Here are 12 sneaky little ways that you can save big while shopping for your high end luxury designer fashion items.

1. Shop the Year End or Mid Year Sales. The year's end is a time of holidays and spending. In the mid year or summertime, school's out and so are people. Fashion brands and retailers know this and capitalize on it. At these two times of the year, fashion retailers take the opportunity to heavily discount some of their high end luxury fashion items. These are usually past season items that did not completely sell off while they were trending. This is in an attempt to maintain fashion sustainability and profitability. However, it is also beneficial to you, the consumer. These are great times to score some seasonal items in classic colors or some classic items in seasonal colors for up to half off original prices. There may even be additional discounts from the high end department stores themselves, allowing as much as 80% off!

2. Shop off-season or at off-season stores. Simply put, if you are seeking to purchase designer fashion appropriate for spring-summer, the best time to shop would be autumn-winter or vice versa. Majority of fashion consumers do not think that far ahead when it comes to shopping. People buy what they see in front of them or whatever is on trend. Therefore, there are usually surplus items left over from previous seasons. For retailers to maximize profits, they often present these items at discounted prices in the off season. If you do not want to think too much about timing and which month is best to show up to get these discounts, simply visit an off-season store. Popular off-season stores in the USA include Nordstrom Rack, Saks Off Fifth Avenue and Bloomingdales Outlet. You may also shop online at websites like MyTheresa, The Outnet, Farfetch, 24s and Ssense. All these stores, all year round have deals and steals on these designer items.

3. Shop at outlet boutiques. Not all high end luxury design houses have an outlet boutique and they are also few and far apart. Popular designer outlets include Gucci, Saint Laurent and Burberry. There are also several mid range designer brands that offer discounted items at their outlet boutiques. Popular outlet malls that house these boutiques include Woodbury Commons in New York and Bicester Village in Bicester, England. These designer outlet boutiques are great places to get limited edition pieces, beautiful seasonal items and you might even get lucky and score some classic items on discount.

4. Sign up for loyalty programs with high end department stores. Stores like Bloomingdales, Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman and Harrods offer loyalty programs to regular shoppers. These loyalty programs can very well pay off when it comes to purchasing designer items. If you are already a shopper who frequents these stores to shop for fashion and non-fashion items, you can easily build up points over time that result in significant discounts on luxury items. Imagine shopping with a store all year long and being able to walk in at the end of the year and collect a SLG or pair of designer shoes without spending a dime. Talk about a sneaky way to save!

5. Use web browser extensions. There are several types of shopping browser extensions that could help you save while shopping for designer items. There are those that scour the internet to find coupons or codes that you can use to get your discounts. There are extensions that allow you to receive cash back when you shop on certain websites, and as you can imagine buying big ticketed items like designer fashion would result in significant cash back amounts. A favorite of mine is airline/travel points shopping extensions. Similar to a credit card that allows you to earn points as you use it, some airline browser extensions allow you to rack up airline miles as you purchase. Though you may not be saving on the designer item that you are buying, you are heavily discounting the cost of an airline ticket to a dream travel destination. Who doesn't love to travel?

6. Use influencer discount link. Social platforms are flooded with influencers and sometimes they get a bad rap for constantly pushing consumerism on their following in order to get their kick back or get paid by fashion retailers. However, as a consumer, you can definitely benefit from this relationship. Influencer discount links are great for those who already love an item and intend to purchase. All you have to do is click a simple link that will take you right to your beloved item, or type in a few characters of a discount code. At the end of it, you walk away with an awesome purchase and a few coins still left in your pocket while supporting someone else's hustle. Win, win!

7. Shop pre-loved or at consignment stores. This method gained so much popularity between 2017-2021. It has been touted as a great way to support fashion sustainability, score some amazing vintage or limited edition items and discounts. However, it has since lost popularity in light of numerous reports of inauthentic items being sold by or deceptively returned to sellers, price gouging and overall bad consumer experiences. Nonetheless, it is still an option to look into.

8. Shop luxury diffusion lines. This is for those of you who want to have the brand name and logo as well as brand new items at full price, without breaking the bank. Luxury diffusion lines are sub brands to the main high end luxury design houses. They are often more affordable but still made of high quality materials and craftsmanship. Popular diffusion lines include Miu Miu by Prada, Versace Jeans Couture by Versace and Polo Ralph Lauren by Ralph Lauren.

9. Shop collaborations. High end designer fashion houses are doing more collaborations with sporty, trendy and popular brands. They offer just as great quality and fun designs but more affordable prices. The items are usually limited edition which makes them much more exciting purchases. Recent popular high-low designer collaborations include Mugler x H&M, Tiffany and Co x Nike and Gucci x Adidas.

10. Venture into other areas of the stores/boutiques. (Under the assumption that most of my audience is seeking feminine fashion.) The pink tax is real, women are made to pay extra for very similar sometimes identical items as their male counterparts. Simply walking a few extra steps to the men's section will reveal some great sporty, casual and comfy items that are just as stylish but a little less pricey. In the same light, if you are on the smaller side (XS/XXS), consider going into the children's division. You would be surprised to find that a simple logo T shirt in the children's section that is identical to that found in the ladies' section could be as much as $200-$300 less. It may feel odd but there is no law that states an adult cannot purchase and wear children's fashion item. It's sneaky but a great way to get your designer items for less.

11. Shop lesser known brands or lesser known items from well known brands. There are loads of high end designer brands, some are just not as popular as others. However, there are lesser known luxury fashion brands that are consistently producing amazing high quality fashion items and in many instances offer them at more accessible prices. As it pertains to the well known brands, people tend to shop their most popular items. This means that these popular luxury design houses have less popular items at more affordable prices just waiting to be acquired by you. All it takes is for you to explore different areas of the stores and websites.

12. Shop brands implicated in scandals or changing creative director. This has to be the sneakiest of them all. Every now and then high fashion brands get called out for being involved in one scandal or another, some too horrible to mention. Whilst I am not encouraging any of you to support brands against your personal beliefs or convictions, I present this as an option simply because it is. I have noticed that immediately after a fashion brand has been publicly outed for a scandal, their items are immediately put to the forefront of the sale sections of these high end department stores and the prices slashed. This may be the retailers attempt to quickly distance themselves from the brand while recuperating as much profit as they can or avoiding significant loss. While the brands may lose out in the long run, the consumer can definitely benefit in the short term when all these items are made available at those heavily discounted prices.

When it comes to changing creative directors (either the creative director has passed or the brand is changing creative direction), consumers are often caught up in the hype of the moment, wanting to support or honor the creative director by making purchases as keepsake of that brand's era in fashion. Brands capitalize on this and flood the market (especially at off season stores) with previous season and limited edition designs of that creative director and heavily discount prices.

There you have it! A dozen sneaky ways to save big while building your designer fashion collections!

Stay fashionably well,

TheFashionFindess