Can we have a new how to look expensive thread?

[honeylou42]

For me it's Eyebrows well groomed, and ironed clothing. Tidy shoes and a beautiful handbag 👜

I found the post about judging people in order to tailor your "sales pitch" thing a bit hmmm.

On a thread about wanting to look expensive, i.e be judged by others as such, this is silly. Making yourself look expensive on less money, is a sales pitch, isn't it?

I'm quite interested in whether sales assistants are correct most of the time, when it comes to judging who has money to spend.
There have been quite high profile situations where they have got it spectacularly wrong. When a sales asst wouldn't sell Oprah Winfrey a handbag, springs to mind.
I know for myself that there have been times when I've bought expensive things but was just wearing normal clothes, probably leggings and a tunic cos that is what I wear 95% of the time, not designer, so wouldn't have looked like I had any more money than anyone else.

What about legislating for secret shoppers? I heard that places like Harrods treat everyone as if they are millionaires because a)sometimes they are, even though they are scruffy and b) because they might be the mystery shopper assessing the sales staff.

I mean, how do you tell?

I hate shop assistants who judge on what you are wearing because often they get it so wrong.

Totally agree. They are there to serve and not to judge.

The most 'expensive' people I know look bohemian/individual/couldn't give a shit. Honestly. Serious wealth here. People who try to look 'expensive' invariably look uncomfortable, dull and anything but. Why would anyone aspire to looking like that?

My tip would be to avoid tshirts and if you really can't resist, at least avoid cheap ones.

I found the post about judging people in order to tailor your "sales pitch" thing a bit hmmm.

So you think it would have been better to pitch well outside someone's budget, and waste both our time, and have them walk away feeling bad because now they want something they couldn't possibly afford and / or had to settle for the cheaper version? Or was it better to pitch within their realistic budget from the beginning? I know which approach I would prefer, as a customer.

I'm quite interested in whether sales assistants are correct most of the time, when it comes to judging who has money to spend.

Well it my case I got to see if I was correct or not, as this was big-ticket sales usually involving finance. In order to see if someone was eligible for finance I would have to go through their income and record all their outgoings etc. I did get it wrong at first, but after a few months I was rarely if ever surprised by someone's financial position. But this was my job, I did this all day, every day, and as it was commission based I had an incentive to get it right.

Sales, as a skill, basically comes down to being able to read people, and this includes things like wealth and class.

Following with interest. Groomed always looks good!

i LOVE fake eyelashes

Honestly they are the dogs

Generally the more dressed up for shopping etc, the least able to afford. These sales people make me laugh, people that can afford dont need to dress up to buy something. As said previously the scruffiest i know are the wealthiest, they dont have anything to prove.

I think it's really stupid to make judgements about an individual's financial circumstances by the way they look. Those Russian oligarchs usually have wives who are dressed up to the nines with designer shoes and clothes. Alternatively, wealthy American people can often be seen wearing very casual clothing, despite their wealth.
Moral of this is to treat everyone well.

Maintaining a healthy weight
Taking care of your skin
Regular haircuts and colour
Eyebrows threaded
Delicate earrings
Classic clothes in blues, greys, black and neutrals
Spend money on a decent watch, good shoes and a good bag

Those Russian oligarchs usually have wives who are dressed up to the nines with designer shoes and clothes.

Yes, I was just going to mention that, I lived in Russia for a lot of years and used to go to some vair posh shops as I had to do a lot of social butterflying with my ex DP because of his job.
I had a few Pretty Woman style moments, probably not helped by the fact that ex is well over twenty years older than me and I was quite young at the time. That said, it was only the shops who wanted to think of themselves as posh and designer who pulled that nonsense, the ones which genuinely were posh had sales staff who were nothing but warm, welcoming and lovely to everyone. They employed staff who had class and manners iyswim.

Apparently the Cadbury Fry people were rather scruffy!

I hope my bag lady look convinces people I am seriously rich!!

How to look expensive: vote Tory and ignore the riff raff

Threadbare cashmere, hunters covered in mud, mismatched clothes and a straw hat if over 45.

Dresses to knee, pearls, newer cashmere if younger.
Red or mustard corduroy and holey jumper if male.
Good leather handbag.

Good leather whether that be bag shoes purse or wallet and gloves
Natural fabrics
Plain or simple patterns
No obvious falseness e.g eyelashes, heavy makeup even boobs
Subtlety is the key - I try but don't manage it all the time!!!
As I have a weakness for jewellery and bright colours/patterns

Those Russian oligarchs usually have wives who are dressed up to the nines with designer shoes and clothes.

We had a lot of Russian clients, including the odd oligarch type. The signifiers of wealth are indeed a bit different for a woman from St Petersburg compared to a horsey woman from the West Country. Which is likewise different again from a rich Liverpudlian. It's not hard to pick these nuances up, however. It's part of reading people.

'hair in a plain ponytail or bun'- very Eurocentric classification. Friends that I did my postgrad studies with at Imperial who were daughters of diplomats or politicians from say African countries or Russia, did not ever wear ponytails or buns, they went for very flamboyant hairstyles. And I liked it, the whole two fingers at the boring british establishment. Nearly 5 years on, and they are married to politicians from their own countries, and still getting personal shoppers in the UK when they are here, and still dressing with very coiffered hair and visible makeup. One of them rarely even goes into shops.

'Sales, as a skill, basically comes down to being able read people, and this includes things like wealth and class'- English obsession with class. So many Europeans, working class mainlanders, with maybe only GCSEs or apprenticeship level degrees are able to live a far higher standard of living than a working class, Brit. This means that a brit might consider their clothing and tastes middle class, but how they dress and spend their lives culturally is just different (and maybe more akin to middle and upper middle class british lives), hence, this classification of how much money someone has from what they wear is flawed.

Anyone any picture examples of what looking expensive looks like? To me it has always been Cate Blanchett. I think she always looks divine!

I would say : -wearing clothes that fit your body shape -good footwear (even if it means a low heel, or something sensible) -being confident -makeup that suits -listening to others before jabbering over them -healthy looking hair and skin (anyway in which your hair looks well looked after, be it a twist out, left loose, natural colour, etc)

being refined in the presence of others, regardless of background, finding commonality with all people and making them feel welcome and at ease

My Grandfather's sister is the wealthiest person I know. They're farmers with a lot of expensive land and fingers in a lot of pies. I regularly see my Great Aunt in town- wellies, wax hunter jacket and once ONE humongous diamond earring. I told her she'd lost an earring and she replied she had, about five years ago, and she wasn't going to waste the one she hadn't lost.

She just doesn't give a fuck and I think it's brilliant. I think this might be what is sometimes seen as arrogance but she's not an arrogant person at all. Sometimes it's like she doesn't realise that she's supposed to be arsed about stuff and this, I think, comes from being wealthy and secure.

Yy TeaAddict completely agree. I've always been considered ultra conservative in countries I've lived in as I have quite a minimalist style, a Russian friend once gave me a makeover to "glam me up" for a girls night out in Moscow - it was quite a transformation!

she doesn't realise that she's supposed to be arsed about stuff and this, I think, comes from being wealthy and secure.

Yep. People one knows don't care about what one is wearing, and people who one doesn't know don't count.

Worry will never make you look expensive.

English obsession with class.

I'm not British. I'm antipodean, where we congratulate ourselves for doing away with the formal class system (though I have lived in the UK for the past two years). As I have mentioned, there are certainly differences in wealth signifiers - a rich Russian woman will dress slightly differently from a rich Spanish woman, compared to a rich West Country British woman. But that's the point of the thread really, isn't it? What if any generic signifiers can be determined. And I think they can be determined to some degree, having worked in an environment where I literally earned more money via commission if I did determine it correctly, so had an incentive to get it right.

There are certain things ... like off-white linen trousers. Rich British and Mediterranean women are more likely to wear them than rich Russian women to be sure, but poor women from any nationality are unlikely to wear them. New-money / middle class types do wear them, but they wear the more blindingly white versions, in my experience. It's little details like that, that add up to an overall picture of wealth or not.

People have pointed out that the truly wealthy tend to be quite scruffy/bohemian. This is true (Helena Bonham Carter and Cressida Bonas are good examples of this). But the scruffy ones tend to be old-money country-estate types. It's hard to pull off this careless wealthy look if you don't have a lot of cash. As other people have mentioned - its threadbare cashmere and single diamond earrings - well, you still need to be able to afford the cashmere and diamonds in the first place!

I'd like to think I usually look reasonably well put together, but not expensive.

Maybe I'm really ignorant but to me someone either looks well out together or they don't. I wouldn't look for wealth signs or notice them as such.

If anything, when I see people trying to emulate the Kate Middleton look or all dolled up in fakery I just consider them to be trying too hard and wonder if they're insecure and trying to prove something.