It's beginning to look like you won't need to get up early for Black Friday sales this year. You'll simply have to stay up late to cash in on deals during the first official day of the holiday shopping season.

Macy's announced Monday it will open its doors at midnight Black Friday, the first time ever for the retailer. And now Kohl's has joined in and will also open at midnight.

A few years ago, my lovely grandmother Beulah Bright died, leaving behind many gifts and lessons of great value, mostly intangible.

But she left material things too, and of those I took, among other things, some brooches. Except for one sparkly piece, they were mostly quietly elegant, much like my grandmother. Since then, the brooches have been in an old Macy's box, placed on my dresser. I wore them occasionally.

Then a few weeks ago, I met Johanna Ely of Raleigh's Good Girls Studio. Ely takes vintage pieces and recycles them, giving them a modern interpretation. She makes earrings, cuffs, and especially necklaces.

Speaking of Macy's, Business Week is reporting that Macy's will carry an exclusive Ellen Tracy sportswear line next spring, including jackets, shirts and pants. The line will be in 100 Macy's stores and at macys.com. (Which means, we in the Triangle may or may not ever see the line.)

Sign up now at Macys.com to be the first to find out when this little black dress from Irina Shabayeva hits stores.

Irina, as many of you know, won the challenge Thursday night on Project Runway to have her dress design in Macy's stores for the holidays.

The dress, which is a contemporary spin on the LBD, will be an INC International Concepts-branded dress and should hit select stores in the first week of December. Made of rayon matte jersey, the dress will have the butterfly-embellishment on it, shown here. It will sell for $139 and should come in sizes small through extra large.

Martine Reardon, executive vice president of Macy's who was one of the judges Thursday, said Irine won because of how well her designs fit with the INC brand. “It is tremendous to see
what these young and talented designers can do in a very short time and with such imagination. Irina’s fresh take on fashion is the ideal fit for our INC brand,” Reardon said. “Our customer will love her ultra-feminine aesthetic."

I don't know about you all, but I liked Irine's flowy, patterned dress better than this one. This seems a little more South Beach than heartland USA, which tends to be Macy's customer base.

(BTW, that's model Katie Sticksel modeling the dress. Nice deal for both of them.)

Macy's at Crabtree Valley Mall will have a Style & Co. shopping party Saturday with style experts in the store to share style tips and show how to transition wardrobe pieces, particularly with the Style & Co. brand.

Style & Co. is known for its versatile pieces that easily transition from home to work to weekend with sportswear, shoes, jewelry and accessories.

Shoppers will get a gift with any Style & Co. purchase of $30 or more, while supplies last. Customers also will get a shot at winning a $250 electronic gift certificate.

The event is from 1-4 p.m.

And what designer wouldn't be, really. Simpson tells In Touch Weekly magazine that her dreams as a designer have come true by having items from her Jessica Simpson Collection in 10 windows at Macy's flagship store in New York. 

"What a thrill!" she told the magazine. "As a kid, one of my favorite things to do was to go window shopping at Macy's when I visited New York. It seems surreal to now be featured in those windows. They look beautiful."

Expect to see more of Jessica. She just launched a new lingerie line with Vandale Industries and is working on a new VH1 series called "The Price of Beauty."

I'm not always a fan of some of the diffusion lines out there (nice prices, yes, but the quality ...?). But purely from the looks of it, Rachel Roy's lower-priced line at Macy's, Rachel Rachel Roy, is kinda cute with a modern, edgy look, especially this little black dress. Love the pockets. Love the collar detail. Not so sure I love the price at $109 (must feel and touch and pull and tug to see if it's really worth the $109).

The collection includes tops and dresses, priced from $59 to $129. Oh, and there's a jumpsuit in the collection. It's black and kinda of sexy ... for a jumpsuit ($119).

Made a quick call to the Crabtree Macy's and the salesperson said the collection is not available locally. (Of course, I would have in the past just zipped off an e-mail to the local Macy's pr person to ask ... but her position was cut in the midst of this financial nastiness.) So I'm still hunting down where the closest store is that's selling the line. In the meantime, check it out online.

UPDATE: Just got word that none of the NC stores will carry the line.