Tonight I enjoyed the opportunity to shop Gilt Groupe's now sold out Warehouse Sale, the night before it opens to the public. The event venue, the Altman Building, is no stranger to fashion related events. The layout for Gilt's event was simple: handbags & accessories front and center, men's and home to the right, shoes in the back and women's on the left (with a very small children's section near the fitting rooms even beyond that). Women's clothing definitely makes up the majority of the inventory. The men's section is small big mighty and the home section is just....strange. After spending 90 minutes enjoying cocktails, cookies and bargains, I have a few tips:

• Selection may appear slim, but after speaking to a member of the Gilt team, I was told that they have stock reserved for each time slot they sold tickets for. How democratic!
• The handbag section is definitely going to get feisty. It's confined to half a table, but the prices are good. Bag pricing is pretty inconsistent - if there are multiple pieces of the same item, be sure to check the tags for the lowest price (and note that tags hiding on the inside can be marked with even lower prices!). Brands spotted include: Z Spoke, Kate Spade, Marc Jacobs, Furla, L.A.M.B. and Rebecca Minkoff.
• The Minkoff bags were the hottest commodity: Mini MABs going from $100 - 150, MACs $100 , Nikki Hobos $100 - $150
• The clothing section is incredibly neatly organized, sorted by size. Finds from the night include $175 Pucci, McQueen and Marc by Marc Jacobs.
• Surprisingly, I saw no sign of jewelry. Outside of handbags and shoes, the closest thing I saw to accessories were Zac Posen for Wolford tights, mismatched bikinis and belts.
• The home section was the most... interesting. Items ranged from chicken suits (no, really) to candles, pillows and duvet covers. I'm still at a loss for words over the chicken suits.

Did you purchase tickets to Gilt's Warehouse Sale? If not, would you consider it in the future?