How to Dress Like You Have Money
So you don't have a lot of expendable income, but want to look like you may have at one point been a resident of Paris and done things like eat croissants as you read your newspaper at the corner cafe. Style is not about money! It's about understanding a little fashion history and knowing how to shop smart. You can look like a million bucks without spending it.
Things You'll Need:
About $200
Internet access or a good sense of the stores in your city
Transportation to get to those stores
Step
1
Decide your theme, but make sure it's got some fashion history behind it. There's always Audrey Hepburn or Twiggy, but the trick is to take the best of their iconic style and add your own twist. Maybe you want an elegant rock 'n roll dandy style, country-girl in the city, or Berlin Cabaret look. Go to the library and look through photo books on the history of fashion, music, movies, and art. Also look up a little bit about color theory. You'll want to know what the complementary color to brown is, for example. Designers think up new themes they're interested in every season, and one sure-fire way to class up your look is to develop a thesis on your body.
Step
2
Set shopping goals. How many pairs of pants will you be getting? How many shirts? How many shoes? To begin, get the basics: five shirts, one dress, and at least two pairs of pants. Setting goals is important so that you don't get sidetracked in the store and end up buying trendy items on display. Dressing like you have money is about style, which is much more enduring than trends! Resist how great the models and celebrities look in the ads, and think about what classic looks accentuate YOUR best features. Those models have had hours of make-up, hair, lighting, and Photoshop to make those trendy clothes look like anyone could wear them.
Step
3
Think about a good rule of thumb: start with understated colors like black, gray, white, or brown. Then add bolder color with accesories. Old money is understated, as if you're more interested in the texture of the shirt and how it falls than a gimmicky thing like whether it's "in style." Remember, you're going for the class and refinement that an expensive education should impart, and this means going for quality of design. Look for sales at department stores since slightly tweaked newer versions of basics come out often and the earlier versions can be gotten for very little.
Step
4
Thrift shops! It's more work, but the deals you can find on gently used older designer pieces can't be beat. Be thorough. Go to as many as you need to in order to find great, inexpensive basic items. Some items to look for: pencil skirts (if you are thin or have long legs, there is no faster way to look elegant), A-line dresses or skirts, a black shirt, Jackie-O scooped neck line dresses, and classic black or charcoal trousers. No T-shirts! T-shirts can come later if you insist on wearing them, once you've mastered the art of dressing casual looks up. However, for now, break the T-shirt habit. French women do not usually leave the house wearing T-shirts.
Tips & Warnings
Take care of your skin so that you can wear less make-up. You want to look as if you take good care of yourself, and glow naturally. Your make-up should make it look as if you just happen to be beautiful, not as if you have expensive make-up on.
No T-Shirts! No sweatpants unless you're at the gym, and even then, wear your earrings for heaven's sake.
http://www.ehow.com/how_2102531_dress-like-have-money.html
So you don't have a lot of expendable income, but want to look like you may have at one point been a resident of Paris and done things like eat croissants as you read your newspaper at the corner cafe. Style is not about money! It's about understanding a little fashion history and knowing how to shop smart. You can look like a million bucks without spending it.
Things You'll Need:
About $200
Internet access or a good sense of the stores in your city
Transportation to get to those stores
Step
1
Decide your theme, but make sure it's got some fashion history behind it. There's always Audrey Hepburn or Twiggy, but the trick is to take the best of their iconic style and add your own twist. Maybe you want an elegant rock 'n roll dandy style, country-girl in the city, or Berlin Cabaret look. Go to the library and look through photo books on the history of fashion, music, movies, and art. Also look up a little bit about color theory. You'll want to know what the complementary color to brown is, for example. Designers think up new themes they're interested in every season, and one sure-fire way to class up your look is to develop a thesis on your body.
Step
2
Set shopping goals. How many pairs of pants will you be getting? How many shirts? How many shoes? To begin, get the basics: five shirts, one dress, and at least two pairs of pants. Setting goals is important so that you don't get sidetracked in the store and end up buying trendy items on display. Dressing like you have money is about style, which is much more enduring than trends! Resist how great the models and celebrities look in the ads, and think about what classic looks accentuate YOUR best features. Those models have had hours of make-up, hair, lighting, and Photoshop to make those trendy clothes look like anyone could wear them.
Step
3
Think about a good rule of thumb: start with understated colors like black, gray, white, or brown. Then add bolder color with accesories. Old money is understated, as if you're more interested in the texture of the shirt and how it falls than a gimmicky thing like whether it's "in style." Remember, you're going for the class and refinement that an expensive education should impart, and this means going for quality of design. Look for sales at department stores since slightly tweaked newer versions of basics come out often and the earlier versions can be gotten for very little.
Step
4
Thrift shops! It's more work, but the deals you can find on gently used older designer pieces can't be beat. Be thorough. Go to as many as you need to in order to find great, inexpensive basic items. Some items to look for: pencil skirts (if you are thin or have long legs, there is no faster way to look elegant), A-line dresses or skirts, a black shirt, Jackie-O scooped neck line dresses, and classic black or charcoal trousers. No T-shirts! T-shirts can come later if you insist on wearing them, once you've mastered the art of dressing casual looks up. However, for now, break the T-shirt habit. French women do not usually leave the house wearing T-shirts.
Tips & Warnings
Take care of your skin so that you can wear less make-up. You want to look as if you take good care of yourself, and glow naturally. Your make-up should make it look as if you just happen to be beautiful, not as if you have expensive make-up on.
No T-Shirts! No sweatpants unless you're at the gym, and even then, wear your earrings for heaven's sake.
http://www.ehow.com/how_2102531_dress-like-have-money.html
