Anna Sui for Less

Pictured: The Sales Racks at my local Anthropologie Store, great stuff for $29.99 or less

Happy Sunday readers! I hope you are all enjoying and relaxing today. I started my day with a cheep and cheerful brunch at my local Starbucks. The coffee chain has a new deal: $3.95 breakfast pairings. This includes a coffee + one of their breakfast sandwiches. I opted for the turkey bacon, egg white sandwich and a house blend coffee. Delicious, lo-cal, and the price was right. I enjoyed hanging out at the store listening to the remastered Beatles CDs and reading my paper, looking at the sales and planning my day of looking for the best for less. Here’s my take on some great deals in the stores and online today.

First up, Anthropologie is having a fantastic in-store and online sale. The sale rack features some quality designers and products. One of my personal favorites is Anna Sui. Many of her items in natural fabrics can be found on the Anthro sales racks. Below is her beautiful Poppy Bouquet Top for 50% off. The top is make of silk chiffon with lace trim.

Anthropologie is not the only store offering Anna Sui on sale today. As many of you know, today is the launch of Anna’s Gossip Girl inspired line at big-box retailer Target. I stopped in check it out Anna Sui for Target on my way home from Anthropologie. Despite the hype and hoopla, there were plenty of garments left on the rack (although much if it is sold out on Target online.) Overall, the collection is not my personal cup of “fashion tea.”

The dresses are extremely short, and the sizing of most of the garments runs small. I would recommend wearing the dresses as tunics, if you like them, rather than as dresses. Most of them come to mid-thigh. Of course, if you’re Mariah Carey, you will like that length and not mind if there is no fabric to cover your bum when you sit down 🙂 In my opinion, this line is designed for very young girls , which is sad, as I always see women in their 20s, 30s, 40s and up perusing the Target Go racks hoping to get a top name designer for less. Sadly, this very junior sized collection won’t work for many of them. The below pictured metallic dress is very itchy to the touch and quite shiny. It gives new meaning to the old expression “wearing the hair shirt.” The shoppers around me touching the fabric were commenting on its less than smooth feel.

Pictured: Anna Sui for Target Metallic Thread Dress (polyester)

My top pick in the collection in this 100% silk short sleeved, drop waist black and white print dress (pictured below) with coordinating red and cream trim. I find this tunic dress chic, and more of a classic, Anna Sui looking piece.

Pictured: My personal favorite pick from the Anna Sui Target collection. The silk printed tunic dress for $49.99.

This mosiac printed tunic top with drop waist elastic for a little fit around the hips, looked nice with my DKNY black skinny jeans. Not surprisingly many of the “sold-out” pieces are already listed on eBay at marked-up prices.

Pictured: Anna Sui in one of her tunic tops with boots at her 2007 show.

Pictured: A tunic top from Anna’s 2007 RTW collection that is similar to the Target silk printed tunic.

To learn more about the collection, and read a full review of all the pieces, check out the Fashion Trend Guide blog. Many of the Target pieces are imitations of Anna Sui’s 2006 Fall Ready to Wear collection (long before the TV show Gossip Girl.) Check the old collection pictures to see the similarities. For example, check this dress from the 2006 AS collection. This dress looks almost vintage with the delicate lace in lays and rounded collar.

Pictured: Anna Sui 2006 Dress

Pictured: The paltry imitation of the 2006 Anna Sui dress at Target: The Table Cloth, um, Bread Dough (yes, that is the real name!) version

For more Anna Sui for less, check out the Nordstorm’s sales racks. There are some great reductions on her higher end line. Here is one example:

Pictured: Anna Sui Type Dye Print Dress on sale at Nordstrom’s

If you like Anna Sui, check out all the sales and make your own decisions on the best fit for your figure and quality for the price. For more Frugalista finds and Fall fashion tips, click here.

If you hit the Anthropologie sale racks, check out the housewares on sale. There are adorable cups, place mats and candles at great discounts.

Pictured: The Anthropologie housewares sale offers some great finds.

Last tip, many Smith and Hawken’s stores are closing around the country. Check their stores for deep discounts on all their stock. Sadly, their website is no longer operational.