How can I dress to look more expensive?
Do I have to spend a fortune?
I get asked quite often how to look more expensive or luxurious.
And the question always expects me to name a brand as the answer. Which label, which logo will create the most impact. I understand the logic, if I wear Loro Piana I’m instantly buying credibility right? Not really.
Unless you’re wearing a huge glaring logo, nobody can see what you paid.
Price is invisible on the body. The people looking at you have no receipt to consult, so they do what brains always do with missing information, they infer it.
It’s called thin-slicing, we form judgements about status, wealth and competence within seconds of seeing someone, from whatever cues happen to be available.
And the cues that read as expensive are mostly free. Whether things go together, whether the clothes fit the body actually in them, whether the wearer looks at ease or slightly at war with what they’ve got on. You can get all of that right on a high street budget, and spectacularly wrong at Bond Street prices.
Which is where the logo comes in. A large visible logo feels like the safest route because it removes the inference altogether, it simply announces the number.
But announcements carry information of their own. The further up the wealth ladder you go, the softer the signalling tends to become, in most cases but not all. People at the top are usually only signalling to each other, and they can read the small cues perfectly well. Shout the price with a glaring logo and yes you’ve told everyone what you’ve paid but you’ve also signalled which audience you’re performing for.
A logo can’t rescue an outfit that’s fighting itself. In this weeks episode I speak to Savile Row tailor Nathalie May of Fielding & Nicholson about tailoring, fit and fabric.
𝗡𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗲’𝘀 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗗𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘀:
𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗲𝗱𝗜𝗻: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathalie-may-3b6a0455/
𝗪𝗲𝗯𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗲: https://fieldingandnicholson.com/
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𝗠𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗧𝘂𝗯𝗲 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗹: https://www.youtube.com/@luxuryacademy
𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗟𝘂𝘅𝘂𝗿𝘆 𝗔𝗰𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗺𝘆: https://www.luxuryacademy.co.uk/
𝗦𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝘂𝗽 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝘂𝘅𝘂𝗿𝘆 𝗔𝗰𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗺𝘆 𝗡𝗲𝘄𝘀𝗹𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿: https://www.luxuryacademynewsletter.com