I'm Not Supposed to Shop, But Resisting These Items Feels Seriously Wrong

Elly McGaw wearing a sheer silk Prada dress with embellishments in the Prada dressing room.

(Image credit: @ellymcgaw)

I'm really not supposed to be shopping right now, at least not for myself. After one too many sample sales (What do people expect? For me to resist 90%-off runway items? As if…), I've been placed on a serious spending freeze, which is why I've chosen to look ahead and start planning those buys that take a little bit more time to decide on. That way, by the time I can shop again, I'll already know exactly what I want to add to my wardrobe next.

Investing in a high-value item isn't easy, and you probably shouldn't just do it in the blink of an eye. It requires proper research and consideration to help you pick out which items will get the most use; decide what size, color, and style will pair best with your existing wardrobe; and find as many discount opportunities as possible. But in my experience, going for quality over quantity is always worth it in the end—especially when you can walk out of a store feeling giddy after a glass of champagne and knowing that the contents of the shopping bag looped around your forearm include something you'll wear again and again for decades to come. I'm getting excited just thinking about it.

After doing my due diligence, I've rounded up 39 of the best luxury items on the market right now, all of which are short-listed for my next big shopping excursion. You'll have to wait and see which one (or two) end up in my closet. And I'll be doing the same for you, of course.

Senior Fashion Editor

Eliza Huber is a New York City–based fashion editor who specializes in trend reporting, brand discovery, and celebrity style. She joined Who What Wear in 2021 after almost four years on the fashion editorial team at Refinery29, the job she took after graduating with a marketing degree from the University of Iowa. She has since launched two monthly columns, Let's Get a Room and Ways to Wear; profiled the likes of Dakota Fanning, Diane Kruger, Katie Holmes, and Sabrina Carpenter for WWW's monthly cover features; and reported on everything from the relationship between Formula One and fashion to the top trends from fashion month, season after season. Eliza now lives on the Upper West Side and spends her free time researching F1 fashion imagery for her side Instagram accounts @thepinnacleoffashion and @f1paddockfits, running in Central Park, and scouring eBay for '90s Prada and '80s Yves Saint Laurent.