Catherine Malandrino Curated Her Own Fabulous Sale

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• Selima Frames

If a stylish Frenchman starts chatting with you at the Catherine Malandrino sale, you might want to ask his opinion on your potential purchases. It's the designer's husband, Bernard—and he knows the clothing. In fact, he and the glamorous Catherine have been very hands-on with this sale—they spent the weekend going through their warehouse with the Savvy representative, choosing which pieces they thought were right for it. How often to do you get to buy fashions at a sample sale which were actually curated for you by the designer herself?

Their choices were good ones. Although you'll see a few pieces from previous seasons, there is a lot of stock and a few samples from the current fall/winter 2010 Catherine Malandrino collection. Even more exciting is the inclusion of a few samples from the 2011 Resort collection—including a digital laser print dress, similar to dresses which haven't even reached the stores yet. The designer's more expensive Malandrino line is represented as well, with a few racks of exquisite pieces from previous seasons. Sizes tend to run small, and although there are pieces in all sizes through 12, the largest number are either size "Small" or in the 4-6 range.

Before we get to the prices, we suggest you RSVP to the sale on Facebook, as this will get you an additional ten percent off all of your purchases. From the Catherine Malandrino line, the sale includes a lot of dresses, both dressy and more casual wool styles, for $155. There is one rack of Malandrino's signature maxi dresses, including one similar to a dress recently featured on Gossip Girl. These all run $225.

Although we didn't see a lot of them, non-leather jackets and coats, as well as leather skirts and pants are all $195, with leather jackets running $295. There is a large collection of sweaters, both heavy and lighter ones at $125 and solid and print blouses at $95. The true steals of the sale are a limited number of slacks at $55 and a lot of gorgeous skirts, some studded, for just $65. All the items from the designer's higher priced Malandrino line are 80% percent off original retail prices.

We didn't see much by way of accessories, aside from a lot of shawls and a few necklaces, but Malandrino's fellow French design house, Selima Optique, has two tables of eyeglass frames at the sale. Their own colorful frames run just $100, while glasses by the likes of Tom Ford and Dior are 50% off retail.

The sale will be adding new pieces through Friday. When you go to pay for your purchases (in what this morning was a very long line), be sure to ask for your $25 Catherine Malandrino gift card—good in her boutiques through December, and given free with purchase!
· Dealfeed: Catherine Malandrino [Racked NY]