What I Got at the Eliza Faulkner Sample Sale

It wasn't what I expected...

I love living in Toronto, but it’s not exactly a fashion capital. That said, every so often an occasion comes in which it pays to be living in a mid-tier, out-of-the-way city compared to being somewhere in the centre of the action, such as New York or London. This past weekend was one such example: the Eliza Faulkner sample sale.

For those not in the know, Eliza Faulker is a Montreal-based designer whose hyper-feminine tulle gowns, ruffled hems and exaggerated collars are the stuff dreams are made of. She’s kind of like a cross between Cecilie Bahnsen and Sandy Liang, if they were Canadian and really dedicated to slow fashion. In short, her stuff rules. Naturally, when I heard she was holding a three-day sample sale, I cleared my schedule and made a plan. I am the kind of person who pulls up a restaurant menu to figure out what I want to order hours, sometimes days in advance. So I spent some time trolling the sale section on the website and had my eye on two specific pieces: the Sawyer blouse in black and the Venti blouse in striped seersucker. Beyond that, I figured I’d let destiny take the wheel and held out hope that a secret treasure or two might reveal themselves to me, buried amidst everything else on the racks. 

I arrived at the sale at 11am, meeting up with my fellow Faulkner-head Kyrell Grant (whose newsletter ‘blessed images’ is akin to watching the beauty of the universe unfurl itself), prepared to conquer the day. Unsure of what the fitting room situation would be like, I selected a strategic sample sale outfit: a long skirt and tights that could be hiked up in a pinch (good for trying on pants), and tank top underneath a big ole sweater. (The moral of the story: never wear a dress to a sample sale unless you want to find yourself naked in a room full of strangers.) 

The first thing I noticed was that there was a TON of selection. It almost felt like they had shipped every single item in stock on the website and managed to fit it all onto the racks. (They had the entire new collection there for full price, in addition to the sale stuff). Sometimes sample sales can feel a little bit…sparse but the racks were still pretty full despite it being the last day of the sale. It was also far more civilized than your average typical sample sale. No frantic, overcaffeinated people brandishing handbags and throwing elbows while competing for limited amounts of stuff. Just chill Sunday shopping, albeit with a few more people in the mix.

I was expecting a lot of rare, never-before-been-seen pieces but pretty much everything was discounted from the regular collection. In the back, a couple racks held damaged items and one-offs but overall it was giving more ‘sale’ than ‘sample.’ The prices were all over the place, sometimes labeled differently on the exact same item. However, there was a bonkers amount of good stuff, so after about ten minutes of browsing, my arms were full and I headed to the change rooms.

As much as I liked the shape, I wasn’t quite sold on the two-tone long-sleeved shirt. The Venti oversized button-down, however, did scratch some primal clown-shaped itch that lives deep within my soul.

I loved the Sawyer shirt on the rack, but felt like a cartoon character the minute I put it on, like Loonette the Clown’s goth cousin. It was kind of great, but ultimately confusing.

At last year’s sample sale, I ended up leaving with a pair of $50 Bailey seersucker shorts which are in constant rotation during the summer, so I was delighted to see a bunch of unique versions of the shorts in stock: chambray floral and black linen.

Nestled amongst the random items in the back, I found this white cotton Tig dress that I remember stalking online last summer. I had completely forgotten about it until I spotted it on the rack.

The winners? The Venti shirt ($179) and the Tig dress ($129). At least three strangers tried to convince me I needed the Loonette clown collar shirt, but in the end, it just didn’t make me feel like myself so I had to leave it behind. Total cost: $343.52. The opportunity to support a talented Canadian independent designer? Priceless.