Cheryl Shops

Let's be honest, January is a bottom-feeding time of year. Granted, if you are patient, it can be fabulous: Amidst all the pilling, dirty rejects, I've found everything from Prada pumps to 8-ply cashmere sweaters for 75% off. I'm now at the age where I still love a bargain, but I no longer have the stomach for sifting through sales racks. Thankfully, through the magic of the Internet, I get email alerts when my favorite brands go on sale (Shop It To Me is a favorite service for this, and if you have an iPad, Shopstyle has a fantastic app), and thus clearance season becomes awesomeness season. The best part is when an item you've been watching for months hits 50% off, but then it becomes kind of a game too—do you pounce immediately or wait until it goes to 70%? A wise woman once said you should never buy on sale what you wouldn't pay full price for, but an even wiser woman (me) says why pay full-price for one pair of shoes when you can get two pairs on sale?

Which brings me to these Theyskens' Theory Evie pumps, now on sale at Shopbop for 50% off. Word on the street is that platforms are on their way out ("single-sole pumps," aka non-platform pumps, are the buzz for spring), but as I've said many times before, you can ply my platforms from my cold, dead, atrophied feet. These are suede, and I have a hard time paying full price ($420!) for a pair of suede shoes. $210, however, I could handle, especially when they have a very comfortable 3.25" heel (that's a 5-inch heel minus the 1.75" platform), an interesting seamed toe, and a sexy gold metal detail along the heel that creates the illusion of a stiletto. There's one pair left in my size in gray, and while part of me wants to hold out for another markdown, I don't know if I can. After all, I'm a shopper, not a gambler.

Helmut Lang and Theyskens' Theory seem an unlikely duo for a joint sample sale: the former is a contemporary reinvention of a visionary minimalist designer's line (minus said minimalist visionary), while the latter is a contemporary line currently helmed by a visionary neo-gothic designer. But, really, the common denominator is that both companies are owned by Link Theory, and at this sale, they're up to 70% off, which is really the important part. Through 1/20; 11-7; 93 Mercer St. (Spring & Broome Sts.).