Decoding Designer: When To Skip And When To Splurge On Luxe Fashion

Sewing is a bit of a lost art. Underwear giant Tommy John surveyed 1,000 Americans in 2019 and found that only 12% of respondents knew how to tailor clothing. Why does that matter? Because many shoppers can’t navigate a garment well enough to determine when designer clothing is or isn’t money well spent. But that doesn’t have to be you. As a fashion school grad who knows her way around the inside of a garment, I made a cheat sheet, so you can build a sustainable wardrobe without spending a fortune. Here are the three Fs I follow – fad, fabric, and finish – to help me decide when to spend big and when to go home with money still in my wallet. 

Is It Fad or Rad?

If the designer garment you have your eye on is a trendy, one-or-two-season wear, keep your pocketbook stowed. To get the most bang for your buck, you want expensive buys to anchor your wardrobe for years to come. Think a trench coat, timeless little black dress, or anything Sofia Richie Grainge would wear. If you spend hundreds of dollars on a piece that you will only wear for a couple of seasons, the garment’s price-per-wear is going to be too high, for most people in this economy anyway. That’s “girl math” that actually makes sense. Spend your money on elegant classics, and keep it far, far away from quickly fading fads.

Here’s an example: Coming into the fall/winter 2024 season, bubble hems come to mind as a trend you should skip, or at least buy for fewer zeroes tacked onto the end of the price. Let me explain my reasoning. It goes back to the dark college auditorium where I learned about the cycle of fashion over the course of a semester. I’ll give you the SparkNotes version.

Trends come and go. Low-rise jeans were in style from the late ’90s through the early 2000s, when waistlines dipped so low they couldn’t go any lower without warranting an R-rating. For practicality purposes, and to stave off boredom with something that felt fresh, high-waisted jeans reigned supreme in the 2010s. The bottom line: When trends become overly exaggerated, that usually marks the end of something, and the pendulum will soon swing back in the other direction. The bubble hem of 2024 fits this paradigm. It’s puffy, it’s over the top, and as Harper’s Bazaar says, it’s “something either you get or you don’t.” Divisiveness like that usually points to a fad.

Before we move on, just because you shouldn’t spend big bucks on a passing fashion, doesn’t mean you can’t partake in a fun fad. It can be just that – fun. But awareness is key. Spend less money on fleeting fashions and more cash on essentials you’ll wear for years, preferably without them collecting dust in your closet for decades in between.

Let’s Talk About Fabric

If the designer item you’re drooling over is made from natural fibers, meaning they come from plants or animals, go for it. Natural fibers are more expensive because they must be harvested. On the other hand, synthetic fabrics are cheaper because they are made through chemical processes in a lab. Of course, some natural fibers are often combined with a small percentage of something like spandex for stretch, and that’s fine. There are also hybrid fabrics like lyocell, which is made by dissolving the cellulose of plants in chemicals, and they’re often worth the cost. Other times, you might desire some property a synthetic fabric offers, like the wrinkle-free quality of polyester for traveling, and that’s okay. But as a rule of thumb, natural fibers like silk, linen, cotton, or cashmere, to name a few, feel nicer, last longer, are more sustainable, and are worth a higher price tag than something like polyester.

Now that we know what the fabric is made of, let’s talk about how much there is. If the garment you like has a lot of fabric, keep going for it. This is pretty simple. More fabric equals more money. I can vouch for this as someone who shelled out hundreds of dollars to purchase yards and yards of silk twill to make palazzo pants for my senior year fashion show. Of course, this guideline doesn’t mean you can only buy voluminous caftans – although a gorgeous caftan very well might be worth a hefty price tag. Just keep in mind that a spaghetti-strapped mini dress probably shouldn’t cost you the same as a floor-dusting evening gown.

After looking at the fabric and how much of it there is, we should discuss how it’s put together. If the garment has a complicated design – it’s not a slip skirt with two simple side seams – you’re that much closer to making a purchase. Fewer seams mean the clothing costs less money to make. When I was working as a salesgirl at a high-end boutique in Philadelphia, I remember the owner telling me that skirts have the most markup, which only makes sense. The boutique and the brand can make the most money on something that takes less time for a seamstress to sew. If you have your eye on something that’s simple, it’s smartest to wait until the garment hits the sales rack before you make your move.

Finally, Finishes

Seams come in all shapes and sizes, with names that took me years to memorize. I still need to reference a textbook to recall them all, so don’t worry if you don’t know any. Here’s an easy way to skip four years of fashion school and quickly decide if a designer garment is worth the investment. Turn the garment inside out. If you see lots of thread on seams and hemlines, the pricey piece probably isn’t worth your cash.

For example, grab your nearest t-shirt and flip it inside out. Those loopy threads that cover the side seams are called serger stitches. They’re a quick and easy, cost-saving finish. On the other hand, high-end finishes, like French or bound seams, hide as much thread as possible. They look so clean you could wear the garment inside out, and no one would notice. High-value garments also offer plenty of seam allowance for your local tailor to make alterations for the perfect fit and might even include other time-intensive finishes like intricate embroidery or beading, dying or printing, and fancy buttons, zippers, snaps, or magnetic closures.

Fad, fabric, and finishes – pretty simple, right? Once you put these simple guidelines into practice, you will quickly get a feel for which designer clothes are worth your hard-earned dollars and which you should leave hanging. Oh, but there’s one last thing. Sometimes I throw caution to the wind, launch an F or two out the window, and buy something that breaks my rules just because I really like it. Every now and then, that’s okay to do too. It makes life fun. At least now you know exactly what you’re doing.

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