Labor Day has arrived, which means retailers would very much like you to believe that absolutely everything you have ever wanted is suddenly a bargain. It isn’t. Some of these sales are genuinely excellent; others are merely ordinary prices wearing very enthusiastic red signs. The trick is knowing what is worth buying now, where the deepest discounts actually are and what should stay firmly in your shopping cart until later.

Fashion is surprisingly strong this Labor Day, particularly if you shop the sale racks rather than the shiny new Fall 2026 collections arriving just in time for Fashion Week. Bloomingdale’s is one of the standouts, with selected designer clothing, shoes and handbags marked down as much as 70%. Nordstrom has thousands of markdowns, including Free People, Paige, Spanx and Tory Burch, with some reductions reaching 80%. Macy’s is advertising savings up to roughly 60–65%, depending on the department.

For a less expensive wardrobe refresh, this is also a very good weekend for basics. Gap has knitwear, denim, outerwear and other pieces marked down as much as 50%, while J.Crew is offering an additional 40% off already-reduced sale merchandise. Banana Republic has selected wardrobe pieces discounted as much as 40%, and Levi’s has 30% off selected styles. Those are the places to look for denim, shirts, trousers and transitional pieces that will carry you into fall without paying full September prices.

Home is where Labor Day gets serious. Williams Sonoma has one of the most aggressive offers we’ve found, with its Warehouse Sale reaching 75% off and an additional 20% off clearance. Pottery Barn and West Elm have markdowns reaching 70%, while Crate & Barrel is offering discounts up to 60%. If you’ve been waiting to replace bedding, cookware, furniture or something substantial for the apartment, these are considerably more interesting than buying another sweater simply because it is 30% off.

Furniture shoppers should also look at Wayfair, where the Labor Day Clearance reaches 70% off rugs, furniture, storage and décor. Ashley has selected furniture up to 70% off, while CB2 is offering reductions up to 50% across furniture, mirrors, lighting, rugs and tabletop. The usual warning applies: never buy a sofa because the percentage looks impressive. Measure the room first. There is nothing chic about discovering your fabulous 70%-off sectional blocks the front door.

For appliances and home improvement, The Home Depot has more than 1,000 Labor Day sale items across appliances, tools, grills, outdoor equipment and patio furniture; some current individual discounts exceed 40%. Lowe’s is offering discounts reaching 50% across selected appliances, outdoor products, tools and home merchandise. This is exactly the kind of purchase Labor Day is good for: the refrigerator you actually need, not the air fryer that somehow becomes irresistible at 11:47 p.m. because it is $28 cheaper.

Mattresses are another genuine Labor Day buy. Saatva, Casper, Avocado, Bear and Mattress Firm all have significant promotions running. Casper’s discounts reach 35%, Bear’s 35%, Avocado’s 20%, while Mattress Firm is offering savings of up to $700 on selected mattresses and related products. Labor Day remains one of the few sale weekends when waiting to replace a mattress can actually pay.

Outdoor merchandise is another buy now. Patio furniture, grills and summer entertaining pieces need to disappear from stores before holiday merchandise takes over. The Home Depot has current patio and grill reductions exceeding 50% on selected products, and other home retailers are clearing outdoor collections as well. Buy the patio set in September and enjoy feeling terribly clever when you pull it out next May.

There are, however, things I would not rush to buy. The newest Fall 2026 designer fashion is arriving now, and unless something is likely to sell out, paying close to full price during Fashion Week season makes little sense when markdowns will come later. The same applies to holiday toys and many electronics: Black Friday and Cyber Monday will bring another enormous round of competition. There are exceptions—Best Buy and Walmart do have legitimate electronics promotions this weekend—but don’t replace perfectly functional technology merely because Labor Day has given it a sale sticker.

The best Labor Day strategy is therefore wonderfully simple: buy what retailers are trying to get rid of, not what they’re excited to sell you. Summer fashion, outdoor furniture, mattresses, appliances, furniture and clearance merchandise are where the leverage is. Brand-new fall collections, holiday merchandise and impulse electronics can wait.

Remember 70% off something you actually wanted is a bargain. Seventy percent off something you never needed is still money spent.

Fall fashion officially arrived in Tribeca as QVC gathered Coco Rocha, Nicole Miller, Mally Roncal and Aimee Kestenberg at Fouquet’s New York for an intimate first look at the season ahead.

Held September 2, QVC’s Fall Fashion Kickoff brought together four women with distinctly different points of view, offering a preview of the collections and new pieces arriving on the network throughout the fall. But the evening’s biggest reveal belonged to Coco Rocha, who offered guests a first glimpse of her first-ever QVC apparel collection, set to launch later this season.

Coco Rocha Celebrates Her First-Ever QVC Apparel Collection! Photo by Lauren Cassot

For Rocha, one of fashion’s most recognizable models and certainly one of its greatest posers, moving from wearing the clothes to putting her own name and perspective behind them is an intriguing next act. Her career has always been built on transformation—she can change the entire attitude of a garment with a shoulder, a hand or one perfectly calculated glance—so seeing how that understanding of clothes translates into a collection of her own is worth watching.

Aimee Kestenberg Shows Off a Standout Style from Her Fall Collection Photo by Lauren Cassot

Designer Aimee Kestenberg was also on hand, showing off a statement jacket from her latest fall collection.

Mally Roncal holds up a denim jacket from her new fashion collection with QVC. Photo by Lauren Cassot

Beauty powerhouse Mally Roncal gave guests a closer look at a denim jacket from her new QVC fashion line. Nicole Miller, whose name has been part of the New York fashion vocabulary for decades, rounded out the fashionable foursome.

The choice of Fouquet’s New York was equally fitting. With its Paris-meets-downtown-Manhattan atmosphere, the Tribeca hotel supplied an elegant backdrop for an evening that was less sprawling fashion spectacle and more stylish preview of what women may actually want to wear once New York’s temperature finally decides that summer is over.

That may be the more interesting direction fashion is taking this fall. The distance between runway fantasy and clothes designed for real wardrobes continues to shrink. Personality matters. Wearability matters. And increasingly, the woman behind the clothes matters just as much as the label sewn inside them.

Rocha, Roncal, Kestenberg and Miller each arrive at that conversation from somewhere different—model, beauty entrepreneur and designers with their own established aesthetics—but together they offered QVC a decidedly New York way to welcome the season.

Summer may still be hanging onto the city, but inside Fouquet’s, fall had already arrived.

New York Fashion Week has always been as much about what happens between the shows as what happens on the runway. This September, one of those moments will smell remarkably like fall.

On September 14 beginning at 10 a.m., NEST New York will take over Chelsea Triangle in the Meatpacking District with a complimentary Cardamom Latte café, turning the launch of its new Cardamom Latte Eau de Parfum into something New Yorkers can both wear and drink.

The concept is wonderfully simple: take the notes of a fragrance and put them into a cup. Visitors can stop by for a free fall-inspired cardamom latte while experiencing the scent that inspired it, transforming what would ordinarily be a perfume launch into a small sensory playground in the middle of Fashion Week.

Cardamom Latte was practically made for September in New York. The fragrance combines cardamom with jasmine petals, coconut milk and vanilla cream, moving between spice, floral notes and something warm and deliciously comforting. It is fragrance borrowing from café culture, then café culture returning the favor.

There is also something distinctly New York about launching it in the Meatpacking District during Fashion Week. For years, the neighborhood has been one of the places where fashion, beauty, nightlife, food and street culture continually collide. A perfume-inspired coffee shop appearing for a day in Chelsea Triangle feels considerably more interesting than another fragrance bottle sitting beneath perfect lighting at a traditional launch party.

It also taps into the increasingly blurred line between beauty and experience. We no longer simply want to smell the perfume or see the dress. We want to enter its world. Here, scent becomes taste, a perfume counter becomes a café, and discovering a new fragrance becomes part of wandering through New York during one of its most stylish weeks.

The pop-up is also conveniently located just steps from Sephora, where the Sephora-exclusive Cardamom Latte Eau de Parfum can be purchased after visitors have had their first smell—and their first sip.

NEST New York’s Cardamom Latte Café takes place September 14 beginning at 10 a.m. at Chelsea Triangle in the Meatpacking District. The lattes are complimentary.

Fashion Week may be concerned with what New York is going to wear next, but for one morning, it will also be concerned with how New York smells—and apparently, how it takes its coffee.

The Hamptons went to the dogs—in the very best possible way—as NYC Second Chance Rescue gathered animal lovers, philanthropists and familiar faces at a private Bridgehampton estate for its 5th Annual Concert for a Cause.

The summer benefit honored legendary entrepreneur, philanthropist and longtime animal advocate John Paul DeJoria, while also marking the world introduction of Pawpoint.

Beth Stern (Image Credit: BFA / David Benthal)

DeJoria, whose philanthropic work has long extended to animal welfare, was recognized for a commitment that dovetails naturally with the mission of Second Chance Rescue.

“It is an honor to be recognized by NYC Second Chance Rescue,” DeJoria said. “Their compassion, dedication, and commitment to animals are truly inspiring, and I am grateful to be part of an evening that will help so many animals in need.”

Hamptons benefit should never forget the party, the evening came with some serious musical wattage.

Ashanti (Image Credit: BFA / David Benthal)

Grammy Award winner Ashanti headlined alongside platinum-selling artist Fabolous, giving the intimate Bridgehampton gathering considerably more star power than the average summer fundraiser.

Fabolous Photo by Rose Billings

Fabolous (Image Credit: BFA / David Benthal)

The generosity continued offstage. A live auction featured experiences including a yacht charter donated by Lauren and Eddie Shapiro of NestSeekers, while a paddle raise brought in additional funds for the rescue’s work with some of the animals most difficult—and expensive—to save.

Beth Stern (Image Credit: BFA / David Benthal)

Among those joining the evening were Beth Stern

Caroline Radziwell (Image Credit: BFA / David Benthal)

Carole Radziwill, Peter Cook,

Bradley Fishel, Alexandra Fishel, Maria Fishel, Kenneth Fishel Beth Stern (Image Credit: BFA / David Benthal)

Kenneth and Maria Fishel, Blair and Margit Brandt, Jennifer Brooks, Lisa Blanco, Lisa Rose, Katie McEntee, Daisy Toye, Eric Muschinski, Tina Guidipipietro and Rocco Guidipipietro, along with DeJoria, Ashanti and Fabolous.

Lisa Blanco, Ashanti, Jennifer Brooks (Image Credit: BFA / David Benthal)

Behind the glamour is a mission with very real consequences. Founded in 2009, NYC Second Chance Rescue concentrates much of its work on animals that frequently have the fewest options: large-breed dogs and critically injured or medically complex dogs and cats pulled from overcrowded municipal shelters.

Since its founding, the nonprofit has rescued more than 17,000 animals, providing medical treatment, rehabilitation, foster care and ultimately the possibility of a permanent home. Its work extends beyond rescue through community programs designed to help people keep the animals they already love.

The evening was presented with support from Alexander Capital Ventures LLC, Montauk Project and the Phenom Foundation, with Renaissance Properties, Margot Brandt Palm Beach and Cindy Karen serving as Champion sponsors.

There are plenty of beautiful parties in the Hamptons every summer. The best ones manage to send everyone home having accomplished something besides being photographed.

Concert for a Cause did exactly that—turning one glamorous Bridgehampton night into second chances for animals who desperately need them.

The joy that arrives when very famous, very fit athletes are handed a spoon, a mountain of toppings and permission to be silly is particularly giddy. That was indeed the mood on Tuesday evening at The Parliament, tucked inside the marble-and-cream elegance of The Benjamin Royal Sonesta in Midtown East, where US Open Fan Week kicked off with with a serve of scoops. Ice cream, that is.

Players Flavio Cobolli, Matteo Arnaldi, Elena Rybakina and Karen Khachanov attended The Pros Serve at The Parliament, The Benjamin Royal Sonesta’s signature restaurant, while celebrating the arrival of the US Open to NYC.

The invitation promised “a fun night off the court” and for once, the invitation undersold the event. Top-seeded pros Elena Rybakina, Flavio Cobolli, Karen Khachanov, Paula Badosa, and Matteo Arnaldi turned up for a friendly ice cream sundae challenge and the room, predictably, lost its collective mind.

Flavio Cobolli, direct from his win over Serena Williams, and Matteo Arnaldi dish up the fun. Photo Gabi Porter for The Parliament.

The Parliament’s usual luxe hush gave way to full tennis regalia: a leafy step-and-repeat backdrop stood sentinel for the selfie set, rackets ready to prop.

The Benjamin Royal Sonesta Hotel hosted “The Pros Serve”, a US Open fan week event at The Parliament. Photo courtesy Gabi Porter.

The Honey Deuce

The signature Honey Deuce (Grey Goose, raspberry liqueur, and a little summer sass) flowed alongside a sprightly elderberry mocktail for those pacing themselves before Queens.

The Parliament’s beefy sliders.

Parliament’s kitchen did not hold back. Beefy sliders, chicken satay skewers, arancini crisped to crowd-pleasing perfection, and an impossibly delicate rice paper–wrapped shrimp number circulated in waves, punctuated by the requisite melon balls. The parade of passed plates was so thoroughly delightful that T2C’s own editrix Suzanna Bowling declared, on the spot, that Parliament’s restaurant program deserves a feature all its own. Consider it assigned.

A DJ spun an optimistic, ’80s-tinged set before shifting into full East Harlem–style hype mode, complete with a mohawked break dancer in pink satin Lacoste tearing up the floor. The midtown crowd, pleasantly lubricated, found itself moving in something resembling rhythm.

Break points on the dance floor.

Enter the Pros

Then came the moment everyone was waiting for: the athletes filed in to a bright pink wave of tennis towels, monogrammed and ready, and the Sundae Scoop Down officially began.

“The Ice Queen” aka Grand Champion Elena Rybakina, melts sweetly for US Open fans. Photo courtesy Gabi Porter for The Parliament.

What followed was chaos in the best possible sense. Chocolate piled onto vanilla with real abandon. Great gobs of marshmallow fluff appeared and reappeared. A stray strawberry crowded out the Oreo crumbles. Someone made a genuinely questionable case for caramel-drenched pineapple. Joy, it turned out, is a universal language and it was shouted in several of them at once.

Artist David Brooks

“For someone known as ‘The Ice Queen,’ Elena Rybakina sure is smiling a lot!” observed artist David Brooks, watching the two-time Grand Slam champion build her creation with unmistakable delight. He wasn’t wrong — there was no trace of competitive tension in the room, just whooping fans and athletes who seemed genuinely thrilled to be judged on sprinkles instead of serve speed.

Karen Khachanov paused mid-sundae, repeatedly, to pose for photos with fans who clearly weren’t going to get a better opportunity. Matteo Arnaldi arrived fashionably late, having just come off another win on the Queens courts — proof that a title match and a fluff explosion can, in fact, coexist on the same day.

Screaming for ice cream.

The pros’ signature sundaes won’t be a one-night novelty. Per the event’s organizers, each player’s creation will land on The Parliament’s menu for the full run of the US Open, so anyone who missed the live spoon-to-spoon combat can still taste the sweet results.

It was, happily in the end, exactly what the invitation promised: top-ranked athletes, off the clock, being unapologetically human over ice cream, Honey Deuces and a whole lotta love. 

“The Pros Serve” was held Tuesday, August 25, from 6–8 PM at The Parliament at The Benjamin Royal Sonesta, 125 East 50th Street, as part of US Open Fan Week.