Modo sales and a bracelet obsession

I'm writing this post a day late and a dollar short (quite literally). I went to the Modo Sales two weeks ago, but couldn't write about them since I was about to embark on my trip to Venice. The event takes place twice a year though, so I think it's worthwile sharing anyway.

The Modo Sales are an initiative by Modo Brussels, the organisation behind Modo Parcours (which I wrote about here) as well. Modo Brussels is doing a great job putting Brussels on the map fashion-wise. They very much increased the visibility of Brussels designers. Part of this are the sales they organise twice a year, during which designers can sell their overstock. This year sales took place on Friday the 18th & Saturday the 19th of November.

I thought I'd be smart and go during my lunch break on friday, thinking it would be less busy in the early hours. Turns out I was wrong. A lot of people were browsing, grabbing, checking labels, pulling out cash. A little too busy for my tastes. I found some dresses by Sandrina Fasoli I liked and waited what felt like an eternity in line for the dressing room to fit them. There weren't even that many people queueing, but there was only one (1!) dressing room (more like three curtains with a mirror inside). It took the middle-aged British lady in front of me forever and ever to make up her mind. She was constantly asking over one of the salespeople and asking for different sizes and his advice on this and that. He looked a little desperate by the end and couldn't help rolling his eyes to me when she called on him for the 7th time. I had trouble keeping a straight face when all I wanted to do was burst out laughing. The women behind me were seriously annoyed, though, and were muttering French curses more and more furiously as time flew by.

I rushed in and out when it was finally my turn (much to the relief of the people behind me) and returned the dresses. Their sizing was somewhat to small for me. I wanted to buy a black merino wool sweater with beautiful silver details, but a man from Sandrina told me I couldn't take it with me while I perused. I offered to take it to the register and buy it first, but much to my surprise this wasn't an option. You see, I didn't carry any cash, because the website advertised you could pay with debit & credit card. This was the first year the organisation had the option, but the designers had to sign some sort of contract for it, which the people from Sandrina Fasoli hadn't done. I was a little annoyed by this, but mostly because the guy in front of me seemed more preoccupied with upholding his artsy cool image than behaving in a customer-friendly way. Maybe it was just me.

I left the sweater behind and decided to hastely explore the back of the building. I got intrigued by the oh-so-light and gossamery jewelry of Vanessa Aerts. (She has a webshop too, so eat your heart out!) Her work is almost ethereal, but very modern and down to earth at the same time (mostly because she uses leather and modern shapes). She had some necklaces I very much liked, but I seem to have developed a slight obsession for bracelets these days and decided to buy this one:

Priced at 120 euros on the website (I paid 85). Mss Aerts was very nice and keen to help. She wrote down the amount I had to pay on one of her business cards and told me to take it to the register. On my way to pay (now very much pressed for time), I passed by Michael Guérisse O'Leary. I remembered his beautiful clutches sold by Valérie Berckmans and couldn't help taking a look. Perhaps I shouldn't have, because I saw yet another bracelet I wanted. He told me it was 20 euros (the original cost was about 60 euros) and gave me a business card as well.

My hurray-I'm-buying-pretty-things-glee soon faded away when the lady at the register told me I couldn't pay with a credit card after all, because of some or other bureaucratic problem. This would've probably pissed me off if she hadn't been so very nice and apologetic about it. Stupidly enough, the money I had on my debit card could only be accessed by internet. I had to go and tell I couldn't pay for the bracelets. Mss Aerts kindly offered to put it aside until I could come back for it, which I accepted. When I told Michael Guérisse O'Leary about my problems, he was really sympathetic. He gave me his bank account number so I could make a deposit later in the day and told me I could take the bracelet with me. I hesitated about putting this online, because people abuse kindness all too often, but it was too kindhearted a thing not to share.

Luckily, I was able to access my bank account after work, so I quickly returned to buy both bracelets. I'm a sentimental baby and I can get really touched by random acts of trust, so I stopped by the Pain Quotidien to get Michael a raspberry tartlet. That's what karma will buy you, people.

SO after all the trouble, the loot. I couldn't find a place to photograph them well, and than my eye fell on this little guy. He's an old gift from friends and you have to admit: he's quite fierce. Look at him smizing!

Yeah, I had a fantasy phase. Didn't you?

The expanding industry of outlet malls

Everyone who's the least bit cost-conscious, likes to indulge in sales, vintage shops, or shopping in outlets once in a while. Sometimes it's not even about the cost, it's more about the thrill of scoring a cheap but great piece of clothing. When you buy a 500$ dress at 50% off, you actually feel as if you saved 250$, even though you spent that exact same amount on a dress that, after you cut the price tags, might suddenly not seem that alluring at all. We all have something in our closets that was 70% off, so you couldn't possibly not buy it, even though you never wore it afterwards. I don't know why we react so greedingly to reduced prices, but I'm sure the evolutionary psychology has some sort of bogus explanation for it. Like when us girls used to go berry picking and another tribe approached us and told us that if we were to trade our berries for their mushrooms they'd throw in a free fur vest, then we'd go absolutely NUTS. Maybe I just really dislike evolutionary psychology.

Now that outlet malls and villages are popping up everywhere, it doesn't seem such a bad idea to put some thought in them. One of my dearest friends took me to Maasmechelen Village in the spring, as a birthday present. We had a great time and I found some cute things, but I wasn't overwhelmed like I thought I would be. She recently told me that she'd watched a documentary on outlet malls, and apparantly, the stock there doesn't consist of leftovers and overstock anymore. Most of the time they weren't made for regular retailing at all. They're fabricated especially for these outlets, using inferior materials and a different construction. Hence the lower price. This shocked me a little, but when it comes to fashion and marketing, I'm prepared to believe anything nowadays. To top it off, these places are designed to lure you into buying something. For instance, they're never near a big city. When you ask why, the response is that they don't want to create competition for the regular stores. Sounds logical, right? Except this creates a different effect: because people have to travel a while to get there (and thus invest time and money in transportation), it would feel like a futile trip if they didn't buy anything. So the costumers are more likely to spend money on stuff they don't really want. All is fair in fashion and war, I guess?

According to my research, you should take a close look at the tags if you want to whether you're buyin something that was designed for outlets or not. An even better way of finding out what quality the clothes are is bringing someone who knows something about sewing and textiles. My sister is a fashion technology student - I know who I'm bringing to my next trip!



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