only they knew how good they have it!

As if I needed any more reason to resent them (I live in a college town, by the way), now student get a 15% discount at American Apparel with a valid school ID. All you have to do is enter your school name and identification number for verification, and AA will send you a special promo code via email to apply at check-out time. There are a few catches, however. The first is that you can only get the discount through the online store, and the second is that the window of opportunity closes on September 24.

So go ahead, Annie Wu, get your shop on, you lucky co-ed!

For most of us, buying nothing but designer clothing would be out of the question (assuming we still wanted to eat and pay rent, that is), if it weren't for discount stores. Rummaging through the racks of second-run shops and "bargain basement" style outfits like Last Call Neiman Marcus is the only way I'm able to afford anything that isn't a knock-off.

But all that might change, now that the Supreme Court has lifted a ban on manufacturers' ability to enforce the Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price (MSRP). To be honest, I've never seen a price in a retail shop that matched the MSRP, and had always assumed it only existed so discount outlets could use it as a marketing gimmick -- so the outlets could "prove" to customers how much they'd "drastically reduced to all-time-low prices." I can't imagine how much more expensive it will be to shop for designer clothing now that this ban is no longer in place.

That said, there's always thrift and "vintage" stores -- where you'll have to dig a lot harder to find quality goods, but you'll still definitely save some money. Plus, I'm sure designers will still operate their own outlets -- but if you don't live close to an outlet mall, you're out of luck. Even then, now that there will be less competition from other retailers, I doubt those designer outlets will reduce prices as much as they do currently (which isn't much).

So...um... eBay, anyone?

This is one of those sites that I wish I had discovered earlier, sparing myself hundreds of frustrating hours trying to dig through discount codes in my Inbox. Retail Me Not is an online, user-submitted collection of discount codes for various online stores, from Papa John's to American Eagle to Walgreens. Although the success rate of each code is rarely ever 100%, there's no telling how much you can save if you just give the codes a try. I just tried this out with a test shopping spree on the Victoria's Secret and I could have bought an alarming amount of underwear and lipgloss for next to nothing (by lingerie standards).

This is definitely one of my favorite finds of the year. Also check out another site from the Retail Me Not creators: Bug Me Not. It's a huge collection of usernames and passwords open for public use on websites that usually ask you to register to see certain material (like the New York Times and YouTube).