Change of Season
Neighborhood: East Village Type of Place: Women's Clothing Shoes Jewelry Description:
One thing we have a noted absence of in New York City: outlet malls. And for the purposes of wardrobe development, that’s too bad; why should cash-strapped New Yorkers miss out on these designer bargains? But a little pocket of help has arrived in the East Village in the form of Change of Season, which keeps a designer-boutique feeling (the shop is set up to look like an upscale hotel lobby, and merchandise is hand chosen by the owners) but ditches “It’s this or the rent” prices.
- Pamela Grossman
It’s exciting to see pieces from designers you never thought you could afford being made quite a bit more affordable. The first item that caught my eye was a charming See by Chloe jacket in yellow and white linen. It’s original price was a fairly unreachable $595, but it’s here for a much more doable investment of $175. Likewise a delicate Lanvin sleeveless blouse in champagne silk with a gorgeous oversized pink, orange, and yellow silk flower adornment was $645 but is here for $285; and an orange and white tank top from Ann Demeulemeester is here for $175, down from the retail price of $540. It’s fun to compare the original prices to the deals you’re getting. Not all the price tags here include the boutique prices, but a little sleuthing can help. For example, I Googled “Prada sundresses” and found much plainer options than the ones here starting at about $650. These samples are lovely: gold, teal, chocolate brown, and emerald woven together; and one is $375, the other $395. There’s also a Vivienne Westwood fuchsia sweater for $195 and a Dries van Noten sash with purple and garnet beads for $135. Suffice to say they were originally much more. For the fashion adventurers, I spotted an experimentally chic black Comme des Garcon sweater that was $498, is now $225, and (from my notes) “looks like it has a lima bean sewn on.” OK, not a look everyone can master, but worth checking out, for sure. Over in the men’s section, another explorer was trying on a Rick Owens tunic (price unknown as I did not want to grab this shirt while the man was wearing it). “Hmm,” he mused. “Does this look a little too ‘Star Wars’?” Maybe so. But I saw a green, yellow, and grey plaid short-sleeved shirt by Prada (was $300, now $135) that I thought would look great on this guy. Deciding not to be shy about it, I handed it to him and encouraged him to try it on, which he did. It looked amazing, and the guy seemed to think so too. My work done, I headed out…with visions of what I might score here myself dancing in my head.
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