Is the whole hi-low mixing thing still, well, a thing? I hope so, because I feel like I totally nailed it with this outfit. The dress, bag, and my coat (which you can’t see here, but is my camel MaxMara workhorse) are tres, tres expahnsiv, even with the sizeable gift card that went towards their purchase. On the other hand, the shoes, cardigan, and belt? The very definition of affordable fashion. The whole look together? One of my favourite outfits of the year. Writing a post in question format? Probably more amusing to me than you. (My standards for amusement are low to nonexistent.)
Think you could guess the total out-of-pocket cost of his outfit just by looking at it? We haven’t had some fun with wardrobe statistics in a while, so feel free to play along at home. I can offer you no prize for getting the right number, but you have my blessing to toast yourself with a glass of wine or other beverage/snack of your choice.
Ready?
Ok, so the total retail cost was approximately $3,670 – say it with me, “holy s**t!!!” – and my out-of-pocket cost was $890.* All I can say is: Thank God for eBay and generous gift cards. You’ll be happy to hear that the current Cost-Per-Wear of this outfit is a fairly reasonable $62.74 … not a bad price for feeling like a fancy fance for a day. Which goes to show – spending big bucks on the things you wear most, and that last the longest (like coats and bags) is the way to get the most bang for them bucks. With that said, I don’t know if anyone else thought I looked fancy or just, you know, plain old “nice”, which also goes to show that the main benefit of “investing” in expensive clothes is nothing more tangible than the confidence boost you’ll get out of them.
Have you ever tallied the cost of the outfits you wear? What is looking good for 10 hours a day “worth” to you?
* Technically, the total should be $830, because the shoes were a gift; I included them in the calculations so that the totals would reflect the cost of the entire outfit.
