Why hello ladies. I've actually created a user account for this thread alone, but I might as well warn you that I might not be a great poster. My forumming days are probably over... I read the first thread and this one all the way through these past two days, finding the original question super interesting and discovering such great shopping tips! The other week I was doing a desultory google for "silk tops" and finding nothing, lol. I'm so tired of all the cheap fabrics and poor designs at stupid prices, I'd love to find some high-quality options.
Have been sitting here pondering what "expensive" in terms of a look means. When the OP posted her question I thought I knew exactly what she meant; I definitely read it as well groomed, stylish, put together, classic. I think that people who are well groomed will look as though they invest either loadsamoney OR loadsatime, both of which are currency and reflect a certain status (it's high status to have either, or preferably both of course). I think looking stylish is doable on any budget, but there is a certain something about high quality clothing, presumably dear, that adds a je ne sais quoi... Was also pondering the whole "you must be slim" thing - I wonder how much of that is due to the fact that we almost always see slim people having this look, because let's face it - it's easier for them to get dressed. ;) More options. 
Also we live in a society where fatness is equated with poor discipline, laziness, slovenliness (word?) so to look nice when fat means you have to try six times as hard before deemed even acceptably stylish. Might also add that Sweden is much more relaxed about what people wear and I might see someone looking expensive here that you wouldn't look at at all, because I can spot the signs. ;)
I am a bit tubby now, but back in my say teens and twenties when I thought I was fat (which I wasn't I see now, twenty years later) I still had a hard-to-dress body, because I have a broad back which ruins the fit of many clothes (which in the logic of that age meant I was FAT of course). Also I have a rounded top back shape so fitted woven dresses gape when they finally fit my bust bla bla you know. I've never invested in good-quality clothes made from great fabric because those manufacturers do not cater for busts and hips and I'm not spending that kind of money for a fit that's so bad.
That said, I want the navy trench coat in the Jaeger Outlet. :( Returns of course will not happen, I do NOT pay to try things on. It has to be good. Are Jaeger's clothes narrow in the sleeves? I fit in Zara's L-XL clothes but not in their sleeved things for example, the make them too small.