How to look expensive (on a budget)

I remember long ago going to a wedding in a nice blouse I had just bought. Someone admired it, but when I said it came from M&S she turned her nose up, and said "Oh they are so useful for cheap bits and pieces, aren't they?" I didn't enlighten her that I normally shopped for my clothes in C and A, or even cheaper, and for me this blouse was an expensive treat. (incidentally, she didn't look any better dressed than me, and was certainly more bitchy)

It's immoral spending that amount. I wouldn't do it even if I were wealthy.

I quite enjoy the odd immoral splurge on a nice dress if my budget can take it and I'm going somewhere where I want to wear it.

Why the need to look expensive , how shallow a life she must live

My OH gets the Sunday Times and I always chuck the Style section in the bin as it is full of clothes that both look ridiculous and cost ridiculous and obscene amounts of money.

Any way, the idea of wanting to look expensive is pointless and totally barmy. Why would you want to do that? What are you wanting to convey to those around you?

article here

I must be a bit of a moron, because I can't tell a designer dress from a high street one. If I could afford the former, I'd be tempted to wear it inside out, so at least people could see I was wearing a Stella McCartney or a Victoria Beckham. On second thoughts that wouldn't be any good, as they probably don't sink so low as to put a label in the back. On 'third' thoughts I doubt they make their dresses in 16/18!

I don't even think she 'looks expensive'. Dress is fairly ordinary. For £90 I'd want something a bit more eye catching. My last buys were a top £5 and a pair of trousers £8 from George (Asda)-reduced.
They look good I think-good as her £90 anyway!

"Experiment with wearing belts on different parts of your body" ????

I too would not know if anything was'designer' or not, I just like the look of something or not. Ive just bought a top from asda £3 (reduced)and a dress £5 also reduced. I love going to charity shops in case I get something unusual that has cost more new than I could afford.
The most expensive thing Ive ever bought was a real barbour jacket from the factory outlet for £90, it had a £350 price tag under the £90, sale tag. However as I work out of doors I needed a good waterproof and I wore it for 7 years ,it now hangs in my spare room as its too tatty to wear for work but if I get a dog I will wear it again.
So yes, to the OP, I would spend £90, but for something that I really needed certainly not for a dress.

I would spend £90 on clothing, but it certainly wouldn't be on THAT.

Yesterday I bought a lovely top, in a charity shop, for £4.00. New it would have cost around £30.00. It's a KIN top from John Lewis, and will come on holiday with me. as it is 100% cotton. Now that's a budget bargain.

I would spend £90 on a coat but not on a dress!
And if I could find a pair of shoes that were comfortable all day long I would spend £90 on them
but I was very pleased to find a jacket in M&S last week, reduced to half, then reduced again when she put it through the till and I had enough vouchers to pay for it. So it was free!

Experiment with wearing belts on different parts of your body" ???? ankle? wrist? or an extra specially wide one to hold in my tummy perhaps?
aka a Playtex Living Girdle

I certainly wouldn't spend £90 on that dress, I don't like it at all. Yesterday I bought some summer trousers in Tesco, two pairs, one £12 the other £16. I thought they were good value and they fit really well. I now need some tops to go with them.

That £90 dress? It's hideous - she was robbed! Wearing belts on different parts of the body? If I asked DH he would probably say "round your neck and let me tighten it for you , dear!" The most expensive dress I ever bought was the one I wore to my son's wedding. It cost three figures and I have never worn it since (never had an "occasion" since and probably never will have again!) but I looked and felt really good in it and therefore it was money well spent. I'm with jalima - coats, yes, and good shoes.

Jalima that's really good.

My dds find stacks of nice things in charity shops in Oxford. Nearly new dresses from East, Boden, all sorts, for £10 or less. Dd1 recently found a really lovely dress to wear to a summer wedding - it looked new - for under £10.

And, dare I say it, having looked until she was in despair for a brand new dress for her own civil wedding last year, she finally found a beautiful silk one in a charity shop - truly gorgeous colours and fitted like a dream - for under £20.
Having said that, I think their charity shops get a lot more good stuff than the ones around here!
Dd2 is also a great one for sales. She will find e.g. really good leather boots for say £35, marked down from £120+.

I must be a lone voice here. I have a couple of dresses that cost over £90. If I can afford it and they make me feel good wearing them, why not? I don't consider it immoral.

Witzend I believe the knack of getting good bargains is to go to a charity shop in an expensive part of town eg in London, Knightsbridge or thereabouts if one lives in London. Where I live in London bargains are with books not clothes.

I would happily spend that on something I loved but I also happily buy tops in Sainsbury's. I don't wear dresses or skirts buy I would, and have, spend that amount on a good pair of trousers. They can last years so are good value.

I think looking 'cheap' is much more fun. Minibags once found this pic of me, walking back from delivering her to primary school, on Google Streetview. After her exclamation of "OMG! That's my mum!" to her friends, they all looked and unanimously said "Hippy".

The trousers are made of old curtains, the pure wool men's argyle jumper is over another pure wool men's jumper, both from a charity shop. The hat is also wool, bought new, and the boots are leather Zamberlans (hiking boots) that I eventually wore out after owing them for twenty years. They certainly cost a lot, possible even over £100, but that's only five quid a year spread over their lifetime.

The dress in the article is hideous.

I have some sort of "designer clothes" but I always buy them in the sale. Just bought a lovely cotton Per Una cotton cardigan in sale for £19-original price £35. Have worn it several times already and got compliments so am pleased with it.
Wedding outfits for our DDs weddings I have worn again as, although obviously not your run of the mill stuff, not TOO dressy for lunches and dinners and events like that.
Had bought a lovely floaty summer dress a couple of years ago for half price-never got to wear it cos weather was rubbish but went to a wedding yesterday and it was perfect. Hopefully will wear it again this year if weather holds for garden parties coming up.

ps Apart from the boots, probably the most expensive thing I'm wearing then is the cotton churidars underneath the curtain trousers. It was winter, thus the layers.