Talbots is finally through with its “playing hard to get” routine.

The flailing women’s clothier said yesterday it “remains open to pursuing a transaction with Sycamore Partners” — a buyout firm whose takeover advances it had rebuffed for months.

New York-based Sycamore, however, is “not prepared to execute a transaction at this time,” after luring Talbots into exclusive talks during the past several weeks, the company said in a statement.

Shares of the shunned retailer dropped $1.05, or 41 percent, to close at $1.51 — their biggest one-day tumble in nearly a year — after hopes for a lucrative buyout unraveled.

Some insiders said the withdrawal by Sycamore — which earlier this month had bumped up its offer for Talbots to $3.05 a share, or $215 million, from an earlier bid of $3 a share — was likely a hardball tactic by co-founder Stefan Kaluzny, a shrewd retail turnaround artist.

“The board probably needs a wake-up call,” said one retail insider, adding that Talbots directors have “had a hard time getting their head around the idea that the stock isn’t going to go back to $10 by itself.”

Talbots shares had traded as high as $14 two years ago as CEO Trudy Sullivan, formerly president of Liz Claiborne, mounted a turnaround bid to attract younger customers with trendier looks.

Last August, when Sycamore initially disclosed a 10-percent Talbots stake, the retailer’s board adopted an anti-takeover “poison pill.”

But sales have tanked and losses have widened as Sullivan’s self-described campaign against “dowdiness” has backfired. New looks failed to catch the attention of younger shoppers and alienated the retailer’s aging client base.

Sullivan said in December she will retire while the board looks for a successor. Yesterday, Talbots said the search continues for a new CEO as well as a new suitor.

Despite reports in January that Talbots had been approached by buyout firms including Golden Gate Capital and TPG, sources said interest has since cooled.