Two shoes, both alike in … OK, maybe not dignity, exactly, but both alike in terms of the fact that they’re both black, both slingbacks, and both come with a little black bow in exactly the same place.
Where they differ, meanwhile, is in the fabric of the uppers, and the price on the box. The shoes on the left are from ASOS.com (they also come in nude and pink), and are £30, while the ones on the right are by Moschino, and are £250. Which would you choose, though? Would you save or splurge, or perhaps you’d prefer to keep your money safely in your pocket and buy neither?
If you thought we’d left stripes far behind us in the summer, think again: the Breton look is everywhere at the moment, and you’ll find t-shirts, sweaters and dresses, all bearing that familiar stripe.
Striped dresses like the ones pictured above are currently ten a penny, but of course, they’re not all quite as cheap as that phrase suggests! The one on the right of our image, for instance, is by Crumpet, and costs £250 from Net-a-Porter, while the one on the left is a more wallet-friendly £17.99 from Misguided.
Aside from the obvious differences in style, the Crumpet dress IS cashmere, which accounts for the higher price. Does it convince you it’s worth paying more for, though, or would you stick with the budget option: assuming you’d buy something in this style in the first place?
The Fashion Police love striped tops. We know some people would argue that stripes are for convicts, not for police officers, but we beg to differ, and we think these long-sleeved t-shirts are a handy kind of wardrobe basic to have around.
The thing is, though, as much as we like our long-sleeved t-shirts, we just can’t imagine paying £226 for one. Not even if we were rich. And especially not when you can get more or less the same thing for £10. OK, the Dorothy Perkins shirt on the right of this picture isn’t exactly the same as the Proenza Schouler one on the left, but it’s just one example of this style – there are a lot of stripes around at the moment, so it wouldn’t be too hard to find another one for a similar price.
Would you bother, though, or would you just buy the £226 designer shirt? Someone presumably would, because it’s currently out of stock, telling us that although we tend to save our pennies on items like this, there are presumably lots of others who wouldn’t hesitate to splurge. Are you one of them? Do you save or splurge on long-sleeved t-shirts?
These two dresses aren’t exactly the same, but then, with a £2,000 price difference, you wouldn’t really expect them to be, would you?
The dress on the right is by Victoria Beckham, and is currently out of stock at Net-a-Porter, which just goes to show that, yes, there are people in the world who would pay that much for a dress.
The dress on the left, meanwhile, isn’t exactly “bargain basement” at £95, but as we said, it does represent a £2,000 saving on the original, so could be a slightly more realistic option for those of you looking to get the same look on a non-Beckham budget. It’s from French Connection.
Which would you choose, though, assuming you’d choose either? Would you save or splurge?
“Simply slips on!” declares the product page for this hat at Browns Fashion. Well, they had to try and find some way to make it sound unique and exciting, didn’t they? Otherwise they’d have to have written, “Looks just like any other beanie, but is made by Rick Owens, so we’re going to charge you £115 for it.”
Seriously, Rick Owens is a great designer and some of his stuff really is innovative. Not this, though. This is a beanie hat. And yeah, it’s 68% baby alpaca, and we’re sure it’s lovely and soft, but we just don’t think Rick Owens had to slave for hours over the design, somehow.
What do you think, readers? Is a designer beanie worth the money, or are you happy to save your pennies on a budget version?
These "shirts" are similar only in terms of the colour (and even that isn't identical), but as we looked at the Next shirt, we thought it had a bit of a "Vivienne Westwood" feel about it, and then when we tracked down an ACTUAL red and white stripe shirt by Vivienne Westwood… we actually liked the Next version better.
And the world stood still, the sun started to revolve around it, and pigs took to the sky on wings of gold. THAT'S how surprised we were to discover that we liked something by NEXT better than something by The Good Dame Viv.
What about you, though, readers? Assuming you were in the market for a red and white stripey shirt, would you rather save or splurge?
First up, we'd just like to say that it was not The Fashion Police who ruthlessly chopped off the top of the head of the model above, it was ASOS themselves. Sorry, model!
Second up: There are lots of differences between the two pairs of trousers seen here: in fact, the only real similarity is that they're both red, and they're both cropped. Personally, we much prefer the narrow legs and flat front of the ASOS versions on the left, which are more streamlined, with a bit of a pin-up girl vibe. That said, we'd kinda prefer the length of the Jil Sander pants on the right, which also look a little more comfortable.
If money was no option, which would you choose? Would you Save or Splurge?
First things first: the "Love This" sticker on the blazer on the right of this picture comes from the River Island website, not from The Fashion Police
With that said, though, we really have to agree with them: we DO love it. And given the choice between it and the ABS blazer on the right, our money would go to River Island every time. The "Splurge" jacket may have the more traditional menswear shape, but we think the cheaper version would be more flattering to the female figure, so it's the one we'd go for, even if money were no object.
