Ty Tips:Luxury living for less

Recently I found myself out and about in Washington, DC on a gorgeous spring day with my friend, Chris Mason (fashion uber-stylist to many of Washington’s elite who meet to shop exclusively at Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus). He turned me onto Nordstrom’s Rack-their “discount house” as it were, located across the street from their main store at the Pentagon Mall.

Well, not only are there discounts galore (marked down substantially off their main store prices) the merchandise here is the same as in “Nordstrom”-unlike other “second tier stores” (think Banana Republic and Coach outlets).

I gotta be honest; the ambience was more “Marshals” than the main store and the famous Nordstrom’s piano-player who usually provides a soundtrack for your shopping experience was conspicuously absent but at these prices who cares!

I hummed a tune to myself all the way to the clearance racks (ding, ding, ding-discounts on top of discounts!) where I found this Marc New York/Andrew Marc wool winter jacket with faux fur detachable collar and leather accents (regularly $225.00) on clearance for $56.25.

I got the thumbs up from Chris when I tried the jacket on and off we went to the cashier.

Although the temperature was a balmy 75 degrees outside I got a chill thinking of how great I’ll feel wearing this coat next winter. And let’s face it people, even with global warming and the mild winter we’ve just come through-it’s going to be cold again at some point-maybe even sooner than we think and when it is, I’ll be ready in a stylish coat that cost less than a sweater.

TyTIP: Always shop for the opposite season that you’re in: in “Winter” shop “summer”, “Spring” shop “Fall”. You’ll find your deepest discounts if you shop this way and with the season so far off in the future it’ll be like discovering a new present when you reach into storage or go into your closet to pull out the garment for the first time to wear during the appropriate season.

TyTIP: Be aware that a lot of the outlet mall name-brand shops do not carry all of the merchandise in the main stores, a lot of them are separate entities that have merchandises that was created specifically for the outlet (ever wonder why you can’t return outlet mall items to the regulars store-now you know why).