Anyone brave enough to answer this: where do you get the money for expensive clothes?

[Childoftheseventies]

I work part time and earn a good wage. My husband runs his own (so far, succesful) business. For this I am thankful. However, I still can't afford anything other than basic high street clothes. Zara is pushing it; Gap sale only, Monsoon for special occasions. When I browse in what I consider to be expensive but desirable shops, or look at websites (LK Bennett, Reiss, Great Plains, Hobbs, White Company etc) I always wonder what gives people the income to buy from there. Now I know there are sales and outlets and eBay, but for those of you who buy non-sale stuff in these lovely places as a matter of course, I am fascinated to know where you get the money. Are you a lawyer or doctor or top sales person, or are you a SAHM with a high earning other half, or do you have no mortgage or what!? I promise this is not a snidey post, just a genuine, if very rude and nosey, question.

I think another point is that finding the designer bargains is fantastic and admirable but takes an awful lot of effort. It necessitates shopping, whether online or in rl, on an alnost daily basis, especially if you're a size 10 or 12, which tend to sell out quickly.

Living in the sticks, a shopping trip has a good 40 mins' driving time each way, so it's not a case of nipping out in lunch hour (the ideal bargain enabler). And I already spend enough time hunched over the pc/phone, so try not find yet more reasons to give myself a cricked neck/shoulders.

I do love it when I feel like I've got the money, though.

It's also dependent on having the funds available to snap something up when you see it.

shotgun I would agree with you to a point, but as the quality of the clothes is so much better, you don't need something to be in the sale every season because you won't need to replace it so frequently. E.g., anglomania, sometimes down to 70 quid for a dress in the sales - as someone else said, if you know it suits your lifestyle you can do it - it's the having to find something in 48 hrs which is harder.

I know which sites give serious discounts and when. Having followed e.g. duoboots for a few years I know if you can hold your nerve that come February it's 70% off rather than 30. Of course you may not get your absolute first choice, but thems the breaks.

we don't have loads of money but I tend to shop at Boden, Laura Ashley, Whitestuff. I have been very fortunate as i get a discount in a certain store because of a member of my family working there which helps.

I am selective with what i buy, usually in sales or offers and never pay full price for anything. i don't buy loads and may use ebay. i do browse charity shops as well.

I did buy 2 maxi dresses in Primark for £5 each which was a bargain.

Hobbs sales are particularly good because their styles are so dull reliable that all their sale stock is guaranteed to be wearable - there aren't any of the more experimental things that you see in other shops and can guarantee that they will be festooning the sale rails come January.

Unfortunately they don't really fit my shape, which is annoying, so I've only got one dress from them.

This is a great thread

I have just had a massive clear out of clothes (2 bin bags). I decided i would only wear stuff that made me feel nice, and look nice, everything else had to go.
I was amazed at the stuff in my wardrobe that i didnt want or need (some with tags on). Stuff that didnt fit or hadnt been worn for years.
Yesterday I blew about £200 on a few new bits, didnt need much just some decent underwear and I bought some lovely bits from White Stuff, Fat Face and H&M.

I feel at nearly 40 I cant do Topshop, New Look etc anymore. For me if i buy very cheap, then I look very cheap. I have to be careful in H&M but they do have some nice stuff.
I like Gap, Fat Face, White Stuff, some Boden, Mango, Zara.
I dont need to dress up immaculately for work, nor can I wear big posh heels so my work stuff is cheap but ok.

The only designer thing I have is sunglasses. I would love a Mulberry bag!

We earn good money between us but pay a lot to CM at the moment, all my stuff went on the credit card, lifes too short

Really interesting thread, been a good read.

I used to shop lower end high street - Primark, H&M, Warehouse, Topshop etc. But in the last 4ish years, the fabrics used have completely changed, no more cotton, hello nasty polyester which looks horrible, feels horrible, doesn't wash well and doesn't last. I remember about 5 years ago I brought a lovely red and white striped 1950s style sundress from Primark. It was 100% cotton, was below knee length with proper pleating (so lots of fabric), was fully lined and was £12. Only gave up the ghost last year. Never in a million years would you find such a garment in Primark today.

So now, do mid-high end high street but get most from sales and end up spending only a little more. Tbh, it's not places like Primark that annoy me - they charge a price that reflects the quality of their goods. It's places like Warehouse/Oasis that charge £40 for a polyester blouse.

That said, I still love Primark PJs as some are 100% cotton and their basic tees and long sleeve tops to go with. And H&M have some really nice suede-look ballet pumps in lovely autumnal colours atm.

Am taking all this on board and have been looking at eBay today. Wow - there are some great bargains but can anyone advise me how to avoid the "knock-offs"? How do I spot the genuine from the fake?

the maxi dresses from Primark are cotton. i wouldn't have bought them if they weren't.

I don't think White Stuff is great quality even though I do buy some. it is quite expensive.

I am wearing a Boden skirt which is still going strong after 4 or 5 years. its not that fashionable but lovely and cool and was great on holiday.

I get the money by earning it. And I have low outgoings-no mortgage, childcare, school fees,cigarettes, HP or debt

I totally agree about the drop in quality on the high st. I went into Oasis recently and pretty much walked straight back out as the fabrics looked so cheap and nasty.

I think it was FC that I picked up a dress that I liked the print

I totally agree about the drop in quality on the high st. I went into Oasis recently and pretty much walked straight back out as the fabrics looked so cheap and nasty.

I think it was FC that I picked up a dress that I liked the print on, but the fabric and buttons looked just as cheap as one for a fraction of the price I had looked at in Primark.

I don't tend to buy off eBay unless I have tried on the item in a shop at some point. I learnt the lesson the hard way after buying several things that didn't fit from eBay.

Yes totally agree, dont know how they get away with charging ridiculous prices for clothes of the same quality you find in H&M or Primark. Surely one of them will go through soon, how can they keep going?

Trixy exact same experience here re: Oasis. Really expensive for what it is. Occasionally some lovely prints but then you turn the item around and they've stuck some gold coloured plasticy button on the back - what's wrong with a nice little shell button ffs??

I think Oasis and Warehouse keep going as they mark down heavily in sales and often do 25% discount codes. Was having a browse through Warehouse AW stuff this afternoon and notice that the price point of their dresses has come down a little, quite a few for £35 which haven't seen for a while.

I have a love/hate relationship with FC - on the one hand, I find their stuff really well cut for pear shapes but their pricing is just insane. A random polyester top will be £60 but then I bought a beautiful lace dress last year for £67 - doesn't make any sense. Sales discount/ebay outlet very good though.

itmakesthepeastastefunny the best way to spot fakes is to see what other stuff the people are selling/have sold. There is a lot of fake Ralph Lauren, and the easier stuff to copy. If someone is selling a lot of the same sort of thing, or there are several adverts on ebay for the same thing with similar pictures, then it's a fake. If you're not certain you can always risk posting in S&B as someone there may be able to help.

Really interesting thread. I buy some more expensive brands, but almost always on sale e.g. Toast, Whistles, Jigsaw. The Ebay outlets are sometimes good, bought a Jigsaw pure cashmere cardigan for £40 once! I used to buy a lot of high street things but have too little wardrobe space for new clothes now so am trying to be more selective.

I have a full time professional job, as does DH. He pays the bills, a proportion of my salary goes into savings and then the rest is for household shopping, petrol etc. The rest is mine and I can do what I want within reason. I will have to change my spending habits soon though as I'll be working very part time in a couple of months!

I dream of being one of those people who buys clothes only once or twice a year 'key pieces', 'quality', 'classics', all that stuff. I am determined to get there at some point in my life, but right now it's not practical or possible. I'm self employed and work part-time; my earnings aren't bad but I've only recently starting working again after a year and a half out of work. DP's earnings are okay but nothing impressive; and any clothes or beauty stuff I buy would always come out of my own money. That's just the way I prefer it.

I am probably still (JUST ABOUT) young and slim enough to get away with cheaper clothing, so long as I put together looks carefully. But getting less tolerant of the high street tat mentioned above thread by the day.

My best designer pieces are 2 handbags 1 of which I saved up for & another used my student overdraft.

I once bought a all saints leather jacket £400 but took it back as all the stitching & studs came looks - very annoyed about that.

Other than that I but pieces mostly from Topshop.

Oh & my 'to buy list' currently consists of
Chanel 2.55
Herve leger dress

Need to get saving!

I'm 56 ( today) and I still have a lot to learn. As you get older you tend to have more in your wardrobe that is nice and wearable - I have some cashmere that is vintage, and some Brora purchases more than 5 years old, so I don't have to make as many basic purchases. I also tend to buy good quality clothes early in the season, wear them and then the ones I am sick and tired of get ebayed off the next year, which makes a good contribution to the next years clothes. I wouldn't spend designer prices on handbags and frankly my feet would not be happy in Gina/Jimmy Choos so I don't have that dilema. I still over purchase and have things I've never worn, I reckon I could reduce my purchasing by 50% in volume and be better dressed by buying less but more expensive items.

So, in summary, you might see me in Jigsaw/Hobbs/Brora/Toast with my credit card out, but it won't be all that often, but I will really be enjoying myself.