*SAMPLE SALE* Arm and a Leg at Armani

When it rains, it pours. And that's exactly what happened today with big designer brands having private, semi-private, and public sale events all over town. Mizhattan's final stop in this whirlwind of sample sale adventures was the Giorgio Armani event at the Metropolitan Pavilion.

After running to Zac Posen & Thakoon earlier today in downtown Manhattan, I felt like I was on a roll (probably due to the triple shot of espresso I had well~ past my caffeine cut-off time), so I headed over to what was advertised as a huge Armani sample sale. When I arrived sometime around 4:30pm, there were about 20 people quieting standing in line. After waiting for 10 minutes, security motioned in a big group. As usual, coat check was required before you were allowed inside the showroom and for some reason it was horribly long. It was long when I got there and dumbfoundingly longer when I left. Needless to say, everyone was quite annoyed.

Onto the sale at hand. The venue was packed with women & men. Let me rephrase--it was the most male shoppers I had ever seen at a sample sale. And they ALL seemed content shopping despite the somewhat busy atmosphere. I guess it's understandable since there was a truckload of Men's accessories, suits, small leather goods, underwear, and everything in between. Maybe, men do like bargain hunting after all? Another interesting sight I witnessed, was how a lot of the shoppers were using their smartphones as calculators. Here's why. The price lists posted everywhere around the room only showed how many percent off an item would be. To make matters worse, the tags on each item didn't have the adjusted price. So it was up to the shopper to figure this all out. Quite irritating considering the fact that shoppers held onto items they probably didn't want just because they were in the midst of doing some mental calculations.

Now that I got my frustration out, here's what you can expect to find. Gorgeous, I mean GORGEOUS evening sandals and wedges were elegantly displayed in the back of the room. Having a soft spot for beautiful shoes, I picked 2 different heels to try on. As much as I loved them, they still felt pricey to me--maybe I was too spoiled from the great deals at Zac Posen & Thakoon today. A pair of evening peep toes (photo above) were $532 and a pair of ankle strap kitten heels (3rd photo below on right) were $202.

Everything from classic neutral-tone Armani suits to elegant jewelries & bags were on full display. Almost everything available for purchase was in near perfect condition. I wanted so many things BUT (and it's a big B.U.T) it all came down to price. Even though, RTWs were 60~70% off, items were still easily over $3,000...some even $6,000(!)

Overall, the Armani sample sale offered better things for men than it did for women. The Men's accessory section was busier than women's and there was even a table of Men's sample shoes priced $75. MizAdvice: If you always wanted to get your husband/boyfriend something nice from Armani, then go. Other than that, there are better deals to be had. Too bad, since I loooove Armani.