Our Favorite Part of the Elie Tahari Sale: The Bags and Shoes

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• We really liked this bag and it's $249 from $902 - not bad.
• Grabby hands at the dress racks
• A melange of patterns
• Soft womenswear knits
• Women's knitwear
• This leather vest is nice
• Leather outerwear
• Men's shirts
• Men's jackets and sweaters

The Elie Tahari sale opened to the public this morning with a slight delay and restocked floor. After the requisite coat and bag check, we were ready to conquer the sale, offering 70% to 80% off womenswear and a small selection of menswear.

Our coffee hadn't quite kicked in yet, so to muster up the courage to hit the clothing racks that were being attacked by shoppers, we first headed to the oasis of shoes and bags to the back left of the sale. We're always a sucker for discounted designer leather. The shoes are priced at $79 for ballerina flats and $99 for regular pairs. Sample pumps and the boots are $129. We admired rusty-hued slip-on clogs, black python platform strappies and delicate zipper designed strappy heels, plus a pair of silvery-grey clog boots. Non-sample sizes range from 6 to 10.5 and shoppers need to request the mates to the shoes from staffers.

Bag stations manned by staffers line the shoe area. Handbag pricing runs from $79 for small to $179 for medium and $249 for large sizes. The bags are mostly leather, though some are denim. We really liked the large, slouchy pleated dark brown Mira tote that's normally $902 retail.

So onto the women's clothing, which, like the clientele at the sale, tended to skew more professional and conservative. The sizing is all over the place but there are a lot of sample size sixes, although some styles have various sizes available. You really just have to look. The most popular racks were definitely the tops and blouses ($49) and dresses ($99 for day and $129 for evening). We saw lots of bouclé and floral patterns, plus bright solids as well as standard black. There were some sequins peeking out of the dress racks, too.

According to the price list, the knitwear starts at $19 to $29, but we didn't see any of those. We unearthed a few $49 sweaters, but most knits were more plush and more expensive at $89 for "luxe sweaters". That area was oddly quiet, as was the outerwear section that featured wool coats and a few puffies for $199 to $249.

On a leather kick, we hunted down the leather rack—in the back right—which featured just a few pairs of sample size six leather pants (black and some brown suede and denim chap-looking numbers) for $99, jackets (which were quite detailed in mesh, perforated leather, and ruffle designs) for $279 and gold-hued strapless dresses for $129.

The few menswear racks are relegated to the back left and feature button down shirts in sample sizes (although we spotted a few mediums and larges) for $49, sweaters for $69 and jackets from $99 to $279 (for the lone suede field jacket we saw). Even the security guards were commenting on how piddly the men's section was. The area was overrun by women using the mirror next to the men's shirts.

There are separate male and female dressing rooms and to no surprise, there was a line about 10 deep at the women's. They will be restocking the floor throughout the sale. Also, word on the street is that they will be lowering the prices later on during the sale, so if you're a fan, it'll be worth it to check back later this week.
· Above the Fray [Racked]
· Dealfeed: Elie Tahari [Racked]