Money & Style

Does More Money Equal Better Style!

Style Myth Busted!

Happy day, reader dear!

Many of the style myths out there take the form of:

Everyone needs a…

It’s chic/not chic to… Wear/Don’t wear…

After 40/50/60 you shouldn’t… (This one’s a real gear grinder for me!)

Today’s style myth isn’t spoken, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t powerful. AND pervasive. I hear variations of it all the time from people when they find out that I’m an image consultant. Or during a Free Style Discovery Call they drop I don’t have enough money to have style.

I’m not buying it. Yes, you do need enough money to cover your nakedness. I expect everyone reading this blog has that. If not, I’m not sure how you’re finding this out in weblandia. But more money does not equate with better style! More money can allow you to buy more clothes, or more expensive clothes, but that’s not style.

As I mention every few weeks, please feel free to Pin or share this post or its images with your friends on social media. None of us have been getting out much lately, and your kind introduction is a great way for me to make new virtual friends! Many thanks.

When you have less money, you have to be more selective about what you purchase. When son number one and I were on our own, we had some serious beans and rice days. After paying rent and filling the car with gas to get to work, the grocery run took every last penny from my wallet. When there’s nothing to spare, every cent spent has to be good food. Nutritional goodness. No junk. We ate a LOT of oatmeal. And whatever fruit and veg was the very cheapest that week. I couldn’t justify buying anything that wasn’t good for us.

Somehow that translated across other parts of my life, from haircuts to underwear. Buy quality once (or less frequently) rather than rubbish three times over. Yes, it hurts at the purchase, but one $60 pair of jeans that lasts five (or more) years is a better value than the $30 pair that barely lasts a year. It’s about more than cost per wear. You are honing your style and practicing the lost arts of self-discipline and self-knowledge.

Here’s a little (4 minute) ramble…

I believe it was Diana Vreeland who said, Elegance is refusal. Now maybe elegance isn’t a style word that resonates with you. It doesn’t with me. I feel like I have too much energy and bounce to ever be elegant. It may be the same reason that French Chic doesn’t work for me either… There’s a gallic sangfroid that I can’t even begin to pretend. I’m insanely curious, enthusiastic, and “brutally” optimistic (That brutally came from an prior student. Eighth grade male. Dying of ennui at the tender age of 13.)

Maybe I can’t get behind the elegance part, but I totally get refusal! That’s just another way of saying selectivity. I had a client who, after working with me for a few sessions, shared that she found (her words) shopping was harder; she was getting really picky… We flipped that to selective; it sounds so much better! Her mindset has changed and shopping has gotten easier again btw!

So how about you? Do you feel like money and style go hand in hand? Why or why not?

Stylishly yours,

2 Comments

  • Leslie Susan Clingan

    When I was a single mom, I had a pair of brown shoes and a pair of black shoes. One pair…I think the brown, got a hole in the sole and I just kept on wearing ’em. We do what we have to do when times are lean, don’t we? I can relate to eating a lot of beans and rice for dinner and working lots of odd jobs. My girls were so good about not having to wear name brand clothes growing up. And even today, we love to find a bargain!!
    You have a wardrobe of very nice, quality pieces. I love the many ways you find to style them. Your selectivity and wise shopping has paid off.

    • Liz K

      Thank you for coming by, Leslie! I wasn’t always so selective! Those beans and rice lessons were hard learned, but I’m thankful for them. And the attitude of gratitude they have left me with… But not the scarcity mindset that can go with the beans and rice experience; it has taken a lot of work to learn to let go. I love a bargain, too, but I’m careful to make sure it’s something I love enough to have paid full price for. Your black shoe/brown shoe memory gets me thinking… If I was only to have 2 pair of shoes, what would I choose? I think you just prompted a post!

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