How to look 'expensive'

[INeedSomeHelp]

I'm not sure if that's the right word but I was in Sainsbury's today and the woman in the queue in front of me just looked 'expensive'.
She wasn't wearing anything remarkable - a leather jacket with a fur collar, skinny jeans and brown knee length boots but somehow she looked 'done' whereas I looked like a sack of spuds.
How to achieve that expensive look without the budget?

I think Atlantic Pacific can look a tad brassy.

Agreed.

Here. She does shorter hair well and looks expensive

Not sure on Atlantic P Blair, think she's a bit over cooked / styled for the expensive look

KST defo

I think I'll kondo my long cardigans (160cm here)

You're all right. I feel frumpy in them even though they're nice, expensive, good colours etc..

My parents were on a cruise and they got talking to an American woman who was convinced my mother was KST. I think she was rather pleased.

Someone who manages to make bright colours (and patterns) look classy, is the perfume blogger Katie Puckrick.

KST walks around in Paris in glasses and a beanie looking distinctly ordinary. Unlike Giovanna!

Can parkas ever look stylish? Genuine question......I was thinking about a camel one?

I'm not keen on parkas myself. But then I don't suit blazers either.

Totally in love with Atlantic-Pacifics style. Expensive and polished in a youthful way. I adore that silver dress.

Loving this thread. But I'm a pear shape. What hope is there for meeeeee [wails and bangs fists on table]? Can anyone link to an expensive looking pear shaped woman?

Also, if you are currently sporting the inexpensive look as I am, how do you segue to the other side? If I do something out of the ordinary like wear a dress on the school run I get so many comments along the lines of "I can see your legs", "are you going out?" "oh my God, you're wearing a dress" etc that send me scuttling back to the safety of jeans. Has anyone done a complete style about turn? Did you have to tough it out at first?

Imfine, I am a bit if a pear (well, I have wide hips anyway) and when I get comments about my legs being out or wearing a dress I think :" right, I need to wear dresses more often!"

Whew, I've made it to the end! I've been really fascintated by this thread, and have learnt much from it! I've been people watching and have identified why one of the women at work always looks so classy - grooming! Perfect hair, face and nails every day

My personal challenges are:

1. How to get my hair in better condition. I have loads of flyaway ends and wispy post-partum regrowth. I blowdry my long-ish hair every other day and I leave the house with it looking fab, then one gust of wind or drop or rain and I end up looking like that James May clip that someone posted earlier. I need to be sleeker!

1. Finding clothes that fit! I'm tall and long-limbed. I try on lots of clothes but immediately have to discount them because the arms are three inches too short, the legs are half-mast or the fit is just wrong. It's very limiting...

1. The big one: CRUMPLES! None of the expensive-looking people shown in the thread ever have a crease in their clothing! How is this possible? I put together nice outfits (of highstreet clothes) and as I do my leaving-the-house-mirror-check they are neat and crease-free. By the time I've driven to work (20 mins) they look like dishrags, with creases across the top of the thighs, back of knees, waist, etc... HOW DO YOU STAY CREASE-FREE??? (Sorry to shout, but it frustrates the living daylights out of me!

Any tips?

Thanks BabyGanoush. I will try to reframe the comments. Any suggestions of a stylish pear? When I googled I got Kim Kardashian. I remember Shakira from one of my Trinny and Susannah books. All the examples so far from here seem to be the slim legged variety.

MamehaSan I agree with you. I have indoor only hair and I have never survived a car trip without becoming creased to bits.

I look best in fit and flare dresses to just above the knee, i.e. fitted in the body and arms and then fanning out once it hits the hips.

I have Joules, Phase Eight, people Tree and White Company dresses (and LK Bennett), always in the sale obv!, but have not found anything like the ones I have this season (guess it's not the fashion.)

This kind of style:

www.phase-eight.com/pws/ProductDetails.ice?UniqueProductKey=203128751&redirect=true&gclid=CLju0_2_k8oCFda4GwodmKkGDw

I wear it with biker boots or other kick-ass boots to avoid looking like an elderly lady going to a tea party , if cold I wear a fitted cardi or oversized scarf on top

For me it looks best if I am wearing it with leather jacket and ankle boots.

BoboChic, it can be but TBH one often does not have the time to really get into it. Plus British shops drive me nuts as hardly any do alternations and the assistants have no idea about tailoring or fit or colour or anything, really. I feel like I have landed from another planet.

I never ever go shopping unless I am going to have a lot of fun doing so! If I ever try to shop when I'm not in the right creative mood, I don't like what I buy.

I often see the elegant women I know wearing longline loose fitting blouses/shirts over jeans or black trousers. I always think it looks fab but I have no idea how to find shirts/blouses like that. Does anyone know the sort of thing I am thinking of?

Mom, some nice outfits but I really don't like the look in the pic with the cardi. Way too much going on - belt plus massive statement necklace - to be stylish IMHO.
Having said that am undecided myself on whether cardis can ever be stylish.

Any of these Joseph tops take your fancy, Foam?

I'm quite relieved you posted that. I don't feel classy/expensive has anything much to do at all with 'form-fitting' or not being pear-shaped. The confidence to wear 'form-fitting' clothes is a completely different thing from the confidence to throw on one of your many loose silk shirts or, indeed, your most oversized cashmere sweater. And I know which kind doesn't cost money.

Understated, quality style looks expensive. And inhuman cleanliness. I'm not saying it's cheap to show off your figure, of course not. It's just irrrelevant.

You can do understated quality on a tight budget, but you have to be bloody good at shopping. Or good at sewing!

Re dark colours looking more expensive
Today I bought a rather nice (but cheap) dark blue, mostly cotton, sweater in Sainsburys (though havent tried on yet ).
In dark blue it looked good . In bright turquoise-identical, next to it- not so much...
Not to self: tone down wardrobe (a bit).
And have decided I really must wear that jewellry/those scarves I have collected on my travels . I tend to stick to diamond studs and one understated silver necklace, of which I am very fond . And my pearls...though not with twinsets .And must buy/get bought for me some more 'statement' pieces (can't believe I typed that)
Love this thread

Actually - much as Cos bores the arse off me, they do affordably understated :)

must buy/get bought for me some more 'statement' pieces I hear ya!

Exactly what I mean Garlic! Thanks! I love those Joseph shirts. The women I see in those sorts of shirts look amazing but effortlessly so.

Whoever mentioned Michelle Buckerly- WOWZA! She manages to pull off chic/ expensive/ classy etc while doing colour and pattern. In fact, I couldn't find one photo of her not looking fantastically polished and put together. There are some red carpet outfits which are low cut etc but as she's young/ fantastic figure/ at appropriate event, it still looks chic. Probably helps that she has the complexion of an angel too.