The 6 Spendy Accessories You Need To Make All Your Cheap Clothes Look Gorgeous
by The Candidly Team
We’re going to let you in on an industry secret:
Even though most of us normal people shop high/low, and go to Target for pajamas while spending well into triple digits on shoes, it’s very hard to be a single brand, like us, that writes about this disparity.
Why?
Most editorial round ups are created for and geared toward audiences that are “high wealth” or “budget” because it’s a clear path, and it makes it easy to find your people.
But we like to make things really hard for ourselves. Because we think most of you are like us, and have a big range of what you’ll spend, depending on your priorities, what you’re willing invest in, and what gets your heart racing.
And so we’re trusting our gut on this, hard as it might be to find an audience, and sharing 6 very expensive accessories that we purchased with our own money and consider big investments. We love them all, they make the rest of our closet look more expensive, and because they’re timeless, we know we’ll wear them forever.
But if none of these are the types of accessories that feel investment-worthy to you (valid), we also included our favorite versions that are very budget friendly.
Something for everyone! Which you’d think would be exactly what the internet wants! Except it isn’t!
Except….maybe you do.
Let’s go.
1. The Elevated Cashmere Cap
WHAT: Vince Cashmere Baseball Cap
WHY: A typical baseball cap doesn’t scream polished. But a black cashmere baseball cap? Oh yes. I’m a braids person because I like to be an unwashed pig for days on end, but a cashmere cap is a PERFECT choice for letting your freshly washed hair air dry and exhibiting zero effort, while looking very chic. Black is obvious but THIS color is also a must.
We bought ours years ago but recently found THIS for nearly a third of the price.
2. The Designer Belt
WHAT: Gucci Marmont 2015 Re-Edition Wide Belt
WHY: We do not indiscriminately buy designer. Not at all. But we had never owned a “nice” belt before and after throwing away cheap belts year after year, we decided to invest. And once we started wearing it, we realized owning a gorgeous statement belt meant something very exciting started to happen — all our cheap clothes looked really elevated. Our tank and our discounted jeans from Madewell look like an outfit:
Our outfit comprised entirely from the VERY affordable J.Crew Factory suddenly looked … extremely elevated:
But if you’re not jazzed about needing to save up for a belt, THIS reasonably priced, gorgeously made belt is waiting for you. It’s actually in our cart, too.
3. The Quiet Luxury Bag
WHAT: Kaai Midi Pyramid
WHY: A gorgeously made, generously sized tote is sort of the chic beacon (chicon?) of adulthood. And we’ve had many, many totes. Most fall apart or are so cavernous they inevitably become so filled with crap as to be unusable. (Though we crested a hack for that HERE). We’ve had some designer bags with logos which we eventually start to hate (see some regrets HERE). But a sleekly-designed, multi-compartment, easy to clean leather, goes with everything, laptop friendly, designed by women so there’s room for everything, timeless tote is something we hadn’t experienced until recently. We’re utterly smitten by this brand Kaai and love that there’s zero logos, just supremely clean lines that we know we’ll love in 50 years, too. And the color selection is dizzying.
4. The vaguely 80s slouch boots
WHAT: Beek Grouse Slouchy Suede Boot
WHY: We feel as though we’ve been searching for these boots for our entire lives. We’ve tried many that are similar, but none that fit the bill like these. The outfit above is just a sea of dumb cotton clothes, and yet the pop of boot turns the whole thing into an outfit. The slight slouch means they go with jeans, skirts, dresses, and the flat heel means they FEEL LIKE SLIPPERS. We repeat, THEY FEEL LIKE SLIPPERS. The leather-wrapped extra cushion sole is like walking on a cloud, and we just can’t sacrifice comfort anymore. Sorry. We’re old. They do also come in leather but we a scotch-guarded the ever loving daylights out of them and the suede has remained perfect. These are, without question, our favorite boots.
If that price “point” makes you gag a little, we love these usually-sold-out Glove Boots that we’ve worn since 2020, and they’re still good as new.
5. The non-black statement sunglasses
WHAT: Celine 54MM Rectangular Sunglasses
WHY: Listen, we’re not going to convince you to buy purple Celine sunglasses so we’re not even going to try. But you CAN see with your own eyes how a very basic outfit becomes VERY fun simply with a fun pop of color on the face. In fact, spending a lot of money on sunglasses is stupid because they’re the most easy-to-lose item any of us own. But the color made us weak, and we had just recently been told we now need “readers” to see up close and this was a “please god don’t let me get old” vanity purchase. But? We’ve never worn a pair of sunglasses more. Nor have we received more compliments.
6. The silk-cashmere oversized scarf
WHAT: Louis Vuitton Silk Scarf
WHY: This scarf is olllllld, proving that when you invest wisely, you’ll wear it forever. We think it’s only sporadically available through luxury resellers now, but the real wearability of this scarf is from its weight and material. It’s a silk/cashmere blend, so it can fold into nothingness, wrap around you 18 times, keep you warm at night but never overheat you, and essentially turn any outfit into something memorable and chic. We actually own the affordable version, too.
At The Candidly, we try a lot of stuff so you don’t have to. We only recommend things we truly love, and that we think you’ll love, too. All products are chosen independently by our creative team, and all details reflect the price and availability of products at the time of publication. If you buy something we link to, The Candidly may earn a commission.
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