Man, I don’t have any stories that come CLOSE to these. When I moved up North for a few years I got a wicked coat that cost (at a guess) maybe $150, but that was a gift from an extremely wealthy relative. I think I might have paid $60 for a pair of shoes once.
Suits don’t count, but I have to share this: I have an Armani suit that I got for FREE. A friend bought it for $3 (that’s not a typo) at an estate sale because he wanted the BUTTONS from it for some reason, and I’m his friend who is closest in size to the suit (I’m an uncommon size for a guy, at least among guys I know: 5’10" and about 145 lbs.), so he gave it to me. $30 to the tailor and I am looking FINE in those threads.
£110 (down from £150) on my long grey wool winter coat. (so that was $157)
£80 on a satin corset.
Almost everything I have cost under £50. I buy a lot in the sales. I have a Tufi Duek skirt reduced from £110 to £40, a half price Ally Cappelino suit, and a lovely leather jacket from H&M at only £40. Forty quid is my lucky price for good labels. I also have plenty of nice items that cost under a tenner apiece.
I was going to say my wool/tweed sport coat at about $140 in 1984, but my folks bought it for me for high school graduation. I still wear it - I need to put some patches on the elbows, though.
The most expensive clothes I bought for myself? I guess that would be the work boots at $125. When it comes to clothes, I’m really cheap.
A bit off the topic, but I was glancing at the SPORTS ILLUSTRATED swimsuit issue, and I was amazed at how expensive the swimsuits were. How about $200.00 for a few square inches of stretch nylon-probably the most expensive garments you can buy!
Probably my Year 11 formal dress, which came to around $800. It was made to my measurements - $250 was for the labour and the material was around $500, with zips, and other things making up the rest. It’s an absolutely gorgeous colour and cut, but I haven’t worn it since.
Nymysys
Please note that if you want to fully exploit those $1,000 pair of pants, take them to a tailor and have a pattern made out of them. That way, when the pants finally wear out, you can have more pairs made out of any fabric you choose. I must admit however, that the sticker price made me sit up and notice as well.
$200 for a wedding dress. (clearance rack. Add about $60 for fittings)
$120 for birkenstocks (worth every penny)
$25 for a bra ( I’m usually a el-cheapo bra gal but after two kids, the ‘gals’ needed something to help them maintain their perkiness. One good bra is worth three so-so bra’s.)
My wedding dress only cost (counting the veil) $125. It was Italian velvet and a friend of mine designed it for me.
My most expensive piece of clothing (that I paid for, well, Mr.Silky and I both paid for) is my floor length, Scandinavian red fox fur coat.
It originally was priced at $8800. They had some kind of sale going, and it was marked down to $4995.
I kept walking by the store, hundreds of times, then walking in and trying it on. Somehow or other, I got them down to $3600.
When Mr.Silky finally went in to buy it for me (this went on for months, I might add) furs were going downhill in a big way, and he got it for $2800. He gave it to me for Christmas, and had it inscribed with To Stacey Love, Mike Christmas 1989.
I still have it. Living in Alabama, I average about once or twice a year wearing it, but it is the most gorgeous coat in the world. And the costliest piece of clothing I will ever own!
I put shoes in a separate category - you don’t go cheap on your feet. The most I’ve spent was $240 a few years ago on a pair of Allen Edmonds. They were worth every penny and lasted me through almost daily wear, until middle-age-spread hit me feet-first.
My most recent work shoes were slightly less expensive: Ecco CityWalkers at about $215. Wonderful, marvelous things.
Other than that, a year and a half ago I spent $150 on a Joseph Abboud sweater. It was incredible on me - blue that made my eyes look like ice. But it shrank at the dry cleaners and has pilled rather badly.
My wedding dress was $80 and change because I only had to pay for materials; a friend’s mom made it.
I bought a dress for a reception or something back in 1990 that was $90 and it looked fantastic…it has since vanished.
I spent $40 on a pair of shoes last spring.
Uhh…I think in the last 6 years I’ve spent less than $200 TOTAL on clothes for me and my three kids combined (other than those shoes) (thank you, hand-me-downs and thrift stores), so lately even a $15 pair of jeans seems pretty extravagant.
10 years ago I spent $300.00 on a cashemere winter coat. Oh Man! It is beautiful. The lining just started falling apart last year. I will probably have it relined just because I love it sooo much. And it’s warm and soft and pretty.
Shoes, now I don’t mess with shoes. I gotta be comfortable. My purple suede Bandolino’s at $80.00 wore really well. (I’m gonna try to get one more season out of them.)
I bought some dress sandals last year for a trip to our corp. office in Seattle, $115.00 for dress sandals. Not comfortable, not practicle, and now gathering dust, but I was not gonna wear cheap shoes to a dinner at the owners house.
Fifteen years ago or so I used to wear boots. I would treat myself to a new pair each year. I believe the most expensive were my gators and ostrich, at @ $500 a pair. The rattlesnakes were only $300 or so, and the lizard, eel, and pony, elk, etc. far less.
I generally treat my feet pretty well with Docs or Birkies. And I wear my footwear until they wear out.
My favorite coat is an Eddie Bauer down-filled leather bomber. I believe it was around $350. Several years old and just getting better. I wear it all the time when it is below 50F (which in Chicago can be pretty much from Sept thru May!)
Is jewelry excluded? I wear only my wedding band, a Timex Ironman, and a gold hoop in my left ear. But Ms. D can put on several grand in stones. She has a 1 carat plus solitaire that I recall was around $8G 5 years ago. And for her b-day in June I’m planning on dropping something around $20-25G for a 2 carat in a setting she really loves. Heck, I don’t do enough drugs anymore to support terrorism, so I might as well do it through the diamond trade!
Well, I paid about $300 for a dress in Paris, but I guess that doesn’t count because it was a skirt, top and jacket. Besides, it was drop dead cool and I’ve yet to see a dress even remotely like it and I bought it fifteen years ago.
So I guess the record holder is $140 for a pair of Birkenstocks that I’ve been wearing for six years now and sometime in the next couple of years I suppose I ought to have them resoled.
Second runner up is a pair of Zodiac boots that I paid $110 for and they’re now twenty years old, have been back in fashion several times and still look like new.
Quality counts… That’s why I always check the labels at the thrift store, heh heh…
Well since we’re doing jackets an such the most I’ve ever spent on one thing would be my Aerostitch riding suit. It’s one piece and cost around $800. Best thing I’ve ever bought.
The next expensive thing would be my leather jackets, two of them at 300 each. Then a pair of motorcycle boots at 250.
Most everything else costs around 30-40 bucks. I always buy my jeans on sale, but I don’t like buying the cheaper golf shirts at Wal-Mart, they never seem to last so I pay good money for nice shirts that last for a good 4-5 years.
I have a pageant dress…totally sequined and altered to fit my then 36/24/36 frame that cost about $1200. After that it would have to be my Prada skirt–$750.
