You know how much the Czarina loves a sample sale, especially when there are FREE cocktails involved along with the discounts. Shecky’s is both an online and mobile event that partners with over 1200 designers across the US – and Shecky’s Girls’ Night Out is coming to Chicago!

SAMPLE cool cocktails, beauty treats, games, and more from Shecky’s partners.

SCORE up to $100 in beauty products and fun freebies in Shecky’s Famous Goodie Bag.

SHOP hundreds of hot, one-of-a-kind items from indie designers and boutiques across the U.S.—all at up to 75 percent off!

Aside from their events, Shecky’s synthesizes the hot trends and lets you know where to find them, with links to the online retailers. I really enjoy this feature, as who has time to comb through all online sites to find the best options? For instance, their feature on lace tights included the best of the best and what to wear them with. It reminds me a bit of The Lucky Shopping Manual that I have previously recommended, only the writing style is more friendly and the links make it easier to find what you want.

Sign up to be a Shecky’s Insider on the website to get emails and watch Stylefool for a sponsored giveaway!

Shecky’s Girls Night Out Chicago

Date: Wed.-Fri., Mar. 18th-20th, 2009
Time: 5pm-10pm
Place: The Great Hall at Chicago Union Station
210 S. Canal St. (entrance on Jackson Blvd.)
Price: $25 in advance, and $15 if purchased before February 25th!

The Czarina faces a new challenge to go along with her new job. Of course there’s always the intellectual challenge of random people coming up to you and asking for “The Report” – and you have the choice of either saying something that sounds like “Bzuh?!” or “Urgh,” as you try and figure out what they’re talking about before you look like an idiot.

However, right now I’m talking about the challenge of how to dress for the office. The Czarina was working for herself for a while, and theoretically you can wear that shredded sweatshirt from undergrad with the traces of Palace Dog snot on it while you talk to clients on the phone. No one will be the wiser as long as webcams aren’t an integral part of your business.

No, I’m talking about a workplace in which you can actually wear jeans to work. I realize I’m going to get slapped here, because who doesn’t want that kind of job? It’s a challenge for me, though, because my Grandma beat into my head that a woman should never dress like a schlep for work or going out. As Coco Chanel once said, ““I like fashion to go down to the street, but I can’t accept that it should originate there.”

I’m a bit old fashioned this way and it’s hard for me to wrap my mind around jeans in a corporate environment. I don’t have a problem with overpriced designer jeans per se (assuming they’re good quality), because they are definitely prettier than they have been in the past. But to me, jeans = weekend. My mindset is different and my attitude is different when I put on a pair of jeans. I’m not thinking about The Report. I’m thinking about pulling Little Palace Dog off of Large Palace Dog, whether certain people on our street have freakin’ shoveled their sidewalk yet (YO…yeah, you on the corner. Are you trying to kill me?!), or thinking about what I have to get at Home Depot so our rainspouts don’t get stolen again. I am not thinking about work. Jeans are a magical off switch for me.

So I had two choices. I can 1) refuse to wear jeans and look like I’m too good for everyone or 2) wear jeans and try and deal. I chose #2, which at least gave me the opportunity to go shopping. The dirty little secret of “corporate casual” is that you have to have work jeans, just like you have work pants. You can’t go spilling martinis on your work jeans and you can’t run the risk of your thong showing. They’re for work. Your weekend booty peek won’t fly here.

In order to reconcile Grandma’s/Coco’s advice and the fact that one must fit into your particular office culture at least to a degree, I figured I would accessorize. But I’m not really one to dress up jeans so I needed to get some ideas. Where o where do I go?

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OOOOH, nothing makes the Czarina happier than designer labels at discount prices. For this reason, she simply could not resist joining Billion Dollar Babes, a sample sale held in San Francisco, LA, Chicago, and New York, along with London and Dublin. A gold or platinum membership buys you a first look (which is all important if you wish to have the largest selection) as well as admission to sales in any city. During this past fall sale here in Chicago, there was a great rack of Dolce and Gabbana – and because the Czarina only has a gold membership, she probably missed out on D&G items that had a realistic chance of fitting.

More importantly, membership buys you something priceless:

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The 4th bi-annual Chicago Fashion Week is scheduled for September 21st through September 28th. Designers will showcase their Spring and Summer 2008 collections.

If you are a designer, the deadline for applying for participation is September 1st, and you will need to complete this form.

The Czarina wholeheartedly endorses the idea that Chicago deserves its own spectacular fashion week. According to MW Productions, the mission of the event is to:

[…Support] Chicago’s EMERGING & ESTABLISHED FASHION DESIGNERS. Our goal is to honor this city’s evolving artists and stylists. Their talent, their creations, their techniques and the possibilities these brilliant artists produce.

We will not rest until we are able to place Chicago to where it deserves, after all, for years Chicago has dressed its inhabitants, working professional class, some of its celebrity personalities, socialites and fashionistas exceptionally well, yet credit has gone to other markets. It is about time that Chicago is graced by an event worthy of International recognition.

Watch the official Fashion Week website for your chance to purchase tickets for the fall show. You might just meet that next big designer – get your paws on some unique and stylish clothing before everyone else has even heard his name or read about her in InStyle.

How are the three ‘R’s of Windows technical support relevant to a blog entry about Beta Boutique’s awesome Stacked Racks sale?

Well, it’s relevant only because the Czarina suffers mightily from a Geek Complex. She doesn’t want to admit to herself that she does, indeed, have a geek streak, because there’s just as powerful of a fashion slave inside. These two entities do not live well together in the same body. When they interface there is the very real danger of a matter/antimatter explosion that opens an alternate universe.

So after many attempts at finding some kind of understandable, funny, and ironic spin on “Beta” – both the name of this very excellent place and the testing phase before a software program is released – let’s just consider this headline witty, shall we? Help a gal out? I’d like to go back to ignoring the facts. Thanks.

Read on for the Czarina’s take on Beta Boutique’s Stacked Racks sale on August 11th and 12th.

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