Are you one of the people who buy dresses for £200 +

[listsandbudgets]

Who are these people?

I need a dress for an important occasion and as I had nothing suitable to wear I went hunting through charity shops. After a couple of hours and a lot of shops, I admitted defeat and headed for the proper shops. I budgeted a maximum of £100 which I hoped was generous.. Almost nothing that was suitable, my size and I liked seemed to be less than £125 A lot of them were £200 plus.

I finally fell in love with a £199 dress thankfully reduced to £79. The lovely sales assistant told me that it was the last one of that line and hadn't sold as it was an unusual size (20 ). The rest had gone at the full price.

So are you one of those people and do you really feel the dresses are worth what you paid? Perhaps I'm just tight with money and need to accept taht this is the price of a nice dress now.

I spent that on a winter coat once and practically cried at the checkout. Granted I've worn it virtually every winter day for four years but still...

The things I baulk at are maternity clothes at £200+. You're only going to be able to wear it for SUCH a limited time and then potentially never again.

Nope. Everything goes in a sale/ebay TKMAXX etc. There us no point on spending tons ( unless you have enough dosh fir it to not matter). There is so much clothing out there that I can't see the need to spend that much on anything.

I spend money on Get Cutie handmade dresses in interesting fabrics but even these go on sale.

I have done.

But I feel even more smug about the L K Bennett dress I got in perfect condition from a charity shop for under £20.

What annoys me is I've sometimes bought dresses on the net for over £100 and had to return them as the quality/fabric is just not worth it - there are some huge chancers amongst the online-only shops.

And sometimes, things for much less money are very well made and last ages. I have a dress that cost me about thirty quid five years ago, and it is still perfect, not faded or stretched or worn through, and I've got loads of use out of it.

I hardly ever buy clothes but do have a dress that cost a few hundred that I love. Every photo of me at any event over the last 5 years I'm wearing one of two dresses, my very expensive one or a £20 one from new look I've had for 10 years. I have other dresses but none look as good as those two. Friends tend to borrow the expensive one too so it's a fairly regular appearance in photos. I think its worth it if you like wearing it and can manage the cost.

I wouldn't but I could never afford to.

£50 would be my limit. I have £20 dresses from New Look and imo they look lovely and I will keep them for a long time.

I honestly think that if you wear something well nobody could tell if it was £20 or £200.

Coats, shoes and bags are the exception to that.

But if you can afford it then who cares?

Bluegreenhaze, that may be the case but if I spent £50 a month on clothes. That £50 would buy jeans and a top one month, a coat the next, boots the next, 3 jumpers the next, two dresses the next. You follow, basically a whole wardrobe.

So I might spend £500 over the year but I'd have a whole wardrobe of clothes and I do keep my things a few years.

One suit for £500 wouldn't get me very far plus I'd never have the money all in one go.

I don't think that all cheapy clothes are awful quality, my £40 River Ila d jeans last forever. I'm wearing a £16 New Look tshirt which I got last Autumn and have worn at least once a week since. I can weigh up whether something will wash well.

I am a sales shopper - especially when it comes to dresses you don't wear that often. I can't remember the last time I bought a full price dress unless it was under £50. Will happily part with over £100 if it was closer to £200 originally. But no I can't say I have ever spent £200. Luckily I wear a uniform as i would be broke otherwise - love expensive looking work clothes but have no need for them.

Also why can you not get a nice winter jumper for less than £70 these days!?

I bought an lk Bennett dress for £200+ for a wedding I didn't want to go to just before going back to work after second maternity leave in 3 years.

I have worn the dress at least once a week for 2years

I am short fat and I love the way the dress feels.

I have bought a black version and a grey version on eBay for half the price of the original. So in my head, I averaged the cost of the three to get to the cost per wear.

Best money I have ever spent on a work dress.

River Island jeans are really good. Likewise Oasis.

Then I've bought £50 jumpers from Warehouse which for me is the higher end of the high street, and every one has gone terribly out of shape even on the correct wash cycle or hand washed.

Not a bloody chance. I paid £150 for my wedding dress and that's the most I've ever spent.

Where I work isn't super corporate, so although I've to look smart, it's not too bad. If I get a work dress from Next that's pushing the boat out (and usually, if I can, I'll get Next dresses on Ebay).

I suppose it depends what you can afford. For me, £200 is a massive chunk of my monthly wage, so it's never going to be an option really.

Yes, and no. My favourite ever dress is a Vivienne Westwood that cost about £500 and will never date. I've worn it to at least ten different black tie occasions, feel like a film star when I do up the internal corset, plus it acts as an incentive not to let myself go too much as I never want to be unable to fit into it! Pay per wear = £50ish, which I think is reasonable.

I just paid £395 for a Ronald Joyce dress for a wedding but I'm sure I could wear it again.

I love clothes in that price bracket for style and quality etc. However I'd never part with that sort of money and couldn't afford it if I wanted to . Luckily I don't care about this/last/next season so I frequent outlet stores and ebay. Bnwt ebay things can be bargainous!

I wear very cheap dresses. I always feel great in them. I know what styles of dress suit me, what neckline etc and I buy accordingly. I prefer a casual dress I can wear anywhere to an overly formal / fussy / expensive dress.

I like to buy £200 dresses...but only if they're in the sale and at least 50% off!

my most expensive dress cost me £20 in tesco

I wish I could shop without guilt. I can't spend over £30 in one go without feeling huge guilt, and I hate it!

Sock of course that's very sensible if that suits your wardrobe and your budget. I bought clothes all my clothes from Asda and New Look for years and I think I looked nice in them. Indeed some of my New Look bits and pieces are still going strong.

However the OP asked who buys £200 dresses and why so I was trying to give an explanation.

I have more money now to spend in myself than I've ever had before but much much less time to go shopping. I find that carefully picking stylish but not fashionable pieces which mix and match means I always have something appropriate to wear. I don't have any time to go shopping just because I've suddenly been invited to something so I try to make sure that my wardrobe covers all eventualities. Because the clothes are more classic styles it doesn't matter whether I bought it this year or 4 years ago.

I spend a lot on dresses, shoes etc., but I keep my dresses forever (think 15 years+). I have my limits, though. Even though I adore the structured simplicity of Akris Punto, I could never imagine parting with that kind of money.

Nope, I've only ever bought one dress though. It was for my wedding and cost £27.95 :o

Wow. You are almost my polar opposite.

I own one pair of jeans and I'm fairly sure I've bought fewer than ten pairs of trousers in my life.

:o I threw a tantrum when I was 3 as my mum tried to put a dress on me and I hadn't worn one since, DH was highly surprised and amused at my awkwardness given that we've been together half our lives and he'd never seen me in a skirt or dress before.

Thankfully I work with young people with disabilities so jeans/t-shirts are standard uniform which suits me.

Your mum obviously sparked off a lifetime of hatred!

I spend on dresses because they're all I wear. Trousers never fit me right. Dresses are more forgiving.

No, not a chance!

£200 is crazy money, and I just haven't got the budget for it, even if I did, I still couldn't justify the cost.

I hired my wedding dress and the most I've ever spent buying one is £25, and I worried over spending that much!

No. I try to get my dresses from consignment (I like the styles better) BUT if I am desperate, given the situation (important dinner for clients of dh, wedding, etc.) I might shell out $200 reluctantly. Never willingly! And definitely not an everyday, I need a general dress.

For me to drop $200 it would take a really special occasion that I personally would need to look my absolute best. If I'm just one of a crowd, I have dresses (of all sizes) that are classic and I can get away with just about anywhere.