How to start investing in a luxury wardrobe
One of the most frequent questions I always get asked is how to start investing in a luxury wardrobe? Where do I start, what to buy, where to buy and more importantly to how to do this without breaking your bank? So here are some answers from how I started my own luxury wardrobe.
Save and Prioritise
A luxury wardrobe doesn't come cheap and that is the harsh truth about it. You need actual hard-earned currency put towards it, so saving is an important aspect of building up a luxury wardrobe. If you can set aside a certain percentage from your monthly income for your luxury wardrobe each month and be disciplined about it (I am telling you more about in the next paragraphs) then over time, you have a pool of funds you can dip into buying luxury items you know that you have desired for as long as you can remember.
With savings, always comes prioritising, I would say they go in hand in hand. Prioritising is about actually thinking about how much do you actually want to have a luxury wardrobe, this is something you need to really think about, do you really really want it or is it something just nice to have. Because if it is the latter then it is not a priority and it will affect your mindset when it comes to putting aside hard-earned cash to build up a luxury wardrobe. Also given many of us have a limited income each year or month, we have so many other things we need to put money aside to such as a mortgage, children or even saving up to buying a house etc. And in many cases, we can't put money aside to all of these buckets at once, so some prioritisation is definitely needed. In my case, I make it a priority to have a luxury wardrobe and therefore I made compromises. For example, when I first started I never go out to any restaurants meals, I always walked everywhere instead of taking Ubers, I made sure that I have a maximum budget for going out per month, and all of that meant that I never dipped into my wardrobe budget for anything else.
Wishlists and Sales
A wishlist is a must if you are thinking of building a luxury wardrobe. As I mentioned earlier, these items are expensive, so we need to have a fully planned out wishlist which represents our taste in fashion and also consists of smart items. what I mean by smart items is that when building your luxury wardrobe, the decisions you make about every single item matters. So investing in timeless luxury items is the key. Whether it is a Kelly or a Birkin from Hermes, a classic Chanel bag, a well-cut Saint Laurent Blazer or a Dior Jacket, these items need to stand the test of time and that is not just by being high quality. They need to be trendless and as much as possible seasonless. That is how you know you will wear them year in year out.
Sales and Outlets
This is not a blessing, this is a curse. Yes, if you are in this for the long run and want to build a luxury timeless classic wardrobe, my advise to always steer clear from the sales. Usually, none of the classic items is ever put on sales by the brands and what goes on sales is the items that didn't do so well in that season and they are in need of space both digital and physical for the next season so these trendy items need to fly off the shelves. As tempting as it is to buy a pair of trendy trainers in the summer sales or a trendy coat (still from a luxury label) on the January sales, this is still going against building your iconic luxury wardrobe. They may be well made, so beautiful to style yet ultimately holds you back from getting to your end goal.
Buying Fast Fashion
This is another temptation we need to say no to. Especially when you are saving a considerable sum of money to buy a luxury item, you might be tempted to throw away a few pounds here and there to go treat yourself to some classic retail therapy from the high street. But all of these bills add up and at the end of the year, it could be that it is the price of a Dior bag that you had in your wishlist forever. So what I did was I deleted all the high street fashion retailer apps, didn't go to those sites to check what is new in, I just looked at my wishlist and made a promise to myself that next thing I buy, that is a Dior Tote!
Pre-Loved Market
For those of who you don't know luxury fashion has a huge pre-loved market and you can buy very good quality items (in some cases never worn with tags) from the sites like Vestiare Collective or Farfetch Pre-Loved Section. This means that you are still getting an authentic piece of luxury without the original price tag. This is also great if you are a lover of vintage and want to secure some iconic pieces from past limited edition collections. I certainly have bought a fair few pieces from the pre-loved market. Especially in the early days when you first want to build up a capsule luxury wardrobe within a smaller budget, this is usually an excellent place to start with.
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