Dress For Success: The Chapter on Investing

The votes are in! When asked which wardrobe staple would you most like to invest in the #1 answer was a classic trench or coat, followed by shoes as your #2. My thoughts exactly. In honor of those picks here are a few tips (in my own opinion) on seeking out the perfect investment piece for you:

1. Make sure you LOVE the color, in my book, whites, greys, blacks and navy's or a sharp red will always be in style. And avoid patterns that you may not want to wear again next year. 
2. Observe the stitching and lining of the garment (even a shoe), you can tell a lot about it's lifespan by carefully reading between the lines....I mean stitches. Is it strong, are there lose threads, is the material durable? 
3. Only buy it if it is the perfect fit. Tayloring also counts as a perfect fit. I love taking an item I think is 100% my size in every way and asking my taylor, who knows me, my style and matches my love for a good garment, and asking her to make it even better. If it doesn't fit right, don't persuade yourself to get it. Chances are it will sit in your closet for decades. 

As I write this I'm donning a loose knit silk slub sweater I spent $100 on at Banana Republic back in high school. I've been loving it for over 12 years now. At 14 coming up with $100 wasn't easy but mama taught me well.

My first investment piece. And Wilmington, he's such a photo snob. 

Now, I admit, I learned early on to invest and purchase wisely, however one of my biggest struggles in the up through college was impulse buying. Where? places where you waste $25 on something that can only be worn once, twice if you're lucky. The result? Wishing I put that $25 towards a gorgeous white wool coat I've been loving from Elie Tahari. The lesson is, waste not, people. Investing in that Elie Tahari I could pass on to my daughter or granddaughter is much more cost effective than a trendy top I may never wear again. Still not convinced that to invest is best? Put down those knock-off LV purses (I can see you from here and my heart hurts knowing you're even thinking about it) and think about the legacy you leave with a real Louis Vuitton. I don't know about you but I'd rather have my great grand children looking through my closet someday saying "Wow, Grandma had some real class. Look at these gorgeous fabrics!" Instead of "we're gonna need more garbage bags to get rid of all this crap. What was she thinking?"

The bottom line is this, it's a fact: The better dressed and presented you are, the more public acceptance you will receive. And it can be done very affordably? It's easy. Pay twice as much and buy half as many. You're really spending the same amount but you're buying better pieces. Pieces that last. And when you do this, you not only budget better but you think twice as much about what you are purchasing. I swear, your closet will rock. It will take time and effort, but it will rock. And the great part is, you will find that you are actually ahead money-wise when you follow this shopping rule. Why? 

It's simple....

1. Your clothing will last more than twice as long because they are more than twice as good, and as a rule they will show quality as long as they last. 

2. What you buy will stay in style longer. Better clothing always does. The same goes for accessories. 

3. You'll get better advice. Merchants selling $500 suits are usually more interested in helping you find the garment just for you than are merchants selling $200 suits. 

Remember, your appearance talks to you and it talks to others. When you dress for success your appearance says "Here is a person who respects themself, he or she is important." The well dressed person's appearance says positive things, it conveys impressions of success, intelligence, prosperity, dependability, trustworthiness and admirability. The shabby looking individual's (and I don't mean shabby chic - that's another story) appearance says negative things, it says here is a person who isn't doing well." It conveys impressions of carelessness, inefficiency and unimportance. There are many men and women who have very little in the finance department who still dress so significantly well that they feel and command respect. Practice it. 

You owe it to yourself to dress your best. That's a little piece of my mind on the topic. I would like to give a shout out to my good friend Miss Meagan Newell for introducing me to a new designer, Elizabeth and James. When I mentioned investing in your wardrobe, Meagan shot me a tweet about E&J with this note: "Investment Pieces! Go." She added, "They're so wearable and really easy pieces." Here are a few of my top picks from their Fall lookbook.

Happy Investing!