Can most people really tell expensive clothes from good high street pieces?

[pontipinemum]

I'm listening to an audiobook at the moment and the main character talks about her clothes a lot. About how expensive clothes look better etc.

Now I am absolutely NOT a fashionist by any stretch.

I am wondering though can others tell the difference? I'm not talking about really cheap shein clothes etc. Or really unusually designed dresses.

But say a regular clothing item like this Chanel pull over, it is nice but I absolutely would not be able to tell if it was $3,500 or if it was £40 from Marks and Spencer

https://www.chanel.com/us/fashion/p/P82481K11949UA790/pullover-wool-silk/

There's a woman who works in a very posh 'boutique' in our town and always looks immaculate and expensively dressed.
I've recently got to know a good friend of hers who told me she doesn't in fact buy expensive clothes and often wears clothes from Primark. I honestly wouldn't know

I would honestly have no idea. I think it’s what PP said, it depends on who is wearing the outfit.

A colleague looks a lot fancier than me, she is older, but very slim, and just looks richer. She was wearing a beautiful shirt, I complimented thinking it was fancy: it was from new look.

another friend recieves very expensive t shirts for her husband and son from the same Italian designer that mark zuckerbergs t shirts come from. We all joke that we can’t really tell the difference between them and next t shirts

Same here, vast majority of the time it’s clear which is the more expensive outfit - and that’s just from video without seeing the finer detail and fabric quality that you would in person.

There are some very good clothes at the lower end, sometimes - and vice versa - but the majority of the time ‘quality’ is obvious.

(Obviously, expensive doesn’t always mean tasteful … !)

I don’t know about designer, I can only comment on more expensive brands v cheap ones. So for example if I take me and em v Zara or markies or primark. Then yes, the cut and quality is immediately apparent. It’s everything from the immediate quality of the fabric, to the way it’s cut to fit, or even the pockets being positioned in such a way they don’t bulk out. There is often hidden detailing, like additional material hidden in the sleeves to make them sit a certain way, how the darting sits. Honestly you can tell immediately.

I see this quite a lot, on polyester, but there is a huge variance on rhe quality. All polyester is not the same.

You can get very high quality and low quality polyester , from the standard PET crap you see in cheaper items to the high end microfibres polyester. The raw material is fundamentally the same, but one is just cheap scratchy sweat making crap you see on low cost items, and the other feels luxurious and soft and is what the higher end brands use and doesn’t make you sweat, it’s naturally wicking,. They look, feel and perform very differently.

It’s like saying all wool is scratchy , when cheap jumpers are made from what we call generic wool,from mature sheep or a wool blend, and can be stiff or scratchy, and at the upper end we have cashmere. And cashmere also has different grades, from A through to c. Cashmere is not the same across all brands. You get lower cost and higher cost due to quality.

cott0n is the same, buying a cotton dress from markies will have a much lower quality cotton than from a much more expensive brand, it’s how it’s spun and the length of the fibres. Meaning again how rhe material looks feels and performs is very different,

and this is the difference when you buy at different price points. A polyester dress from primark will not even be close to the luxurious feel or look a polyester dress from me and em will have. Same with cotton or wool . Just as it says that’s rhe material used, doesn’t mean it’s rhe same material across all price points. It’s not, it’s far from it, and that’s why you can tell the difference.

Not an expert but I’d certainly be able to tell the difference between that and Marks & Spencer, yes.

I will give another example, I recently bought some cream trousers from me and em. The pockets at the front go fully across the body, it’s not two pockets, with nothing in between, effectively giving a lining in a light silky material, so you can’t see them, giving a smooth line, and they are cut to a length where they naturally blend into thr trousers, as they approach the crotch, so the pockets are totally invisible.

in cheaper trousers you will see often the outline of the pockets, especially if cut close to the body round the torso. These you can’t as they are cut inside to ensure you can’t, they are also positioned in such a way to the front of the body, and at an angle further in, so there is no bulk.

that isn’t something you see in cheaper trousers. If I wear trousers from markies or primark, you will see the outline of the pockets. They will also often add bulk due to the cut as they don’t sit flat.

its those little details in more expensive clothes that are not mimicked in cheaper brands, as it would build the cost.

It totally depends if you have a good eye or not. There are some fantastic high street clothes which look very high end and I have a fashion background and know what im looking for. The main area where there is a really obvious distinct difference is in outerwear. I can spot expensive coats and jackets from a mile away and it’s the one area where it stands out

That Chanel jumper screams only 1 thing, horrible

I wonder if it is Darling Death? I just finished it and the main character is immensely proud of her designer duds (although the outfits mostly sounded a bit dull). Fun read though

I can always tell. Same with interiors unfortunately. It’s a burden!

I think I can definitely tell good fabric and good construction from poor.

Most designer items I have are vintage (over 20 years old) and the quality is outstanding, it’s very easy to spot the difference between that level of attention to detail and the current high street clothes.

I don’t think I would be able to tell the difference between a flashy designer bag and a replica. I’m not a fan of visible logos so if something has a visible branding like LV Speedy I assume it is most probably fake.

I think there's also a difference between ready to wear and couture. I worked for a very well known couture house in the 2000s and the difference between the RtW stuff in the boutiques and the couture was night and day! Some of the RtW stuff would honestly have not looked out of place on a market stall. The general trend at the time for logos and diamante probably didn't help, but it was also about fabric, sizing (so many things seemed "undercut") and finishes. Bags were always of beautiful quality though.

I don't know if this is still the norm, of course.

I think the designer thing muddies the discussion, as some designer wear is about the label, the brand, granted if you go into any of the designer shops in London or Heathrow, yes you can tell, but there is always some crap in there, which is all about the logo. They cash in.

the real quality pieces are silent on the brand.

for me it’s not about designer as such, it’s about quality clothing that costs, versus lower end brands, designer is a different bracket entirely.

another example past me + em , which tends to the more feminine, is studio Nicholson, these are beautful clothes in a very different style, also not designer by any stretch of the imagination, but clothes when on that fall beautifully, made of high quality materials and cut expertly.

and it’s these sort of clothing brands where you can tell people are dressed in high quality clothing, v a cheaper price point.

there are more and more of these smaller brands cropping up, successfully, where they sell quality pieces, at a high price point, but no where near designer, and the difference is apparent immediately.

ive a studio Nicholson skirt, it’s a structured one, very heavy , but its actually viscose. I’ve never seen anything like it. And it doesn’t feel heavy on, it sort of moves with me, and just holds its shape due to the cut, the waist band is actually curved, when you lay it down, not cut straight across, the material of the skirt cut in such a way with invisible panels that its amazingly flattering on, it makes my waist look tiny, my stomach flat, and flares out in a flattering gathered way round my backside. You simply don’t get anything like it down primark or markies,

https://www.studionicholson.com/collections/womens-dresses?_gl=11qj95to_upMQ.._gs*MQ..&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI6r34hMyMlQMVjoZQBh1WmiOvEAAYAiAAEgJIlfD_BwE&gbraid=0AAAAACLtsmSmM8c2hUJNvF7cRJhvuQlCA

I live in quite an affluent part of London and will look at people coming out of expensive houses (£3m plus) and examine what they are wearing and I can't really tell. Maybe slightly better fitting and newer looking. That's the men, women and kids.

Its all in the cut, tailoring and how it hangs, the material. But it all comes down to how it looks on!

Edina in ab fab squeezed into too tight trousers in a lurid colour springs to mind, insisting they looked fab ' versace, darling!'

The pic looks rather lurid for chanel, and the jeans not quite right. To me!

Those Studio Nicholson clothes are awful looking.

Someone like gwyneth paltrow. A lot of cashmere, silk, heavy cottons high thread count. Looks expensive.
shame she can’t buy some morals

Hi! What brand of boot please?
Thanks!

@Thebigonesgetaway I should think Nick Wakeman would be astonished to learn that you don’t see Studio Nicholson as a ‘designer’ brand. What more does she have to do?

https://www.studionicholson.com/pages/about

You might as well say Margaret Howell isn’t a ‘designer’ brand …

From the fabric yes.

Which is why now, even if I shop cheap, on sale, I check the fabric label and make sure that it is 100% a natural fibre.

I agree with whoever said buttons and hem too. The way a garment sits on the person, although a cheaper garment that is a good material can fit perfectly, as the buyer of your clothes, it’s all about matching what you buy to your body.

Agree. I have a $40.00 Canadian sweater that actually looks quite good, and very similar to this except the color. The Chanel looks perfectly average imo.

There's some mid-range brands out there that can look just as good as designer, especially for more basic styles. Another Canadian brand - Ca Va De Doi does great quality knits for $200-500.

If the design is more striking or intricate it can be more obvious it's designer.

I wouldn't, it looks like any standard wool jersey to me.

I have a lot of merino clothing. Some of it bobbles, most of it doesn't (and I've been wearing them a long time)

I can tell between a high street and high end designer item but there are middling priced items in the £2-300 bracket which are as good as the designer ones, eg i have a few wool items made in Scotland, not cheap but last well, timeless and look much more expensive

Can you still tell when it has a grease spot down the front and your toddler has smeared spaghetti bolognaise on the cuff that never quite came out in the wash?

This is why I can't have nice clothes.