Shopping from a Stylist's Closet (Or, The Best Ukay Ever)

What do you do when one of the country's top stylists (and my good friend and life peg) posts this announcement?

You text the damn number.

And you set a budget, because you can seriously go broke at The Best Sale Ever.

Super stylist Pam Quinones finally decided to let go of a lot of stuff--clothes, shoes, accessories from her styling jobs as well as her own personal stash. Pam is my go-to girl whenever I need specific outfits ("Pam, I have a beach wedding!" "Pam, I need a 20s outfit!" "Pam, my niece's birthday party is safari-themed!"), plus the girl is never less than uber-chic, so I HAD to go to this sale. I also needed new clothes for this unrecognizable post-preggo body, but was unwilling to spend a bundle when I now have other priorities (like the kid's monthly vaccines!).

So, off to the sale I went. And let me tell you, it was the best decision I ever made.

We walked into the first floor of Pam's gorgeous studio (she's a frustrated interior designer) and were told that "shorts and pants are on this floor, dresses are upstairs."

Nina (GH's assistant fashion editor, whom I dragged along) and I went straight to the second floor. And ZOMG it was a frickin' black hole.

There was a room just for accessories and shoes (thankfully not my size!).

And another room with racks and racks of dresses.

We started going through the clothes, neatly arranged by color. Some items hadn't even been used, tags on and everything. One of Pam's assistants encouraged us to start in another room, where all the designer duds were. We figured our budgets were just enough for this room, so we politely said, "No, thank you." Then he said, "The prices are almost the same." That was our cue!

The designer room also had several racks of dresses. Amid the Martin Bautistas and Charina Sartes, I found this confection.

An absolutely dreamy Lanvin dress for--wait for it--P2,500!!! WHERE ELSE AM I GOING TO FIND A FRICKIN' LANVIN FOR $60?!

I had to be smart about my shopping trip though. I had a small budget, and I wanted to stretch it as much as I could, and a Lanvin that I couldn't wear that often just didn't make sense. But I figured my best friend would LOVE the dress. So I sent her a photo, and next thing I knew, she was reserving it. Which means I could borrow it some day. Yay!

I couldn't resist trying it on though. Tee-hee. Sigh, so pretty!

I ended up getting a Chloe dress (!) instead. And a couple of other dresses, a top, and a cover-up. All for P2,000!!!

Nins had a similar budget, and she thought long and hard about her purchases:

Nina: There's a cute leather jacket, pero hindi ko alam kung magagamit ko kasi ang init dito (I don't know if I'll be able to use it since it's so hot here.)

Me: Magkano ba? (How much?)

Nina: P100.

Me: PINAG-IISIPAN PA BA YON?! (Do you even have to think about it?!)

Here's Nins with her haul--her "splurge" was a P500 Zara dress, then she got a bunch of P100 dresses and tops! (Btw, you might want to check out her fashion blog, ninyacolada.tumblr.com--super cute outfit posts!)

As our totals were being tallied, more stuff was coming in, including some YSLs and Charlotte Olympias.
 

 

THANK YOU, PAM.

Will probably do another post on my finds. So happy!