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Once again, it's time for the Steven Alan sale, a biannual celebration of all things button-down. At last night's friends and family preview, the line to get in formed half an hour early and ran down the block. Will today's queue be twice as crazy? Or did everyone already go? Follow Racked's Fawnia Soo Hoo below as she reports live from the sidewalks of Tribeca.
7:30am: Good morning! I just arrived and I'm fourth in line. Did everyone come last night?
7:35am: So a fifth lady just joined the line and she's wearing a nearly-identical outfit to line-goer #2: Black leggings, dark blue blazer over flowy white shirt, brown bag. Except #5 has those floral clogs on while #2 has trendy sneakers. Awkward! Both look great though.
7:38am: Now about six more people have joined. We have ourselves a line, folks!
7:45am: A staffer is here lifting the metal gates. She says that it will be another 20 minutes or so. She also says, "There's nothing left inside." Oh wait. She's joking. No laughs.
7:50am: About eight staffers just walked into the store. They're getting ready! I can see pretty packed racks from out here.
7:53am: Everyone here is pretty quiet (with the exception of #5, who is now chatting with yet another girl in the same outfit.) At the Loub sale, everyone in line was reading something on their iPhone or Blackberry, but people here are actually reading things with pages. I could at least two New Yorkers, a book, and a New York Times.
The line as of 8am
8:01am: So it looks like navy/dark denim blazers are the new black. I could five so far—four girls, one guy.
8:05am: Security staff just arrived. The sales staffers inside are chatting and having breakfast. Let us in early! (It's OK, it's a pleasant morning for a lineblog.)
8:10am: The friendly security guard is making his way down the line giving all coffee drinkers fair warning to finish their coffees soon, since drinks are not allowed inside. I think he just wants to talk to all the pretty girls in blue blazers.
8:11am: The line is almost at Church Street.
8:21am: Hey! Are people shopping already? I see a guy rifling through the racks and picking out shirts. And three girls who were just in line (with coffees no less) and they don't seem like they work here.
8:23am: More excitement! A New York Department of Health and Mental Hygiene SUV just pulled up. Huh?
8:24am: It looked like the guy was about to walk into the store, but he went down the street. Never mind.
8:28am: Those girls are shopping! With coffee in hand! I feel like a peasant standing on this side of the glass watching them. One even did some sort of little victory dance type move.
8:30am: Open!
Now that we're inside the sale, the liveblog continues over here.