clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

The Opening Ceremony Sample Sale Is a Must-Shop (for Fans of the House Line)

Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox. You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here.

When we stopped by yesterday's preview of the Opening Ceremony sample sale, we were greeted by a large, open warehouse space with a pretty sizable collection of discounted items from OC's street-style friendly wares. Right upon entry, you'll see the accessories section, where you'll find things like sunglasses ($66), small leather pouches ($5—15), and bins and bins of beanies ($5).

Here, much as throughout the sale, the vast majority of merchandise is either Opening Ceremony's house brand or Kenzo, which is designed by OC's trend-forward founders, Carol Lim & Humberto Leon. Your best bet is to look through for one-offs from other brands some of which have discounts far exceeding their respective sample sales.

For example, Alexander Wang's Prisma envelope bag is a steal here for $165 (and much less expensive than you'd find at Wang's much-missed sale, where similar-sized bags would range from $250 to 350. But we only saw one, and stock was similarly low for the other more versatile styles, like an OC black purse with hand clasps for $160.

Past accessories, you'll hit men's and women's shoes. Most numerous are styles from OC's collaboration with Teva ($20) and various heeled ankle boots, like a chunky canvas style for $70. If you make it early enough, you could grab one of a handful of Carrie Bradshaw-esque pink Manolos ($190) or some Proenza Schouler creepers (these were actually much cheaper at the Proenza end-of-season sale a few weeks ago).

After footwear, you'll see clothing, which is split roughly with menswear on the left and women's on the right. However, we saw men and women shopping both sides of the divide, as a lot of the sweatshirts and tees could easily be worn by anyone. The vast majority of items here are OC brand, including lots and lots of their various collaborations — did you know OC worked with Coke? We were particularly fond of the Magritte dresses for $70.

Your best deals will be on OC brand merch, and your lowest discounts will be on staple items. We saw a few very everyday pairs of Acne jeans, but at $180 (from $220), the discount wasn't particularly memorable. By contrast, a very chic Calvin Klein coat was 60% off, but still super pricey at more than $1,000.

We saw staffers bringing out more and more merchandise as we were perusing the racks, and were told they would continue doing so throughout the sale; they're hoping to have everything on the floor by end of day Saturday. Markdowns were considered possible — no promises — though not until Sunday. Check out the Dealfeed below for more information on when you can stop by,