Sample this!

The words "sample sale" are enough to perk up the ears of any budget fashionista, but sadly for our hometown, we don't see them around Chicago very often. With its abundance of designer showrooms, NYC is the epicenter of the hallowed designer sample sale, and the ritual goes something like this:

1. Make your way to an obscure loft location, usually unmarked or otherwise befuddling to find.

2. Pat yourself on the back for remembering to wear a tank and leggings under your clothes -- there's no dressing rooms in sight here. Either tug on clothes over your own or chuck your modesty out the window and disrobe on the spot. Or guess your size. Did we mention it's cash only, no returns?

3. Dig through boxes. Theorize about questionable items: Tube top, mini-skirt or turban? Elbow that girl with the Louis Vuitton bag who's invading your personal shopping space.

4. Remember you're not a model, and that sample sizes are usually 0, 2 and the errant 4. Dejectedly proceed to the hats and shoes.

All things considered, we like our town's more accessible take on the sample sale much better. There's Beta Boutique/Savvy Shopper Approved, a year-round Bucktown boutique and event company offering not only samples, but also designer overruns (leftovers from past seasons, in a range of sizes instead of just teensy ones).

This weekend, a new event called High Gloss  debuts (click for details). It's run by Tamara Chaponot, owner of local boutique Clever Alice, and her hubby Christophe, who also works in the fashion industry. They're extracting some of the chaos from the traditional sample sale concept with separate sections for each designer, both communal and private dressing rooms and staff to return your cast-offs to the proper racks. And they're adding a bit of a party vibe with cupcakes and a sparkling water bar. Expect to find women's clothing (sizes 2 to 12, hooray!) like jackets from Paris-based Ave Montaigne for $75-$100 ($250-$300 originally) and dresses by Los Angeles' Frenzii for $45-$65 (usually $110-$150), plus a $25-$35 clearance rack from Clever Alice, too. Can we appoint this the new sample sale standard?
 
High Gloss starts tomorrow and runs through Saturday. Click here for details.