Fashion Classics The 7 EXPENSIVE Looks!

So how do we really look expensive? It's not one particular luxury label. In fact, it has nothing to do with labels. Today I want to show you the elements of looking expensive. The purpose isn't to spend to look better, but to understand why some outfits are labeled as expensive looking. So let's review what these classic outfits are that give that expensive look. They don't need to be high-end labels, but most of the time they will be more expensive, because they're not fast fashion. And I think we need to retrain our brain a bit to what well-made clothes should cost, myself included, because a premium white t-shirt will not be five dollars, unless it's like 80% off. Too much of a bad print. So here is an example of what expensive print looks like, and what cheap print looks like. I want you to look at these two dresses. One costs 27 dollars, and the other one 385 dollars. I chose similar styles and colors, and I want you to see how big of a difference it is. One is overly saturated with colors and patterns, and it's just a bit chaotic, versus the other one has deliberate shapes, and you can clearly distinguish the print itself. Here is what stands out to me. The attention to detail. One has simple sleeves, the other has tailored sleeves into well-defined cuffs. And not any cuffs, but delicate button cuffs. One has a collar, and the other doesn't. The stitching at the waistline is sewn in a double belt to flatter the figure, versus the cheaper version has just the plain belt. Now in terms of fabric, they're both polyester, and even though this jersey looks more comfortable, the structure of the buttoned A-line dress looks more polished and elegant. I like them both, but you can see one looks fun, wearable, and the other looks, well, expensive. White. Let's take a look deeper into some of the meaning here. Some say wearing white dates from old rich money roots. You see, in the 19th century, there weren't enough paid roads. You know, think lots of mud, and slush, and less stain removers. So maintaining white would have been a real challenge. Most women didn't wear white. After Labor Day, which is in May, when families left the cities for the summer, the rich women would have a whole new white wardrobe for warmer months. You know, think summer, but this must have been really costly in a way to easily differentiate between those who could afford several wardrobes, and those who didn't. In addition to this, white is still prone to stains. Though I must say that I bought a few casual white jeans last spring, and I wear them usually in an all-white, you know, top to bottom look, and I've not once stained them. So I still think the monochromatic white look is accepted overall as an expensive outfit, because we were always told it dates back a long time ago, and now we know it actually does. Now what is outdated, is that one can't wear white after Labor Day, which I don't think it applies any longer, because one, we can afford several wardrobes, and we do have to adjust the seasons, and two, we don't have labor-extensive jobs, or the streets aren't as slushy to get them as dirty. We can pretty much wear white all year round. Let's talk about how to wear your clothes or accessories, because you have to be gentle in your moves. So for example, you have to be careful with the placement of your handbag, because you know it's worth a lot. So you don't leave it open on a public table while you run off. You take care when you put it down or hang it. All these show that your outfit is expensive. Even when you straighten the dress before you sit, it shows signs it's an expensive item that deserves care. Same for the coat, jacket, or blazer. Now one example that I can think of to give you is how I hang my coat at work. We have the usual multi-hook hanger, but since I wear expensive wool and alpaca coats to work, I brought in my own hanger, and I hang my coat there every time. I'm the only one that does this, by the way. And you know, I also hang my blazer when I take it off, and don't just throw it on the chair. No one taught me this, but it's just common sense that when you have something expensive, you treat it better and look out for it. You also cover yourself when you eat with a napkin in your lap and are mindful of objects that can stain you, such as someone's lipstick, right? Imagine guarding a precious object. That's what expensive looks like. Proper care. You've probably heard that wrinkles are the enemy of a polished look, and I just completely paraphrase it, but it's a well-known tip. This is a pretty easy one to see why, right? Expensive outfits are well taken care of because it projects the image of proper perfection and flawless care. This aspect is very important to rich people. They probably have people do the maintenance. And this isn't much about the wrinkles as it can be generalized to image is everything type of mentality, where an expensive outfit's purpose is to continuously radiate the image of a success. Now, how many times do we see in the movies when a wealthy character lost their fortune and even with the same clothes on, not taking care of them or sleeping overnight in the same expensive outfit, they don't look as good the next day, and people around them notice right away that something is wrong. Details. Match shoes to purse. Match blazer coat or jacket to shoes. This way you help prevent using over two colors in your outfit. When I'm at work, I have my everyday black leather work bag, which when full weighs about 10 pounds of just minimal essentials, right? I never change out of it because of convenience. So any other time outside work, I always match my shoes to my handbag. It's just something I've been embedded with. Preppy look is associated with scholars, which then translates into higher earners, which leads to, well, a person who can dress expensive. And it's the same way we associate someone wearing glasses with excessive reading and thus being a scholar. Being well-read, smart, intelligent translates into current or future lots of money earning capabilities. So I see preppy looks the same exact way. Here we have the classic polo shirt, short sleeves, or long sleeve, or even dress combination. Take a simple cotton polo shirt. It looks 100% more polished than any silk t-shirt. So even if you're upgrading the material, the color style is what will differentiate and be more visible than the fabric. Now, of course, if you combine both style and material, looking and being expensive is a given. Pleats. These remind me of the preppy look in a way, you know, the cute little mini skirts from the tennis games. And guess who used to be able to afford tennis lessons and to participate in these games? You guessed it, the rich people. Now it's much more affordable, though private lessons and anything is not something, you know, just given out left and right. Here I want to give you another example, the school uniforms, the private schools, all preppy wear. The reason behind it is to emulate quality and being treated the same way as your peer. Because what's interesting when you look like everyone else is that your personality, your words, your answers, your non-verbal way of communicating, accessories, all the little personal things stand out. Someone elegant that dresses expensive will always be noticeable to the connoisseur. Now the real intelligent ones don't flaunt it. They go for discrete quality for durability and don't flash it with logos or shiny things. Jewelry. Dainty, minimal, well-made and small in number. It's not your latest trend. Jewelry can't be bought like a pair of jeans. It's meaningful, valuable and cherished. High quality jewelry is usually reserved for special occasions, simply out of affordability. Now don't wear more than two pieces, the wedding band and ring not included. So if I do big bold earrings, I do minimal bracelet or ring. Around my face I rarely have a necklace with big earrings. When I wear cleavage with a necklace showcase, the earrings are minimal just to fill the hole. And there would be nothing on hand. So I don't want to feel like a Christmas tree. Feel your jewelry and before you walk away from your bedroom, give it a moment to reassess if overall it's enough or too much. Don't let it be overpowering and attention-grabbing. Monochromatic looks. I must throw this one in because we cannot talk about it. It's actually harder to dress in one color than it looks, right? Because if you want to build this look, it means you deliberately purchase items that match. So you put in the effort and it shows. This also means that if you have the one blouse that matches the one skirt only, you can't wear the blouse combined with anything else in case you want to wear the skirt and well nothing else is going to match. So then what this means is the person wearing the whole monochromatic top to bottom look, well either they synchronize everything to be worn at all time to perfection, thus you know she has a wide variety of clothes options at her disposal as alternatives to choose from or has multiple blouses of the same color to match the one skirt. Who doesn't have five white button shirts or three black blazers or three new tops? Either way it requires quite an elaborate wardrobe which means money was spent in all this coordination, which translates into an expensive look. Let's talk neutrals. Why do you think they look expensive? You know I thought about this for quite a while because I like to understand why we like what we like, so I can recreate that feeling of likeness in other ways. So neutral colors are simple, demure, less attention-grabbing. But you see when I look at neutral beige for example, a mushroom blazer, I pay attention and it looks expensive to me because I know the majority of options out there are black, dark or whatever the hottest color trend is. I found that most brands have their own color palette, a handful of colors used to make the garments of the season. Have you noticed when you walk into Express how you see three four colors and they're all repeated in their new styles in front of the store? A good tip here is that the older colors are in the back of the store on clearance. Those are the outdated trends the fashion trackers report on. Now going back to neutrals, when I see a beautiful non-conforming to mass population color, that to me means that the wearer is well aware of the value it brings to her wardrobe. It's a piece that easily matches everything else in her closet and therefore was purchased as an investment piece to be worn for lots of seasons to come. And when we talk about multi-wear, lots of years, that means quality fabric is needed, right? Which then translates into expensive. No torn garments. Fashion trends or not, there are always elegant monochromatic jeans that are well fitted, flattering, with all hem sewn, without rips, distressed pockets, tie-dyes, rhinestones, gems, sparkles or shine. Just a good old pair of jeans that have well-made stitching all around and done. When you see a pair like this, it's most likely expensive, even though let's not confuse here the difference between expensive looking and expensive price tag. Because we've all seen the $200 ripped jeans which look like a $10 pair without a difference. Nothing against rips, but the bias we have built towards them comes from the origin of ripped pants, overworn, not cared for. And who do you see in the stereotypical movie that don't care about the jeans being torn? It's teenagers, right? Teenagers they want to rebel or a construction worker. Neither of these two groups care about looking expensive, right? So let's put it this way. I haven't seen one wealthy character that wore distressed jeans. And I'm sorry, some of you probably wear them and it's okay. You always wear what makes you happy. But if you want to look expensive, the rips have to go, no matter the price tag. The fit is everything. Simply put, if a garment doesn't fit you well, it looks like either you don't pay attention to this detail and someone with expensive taste does, or you don't have a tailor to adjust it for you, which people with expensive outfits have. And the slouchy, oversized, no matter how fashionable, doesn't look expensive. And by the way, just because a blazer's price tag is $400, it doesn't mean it looks expensive. It just means you paid a lot. I hope you learned something new on how to look expensive. Comment down below what that is. Share with us any other tips you have. I'm always looking to learn as well. Like, subscribe if you're new to this channel. And for more styling tips, you want to check out my next video. I'll see you there!