How to Look Expensive on a Budget: 15 Style Tricks

Trousers that bunch at the ankle are the number one tell. Take every pair to a tailor with the shoes you wear them with and ask for the hem to graze the top of the shoe (straight and wide legs) or sit at the ankle bone (slim and cropped). A plain hem runs $10 to $20; an original hem on jeans a little more.

Cost: $10 to $20 per pair.

Do it yourself: iron-on hem tape works on cotton, ponte and most jeans if you press it well.

A blazer or coat whose sleeves cover the wrist bone looks borrowed. Ask for the sleeves to end just above the wrist so a sliver of shirt cuff shows (usually $15 to $25). A waistband that gaps at the back is a $15 to $20 fix with two darts, and it makes a $40 pair of trousers sit like a $200 pair.

Cost: $15 to $25 per piece.

Order of priority: the coat you wear daily, then the blazer, then trousers.

The one thing a tailor cannot fix cheaply is the shoulder. The seam should sit exactly where your arm meets your shoulder. If it hangs past it, the jacket looks too big no matter what else you alter; if it sits inside, the jacket pulls. Check this on every jacket and coat you own, and donate the ones that fail.

Cost: nothing. It saves you from paying to alter a jacket that will never look right.

Rule: shoulder first, then length, then waist.

A handheld steamer takes creases out of a blouse in two minutes on the hanger and never scorches. It is faster than an iron, safer on silk and knits, and it is the single tool that makes a $20 blouse look pressed. Steam the night before and hang the outfit on the wardrobe door.

Cost: $25 to $50, once.

Does a steamer help? Yes, more than any other item here. Creases are the cheapest-looking thing an outfit can have.

Pilling makes cashmere look like acrylic. An electric fabric shaver removes it in three minutes per sweater and brings the surface back to smooth and matte. Do the underarms, the sides where a bag rubs and the cuffs. Then fold the knit; hangers stretch the shoulders.

Cost: $12 to $25, once.

Frequency: every three or four wears for merino and cashmere, every wear for cheaper blends.

A natural-bristle clothes brush lifts dust and hair off wool coats and blazers and revives the nap, which is why a brushed $80 coat looks richer than an unbrushed $400 one. A lint roller handles knits and dark trousers on the way out the door. Thirty seconds each.

Cost: $5 to $15 for both.

Routine: brush the coat on the hook when you come in, roll the outfit when you leave.

Tonal dressing (camel with cream and tan, navy with grey and black, or three shades of grey) is how to look expensive on a budget without buying a thing. One color family makes a long unbroken line, hides where one piece ends and the next begins, and reads as deliberate. Mixed bright colors read as random.

Cost: nothing.

What colors look most expensive: camel, cream, navy, charcoal, chocolate and black. Keep brights to a scarf.

Pick gold or silver and stick to it, every day. Small hoops, a thin chain, a plain watch. Mixed metals and big costume pieces are the quickest way to make a good outfit look like a market stall. One pair of gold-plated hoops under $35 outlasts a drawer of trend earrings.

Cost: $12 to $35 for a pair of hoops that will not turn.

Rule: three pieces maximum, all one metal, none larger than a quarter.

A logo, even an expensive one, tells people you paid for the name. No logo tells them nothing, which is the point. Check bags, belts, sneakers, sunglasses and tees. If the logo is a small metal plate, a jeweler or cobbler can usually remove it for a few dollars; if it is printed on, the piece is for the gym.

Cost: nothing, or a few dollars for removal.

Exception: a tiny embossed logo in the same color as the leather is fine. A contrasting one is not.

An untucked shirt over trousers hides the waist and shortens the leg. A full tuck with a belt or a front half-tuck shows where the body bends and makes any outfit look more considered. Roll sleeves twice, neatly, to the forearm, and push up knit sleeves once. It is the difference between dressed and thrown on.

Cost: nothing.

For a soft middle: half-tuck the front only and let the sides fall. It still draws the line without clinging.

Shiny plastic buttons are the loudest cheap signal on a cardigan, coat or blazer. A card of real horn or matte metal buttons costs $8 to $15 and takes twenty minutes to sew on. The garment reads two price brackets higher. Do your most-worn coat first.

Cost: $8 to $15 per garment.

Match: dark horn for navy and black, light horn for camel and cream, brushed brass for blazers.

This one is for you, not for other people, and it still shows. Clothes on matching wooden or slim velvet hangers keep their shoulders, stop creasing and let you see what you own. A 20-pack of wooden hangers runs $20 to $40. You get dressed faster and your coats stop looking slumped.

Cost: $20 to $40 for 20 hangers.

Rule: wide wooden hangers for coats and blazers, slim velvet for shirts and dresses, folded for knits.

A real leather belt with a plain brass or silver buckle finishes trousers, defines a knit dress and ties a tonal outfit together. One in brown and one in black cover everything. Full-grain leather at $20 to $40 ages better than a $150 logo belt, because it has nothing to scratch.

Cost: $20 to $40 each.

Width: an inch for trousers and jeans, an inch and a half to two inches over a dress or a long cardigan.

Scuffed shoes undo everything above them. A shoe care kit (neutral polish, a horsehair brush, a cloth and a suede eraser) costs $15 to $35 and takes five minutes a week. Cedar shoe trees keep leather from creasing and cost about the same. Polished $50 loafers look better than scuffed $400 ones every time.

Cost: $15 to $35 for the kit, $15 to $30 for shoe trees.

Order: brush off dirt, polish, buff, insert trees, leave overnight.

A bag that stands up on its own, in black, tan or chocolate, with no hardware beyond a zip, reads expensive at any price. Slouchy, shiny or logo-covered bags do not. Structured faux leather at $35 to $90 beats a floppy real-leather bag, because shape is what the eye reads first.

Cost: $35 to $90.

Keep it tidy: empty it weekly and store it stuffed with tissue so the sides stay straight.