To scrimp or to splurge - that is the question!
By Bridgette Raes
September is the month that I generally start doing a lot of client shopping sessions. The stores are packed with new merchandise, clients are ready to flick off their flip-flops and discover a new pair of boots to cram their toes into, and cashmere is on everyone’s mind. Yesterday I went shopping with a client who was ready to make a sizeable investment towards her wardrobe. Our shopping day was incredibly productive, and she wound up going home with some great investment pieces. Needless to say, this investment didn’t come without some panic and deep breathing exercises. Wardrobe investment, while it is important, is still an outlay which usually has a pretty large price tag attached. Thankfully, even though my client had a few moments of slight overwhelm by the exact cost of her investment, she quickly overcame these feelings because she knew everything she was buying was worth it.
Buyer’s remorse is an all-too-common feeling. The moment we plunk down the money, panic can set in. This is all too true when it comes to shopping for clothing. So many of us have been burned by mistaken wardrobe purchases, and we have the proof of our errors staring back at us (with the price tag still intact) every time we open our closet doors.
With everyone heading out to the stores this month, I thought I would offer my thoughts on how to spend, and some tools that you can use to help you justify your investment.
How to spend
When I shop with a client I put clothing into two categories, hard pieces and soft pieces. Hard pieces are the foundational investment pieces that have more longevity; these are classic, staple items that you expect to wear for years to come. These are the workhorses of your wardrobe. While you should like these items, they aren’t the pizzazz pieces that give your wardrobe tremendous personality; instead, these are the stalwart basics that ground and create the foundation for your wardrobe.
While hard pieces are not the groovy, kickin’ wardrobe pieces, this is where you want to spend your money and begin your focus. When I shop with a client who plans on making a sizeable investment towards her wardrobe, we always start with the hard pieces, as this is where the majority of your wardrobe budget should go. Hard pieces include good pants, a suit if it is necessary, a basic jacket, more tailored skirts, and/or a basic dress. Because these hard pieces are the base of your wardrobe, they should be items that have tremendous mix-and-match ability. You should be able to dress up and dress down these basic hard pieces, enabling you to create many different outfits and ultimately, justifying the price of your investment.
Soft pieces, on the other hand, are more like the kids from high school who got voted Personality Plus in your yearbook. Think of these soft pieces as the people you know who can easily light up a room whenever they enter. While soft pieces play an equally strong role in your wardrobe choices, this is not where you should be spending the bulk of your wardrobe money. Soft pieces have a much shorter shelf life, and in a few seasons they either wear out or are no longer timely. Soft pieces include knit tops or layering pieces, T- shirts, novelty jackets, fancy fun skirts, fun accessories and trendy items.
How to quiet the doubt
So you are out shopping and you find some items that you love, except that sticker shock is making you rethink your choices. If you find yourself in this “sticky” predicament, stop and think. Look carefully at the pieces you want to invest in, and ask yourself “Do I have a need for these pieces in my wardrobe that will justify the cost?” You want the cost to justify the amount of wear you will actually get from the things you are contemplating buying. For example, my client last week had three suits that she was considering purchasing. Clearly, buying three suits was going to be a sizeable investment. But when we looked at the client’s lifestyle and career (which requires her to wear suits) the cost of the investment was equivalent to the need. If she had worked in a more “business casual” environment, she probably would have been safe purchasing only one of the suits.
Another way to look at it is to take the total cost of the piece you want to buy, and divide it by the number of times you think you will wear it. If you want to purchase a new suit that costs $500 and can see that you will wear the suit once a week for the next year, the cost of the suit is a little over $9.00 per wear. Looking at it this way can definitely help ease your mind and determine whether or not the investment is justified, and what to leave behind at the store.
The same day that my client and I were shopping, we came across this beautiful velvet jacket. The fit was great, the color was stunning, and it looked like something that would be a nice addition to my client’s wardrobe. But we decided to leave it at the store. Even though this jacket had a lot going for it, we still couldn’t justify the cost. The velvet jacket was a novelty piece. Sure, my client would wear it; but how often she would wear it weighed heavily on our decision of whether to buy or not. Velvet may be hot this fall, but what about next fall? In addition, this jacket was also very identifiable, so the chance of my client wearing it on a weekly basis was pretty slim. When we looked at the cost of the jacket (nearly $300) we both agreed that the investment was not equivalent to the amount of wear she would get from it. We decided that we would search for this type of look at a lower price point, ultimately getting the most value per wear.
Is it a multi-tasker?
What I loved about one of the suits that my client selected was that she could immediately see lots of options for this suit in her wardrobe. While looking at the suit in the dressing room my client started saying, “I can dress this suit up and wear it to an event, and I can also wear it to work.” The options for this suit were limitless. When you are making the decision to invest in something, make sure it can multi-task for you. The best wardrobe pieces are ones that can be utilized in different ways with slight variations.
The next time you go shopping and are considering investing in something major, make a list of all the things that you can realistically imagine doing with the piece. The longer your list is, the more money you can comfortably spend on it.
(c) 2005 Bridgette Raes Style Group
Signup for our weekly newsletter where we not only offer weekly style article written by Bridgette Raes, but also include Style Q&A, Upcoming events, advice from our resident "What To Do Girl", organizing, beauty and financial tips by visiting http://www.bridgetteraes.com/
September is the month that I generally start doing a lot of client shopping sessions. The stores are packed with new merchandise, clients are ready to flick off their flip-flops and discover a new pair of boots to cram their toes into, and cashmere is on everyone’s mind. Yesterday I went shopping with a client who was ready to make a sizeable investment towards her wardrobe. Our shopping day was incredibly productive, and she wound up going home with some great investment pieces. Needless to say, this investment didn’t come without some panic and deep breathing exercises. Wardrobe investment, while it is important, is still an outlay which usually has a pretty large price tag attached. Thankfully, even though my client had a few moments of slight overwhelm by the exact cost of her investment, she quickly overcame these feelings because she knew everything she was buying was worth it.
Buyer’s remorse is an all-too-common feeling. The moment we plunk down the money, panic can set in. This is all too true when it comes to shopping for clothing. So many of us have been burned by mistaken wardrobe purchases, and we have the proof of our errors staring back at us (with the price tag still intact) every time we open our closet doors.
With everyone heading out to the stores this month, I thought I would offer my thoughts on how to spend, and some tools that you can use to help you justify your investment.
How to spend
When I shop with a client I put clothing into two categories, hard pieces and soft pieces. Hard pieces are the foundational investment pieces that have more longevity; these are classic, staple items that you expect to wear for years to come. These are the workhorses of your wardrobe. While you should like these items, they aren’t the pizzazz pieces that give your wardrobe tremendous personality; instead, these are the stalwart basics that ground and create the foundation for your wardrobe.
While hard pieces are not the groovy, kickin’ wardrobe pieces, this is where you want to spend your money and begin your focus. When I shop with a client who plans on making a sizeable investment towards her wardrobe, we always start with the hard pieces, as this is where the majority of your wardrobe budget should go. Hard pieces include good pants, a suit if it is necessary, a basic jacket, more tailored skirts, and/or a basic dress. Because these hard pieces are the base of your wardrobe, they should be items that have tremendous mix-and-match ability. You should be able to dress up and dress down these basic hard pieces, enabling you to create many different outfits and ultimately, justifying the price of your investment.
Soft pieces, on the other hand, are more like the kids from high school who got voted Personality Plus in your yearbook. Think of these soft pieces as the people you know who can easily light up a room whenever they enter. While soft pieces play an equally strong role in your wardrobe choices, this is not where you should be spending the bulk of your wardrobe money. Soft pieces have a much shorter shelf life, and in a few seasons they either wear out or are no longer timely. Soft pieces include knit tops or layering pieces, T- shirts, novelty jackets, fancy fun skirts, fun accessories and trendy items.
How to quiet the doubt
So you are out shopping and you find some items that you love, except that sticker shock is making you rethink your choices. If you find yourself in this “sticky” predicament, stop and think. Look carefully at the pieces you want to invest in, and ask yourself “Do I have a need for these pieces in my wardrobe that will justify the cost?” You want the cost to justify the amount of wear you will actually get from the things you are contemplating buying. For example, my client last week had three suits that she was considering purchasing. Clearly, buying three suits was going to be a sizeable investment. But when we looked at the client’s lifestyle and career (which requires her to wear suits) the cost of the investment was equivalent to the need. If she had worked in a more “business casual” environment, she probably would have been safe purchasing only one of the suits.
Another way to look at it is to take the total cost of the piece you want to buy, and divide it by the number of times you think you will wear it. If you want to purchase a new suit that costs $500 and can see that you will wear the suit once a week for the next year, the cost of the suit is a little over $9.00 per wear. Looking at it this way can definitely help ease your mind and determine whether or not the investment is justified, and what to leave behind at the store.
The same day that my client and I were shopping, we came across this beautiful velvet jacket. The fit was great, the color was stunning, and it looked like something that would be a nice addition to my client’s wardrobe. But we decided to leave it at the store. Even though this jacket had a lot going for it, we still couldn’t justify the cost. The velvet jacket was a novelty piece. Sure, my client would wear it; but how often she would wear it weighed heavily on our decision of whether to buy or not. Velvet may be hot this fall, but what about next fall? In addition, this jacket was also very identifiable, so the chance of my client wearing it on a weekly basis was pretty slim. When we looked at the cost of the jacket (nearly $300) we both agreed that the investment was not equivalent to the amount of wear she would get from it. We decided that we would search for this type of look at a lower price point, ultimately getting the most value per wear.
Is it a multi-tasker?
What I loved about one of the suits that my client selected was that she could immediately see lots of options for this suit in her wardrobe. While looking at the suit in the dressing room my client started saying, “I can dress this suit up and wear it to an event, and I can also wear it to work.” The options for this suit were limitless. When you are making the decision to invest in something, make sure it can multi-task for you. The best wardrobe pieces are ones that can be utilized in different ways with slight variations.
The next time you go shopping and are considering investing in something major, make a list of all the things that you can realistically imagine doing with the piece. The longer your list is, the more money you can comfortably spend on it.
(c) 2005 Bridgette Raes Style Group
Signup for our weekly newsletter where we not only offer weekly style article written by Bridgette Raes, but also include Style Q&A, Upcoming events, advice from our resident "What To Do Girl", organizing, beauty and financial tips by visiting http://www.bridgetteraes.com/
posted by Unknown @ 11:12 PM
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