The Girls Spent Thousands at The Row’s Sample Sale

Photo: The Row

Each year, the tristate area’s most stealth-wealth, clean-girl, chic-beyond-belief, trench-coat-wearing, low-bun-having, “You’re actually supposed to wear in your Birkin bag”–preaching, Olsen-obsessed gather around the block of the Metropolitan Pavilion, often waiting for hours on end, in hopes of nabbing something, anything, from The Row at a steep discount — 75 percent off, to be exact. Despite that, the girls still end up spending thousands of dollars.

Last year’s sale proved vicious, as far as these polite-society people’s standards go, with one salegoer telling me nearly a dozen people were waiting for staffers to bring out more bags “like hungry animals.” This year, the vibes seemed very much the same inside, though outside, where the line continued forming for hours during the first day’s sale, the crowd maintained a bit more order than last season. Some people even took turns shopping for the Jimmy Choo sample sale across the street, for which few were on line.

Content creator Isabel Tan, who described the sale as a “war zone” and had two friends excuse themselves from the chaos, spent around $5,677. She bought a chunky gray cashmere sweater for $487, a silk slip dress for $672, white flats for $272, a pair of brown boots for $337, black pumps for $272, a pair of men’s fisherman sandals for $262, and a camel-colored coat for $3,375 that retails for (gulp) $13,500.

Zara Rahim, an adviser and consultant, walked out with a “Nancy Meyers–ass” oversize, oat-colored sweater; a mock-neck chocolate-brown sweater; a 100-percent-cashmere navy sweater; pointed-toe leather boots; a butter-yellow dress shirt and matching leather pocketbook; and a pair of pants for her partner, all together purchased for around $3,000. Another creator and apparent footwear aficionado, Affie Kacar, bought leather woven mules for $322, a pair of furry boots for $240, flip-flops with a velvet strap for $162, a set of slippers for $170, tech shoes for $270, black loafers for $270, cream booties for $322, and another two pairs of boots at $497 each, ringing her in at over $2,480, spent solely on shoes.

I love a good slouchy purse and a swaddling sweater just as much as the next girl — perhaps even more! But I have to ask: All of this — waiting on line for over half a day, spending over one (New York City!) month’s rent on a single coat, politely but firmly snatching up a sweater you saw that blonde across the way eyeing — for a suede bag? For a cozy sweater that makes you feel like a caterpillar in a cocoon? For a pair of black heels that scream “It’s fine to have a martini at lunch on a Monday”? Actually … the more I write, the more I understand the appeal. Perhaps I’m just in the wrong tax bracket … But if you are in the right tax bracket, the sale runs from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday and until 3 p.m. on Saturday. May the fashion gods be with you!