How to Be Chic on a Small Income

I wear suits nearly all of the time. I like them; they are practical in every way, and my advice to a business girl who wishes to dress smartly at all times and whose income is very limited is this: buy a good suit and live in it, rather than a lot of cheap clothes. Let it be a good, tailored suit, carefully made, with beautiful material, and above all, don’t be afraid to be seen in it too often. Good clothes, simply made, never “date,” no matter what anyone tells you. Of course, they must not be made with eccentric or exaggerated lines.

Wear your suit to business; wear it to dinners; to the theater; wear it twenty-four hours a day, every day in the year, if you must, and if it is a good suit, you will always look smart, attractive. On the other hand, if you own a fairly large variety of cheap clothes and change them a dozen times a day you will never appear chic; cheapness is always apparent. - Elsa Perretti for Photoplay Magazine, 1936

I came across this excerpt from Elsa Peretti and it resonated.

You don’t have to drop racks to look good. Instead, buy high quality, timeless essentials. And wear them often