We love sales. You should know that by now!

In addition to continual markdowns throughout the year, most of the major department stores and some of the other chain stores have annual sales. I always find myself wondering “When is the Nordstrom Anniversary sale?”… Although they may easily vary from year-to-year, depending on their business climate and needs, being the sale experts that we are at Shop It To Me, we put together a ‘cheat-sheet’ based on some past sales events to help you predict when you should get excited because you’re getting close to sale time!…Hope this helps!

Nordstrom - 1/2 Yearly Sale for Women & Kids in May and November (this year starts Wed May 21 according to Nordstrom’s website, although the Wall Street Journal reported that it will be earlier this year than in the past),1/2 Yearly Sale for Men is mid-June and late December, Anniversary Sale -July (for more on Nordstrom sales from their website click here)

Bloomingdale’s - Big Brown Bag sales are once a quarter and range from 15-20% off when you use your Bloomie’s card — sources tell me the next one is Memorial Day weekend…

Macy’s - Many sales, seemingly all the time! These including the famous Thanksgiving Dale Sale, other One Day sales, Macy’s Home Sale, Memorial Day Sale, Labor Day Sale, Presidents Day Sale, Pre-Season Sale, and more… sorry I can’t be more specific here!

Saks - lots of events. Here’s some details: Beauty Week is 2x per year in April and October, Fragrance Week is early to mid-May, Big Sales in July and January, Triple Points Event at end of May, Friends and Family in late October, Designer sales a few times a year …. and a special plug for Trish McEvoy: they have a Master Class event (where they teach you how to do makeup the Trish way) on August 2, 2008 in select stores

Banana Republic, J.Crew, and Ann Taylor typically have a big sale at the end of each season to clear out the store before introducing new lines. Look for summer styles to go on sale near the end of June.

Thanks to Cec for some assistance on this post! Note: these may not be 100% accurate this coming year, but just a hunch/guidance from previous experience…

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The typically cited definition of Petites is: Women under 5′3. For those of you who always need to shorten your pants or jacket sleeves, the relief of finding a petite line that fits can be overwhelming. But when this does happen, going home the day you make a purchase (or when it arrives in the mail) and wearing it right away leads to immediate satisfaction! Let alone saving the $$$ you would normally need to shell out for alterations.

Many brands offered by Shop It To Me carry Petite lines, and you can include Petite sizing options as part of your profile. So what brands carry Petite lines? Ann Taylor, Ann Taylor Loft, and Banana Republic are among the most well-known. Also be sure to select Theory, Juicy Couture, Michael by Michael Kors, C&C, Design History, A.B.S., Tufi Duek… I think you’ll be pleased with the selection!

Our Trendsetter serafina, a petites focused blog, gave some advice. Editor-in-Chief Lisa Connelly said, “My petite readers love Theory, BCBG, Macy’s INC, Raven Tailored, AprilMarin, Rag & Bone, Rebecca and Drew, LA Made, Ksubi, Joe’s Petite Provocateur Jeans, Trina Turk, Kasil, Karen Zambos, and Fernanda Carneiro. The list goes on, actually, which is great news for us petites! In general, the designers I recommend tend to run shorter or smaller in the shoulder, arm, waist, and leg. My advice? Find the brands that work for you and stick with them!”

Located in sunny Los Angeles, Lisa stands 5′4″ and is a size 00P. “Living in LA, I am continually inspired by our superb selection of designers and brands. And I’m devoted to helping my fellow petites find designer clothing that fits!”

We’re thrilled to have Lisa and serafina on-board as part of Trendsetters!

Have other Petite advice? Share it here.

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Don’t wear white before Memorial day. No open toed shoes after Labor Day. No wearing white to weddings. No black either. No mixing navy and black. No mixing pink and red.

How many rules do we have to follow? I personally think rules like these were meant to be broken!

As long as any chosen outfit is weather-appropriate and put together, the calendar should not dictate what you wear. Out here in San Francisco, the weather in the summer is colder than in the winter anyways. Yes, I think there’s a time and place for tradition - but when it comes to fashion rules, I personally prefer to throw them out the window!

So, hopefully these new sale arrivals will arrive at my door before the season changes…

Trina Turk - Mrs. Robinson V-Neck Dress Reg $298.00 Now $177.90

Banana Republic Sheath half-moon back dress Reg $140.00 Now $99.99

BCBGMAXAZRIA Cotton Voile Tier Babydoll Dress Reg $280.00 Now $139.90

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For many, the biggest frustration of shopping online for clothing is the fear that items won’t fit. But now, with stores making returns extremely easy, this can be less of a worry-some issue. A few words of advice when it comes to online shopping and returns:

• Check the return policy ahead of purchasing. The vast majority of stores do have a return policy. Occasionally during “Final Sale” moments, some will have non-refundable merchandise, but they generally make that very clear on their sites. Most of the larger chain retailers allow you to purchase online and return in a physical store if you prefer, eliminating the need to pay for return shipping (Bloomingdale’s, Nordstrom, Macy’s, etc). Others that are online-only stores, such as Piperlime, Zappos, and Bluefly include a pre-paid return shipping label should the item not fit - you just drop off to a UPS or DHL location and the store pays for the shipping. (and note: items bought through Shop It To Me need to be returned to the individual store, not us…)

• When you receive your item, keep the invoice and shipping labels that are included in the box! Don’t be too eager when opening the package that you neglect to keep these pieces of information (I’ve done this and it’s a pain…) If you DO accidentally trash these goodies and then realize you need a return shipping label, you can sometimes either call the retailer and they will email you a version you can affix to the box, or find the form on their website that you can print off. But really, try to save these documents — it will make your life much easier.

• Consider buying 2 sizes of an item and returning the one that doesn’t fit. This way, if you’re unsure about sizing, at least you have a better chance of fitting into one and getting to keep the style you sought out at the price you wished. With returns being so easy these days, I do this all the time to ensure that the style isn’t unavailable or a different price when I go back.

• Take a chance. Once you learn your body-type and have a sense of what will look good on you, it’s sometimes worth it to take a chance. I recently bought some Lucky jeans through Shop It To Me that were on “final sale”…and they fit perfectly! Buying jeans online is a scary thing - until they arrived, I was on edge. I just figured that if they didn’t fit, I could take them to a re-sale store and recoup most of the money since the price I paid was so discounted, or sell/give them to a friend as a gift. Sometimes the best items come from taking a chance.

Check back soon for another post where I’ll highlight the return policies in detail for some of our retailer partners…

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As the summer nears, it’s fun to jazz up that wardrobe with some new pieces. Most of us feel that we have something new to signal the fresh season…yet daily I hear of the need to save more money and go on a “shopping diet”….

Some thoughts on ways to spend a little and get a lot out of it going into the summer weather:

• Buy accessories to jazz up last year’s basics. Whether it is a great necklace, stand-out earrings, a fun bag, a scarf for the evening cooler weather, these are pieces that you can wear across seasons to get more for your money… and they often cost less than buying apparel.

Dotted Hair Band Reg $18.00 Now $9.95

Pieced Canvas Logo Tote Reg $32.50 Now $19.99

• Look for multi-purpose pieces. Can the tank you are eye-ing to wear to the park on a sunny day double-up as a cami that you can wear under blazers or sweaters during the rest of the year? Can the dress you’re now wearing with sandals be worn with tights and boots come early-Fall? Swimsuit cover-up also be worn as a long tunic over jeans? This approach will give your clothing more wearability…instead of only wearing these pieces June-August, you can stretch their life and make them live year-round.

C&C California - Leigh V-Neck Camisole Reg $68.00 Now $40.80

Milly - Geo Print Shirtdress Reg $370.00 Now $147.90

• Closet clean! Go through last year’s clothing and put together a bag of items that are still in great condition but you’ve just had enough of them. Most areas have re-sale or consignment stores you can take these pieces to. Most have the option to trade in for store-credit or some have the option for cash (which I greatly prefer). The cash option allows you to take the money you just made by selling last year’s wares and put it toward something new and fabulous (perhaps from a Shop It To Me email?!)

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