I had a very funny friend in graduate school who objected to the idea of “investment” clothing. “If it’s on your ass,” she would say, “it is not an asset.” She had a point: With the exception of a very small niche of pieces, clothing has no resale value. But that doesn’t mean that investing in your wardrobe is a waste of money — on the contrary, investment dressing is a smart financial and fashion strategy, particularly in a bad economy.

Before you start to lecture me about how frivolous shopping is and how you’re not paying $45 for a t-shirt, listen up: When you buy well-made basics, your wardrobe will go further and last longer. Investing in your closet doesn’t mean forking over thousands of dollars for designer ready-to-wear; it means choosing the best quality that you can afford, and sticking with pieces that will work for your lifestyle.

The key to investment dressing is to do three things: Identify your go-to basics, decide what your budget is, and then buy pieces that can be accessorized.

We love Mrs. Obama because she wears the same things over and over — like this Tracy Feith dress. Photo courtesy of Mrs.O.org.

Identifying your basics
Think about your work uniform — and yes, everyone has one; it’s that outfit you default to when you have an important meeting or a long flight or a interminable day of spreadsheeting, or whatever it is that you do on a regular basis. If you always wear a pants suit to travel, for example, you need at least one really well-made pants suit, ideally in a dark color, to camouflage any travel-related wear. If you prefer to wear a dress when you give presentations, then you need at least one beautiful basic dress, something that can be accessorized in more than one way. And if you spend most of your working day at a desk or in front of a computer, you need the office equivalent of yoga pants (because good lord, no yoga pants at the office! I’m begging you).

Determining your budget
Too often, we assume that investment dressing means emptying out our 401Ks to pay for clothing. Wrong; it means spending smart, not spending more. If Banana Republic is the most expensive line you can afford to shop, then consider wisely what you will buy from them. If you are on a tighter budget — more TJ Maxx than J. Crew, say — think about labels. Even discount stores get pieces from high-end labels, but at substantially less than what you would pay in a department store. Investing in your closet should never mean running up debt to have better clothes; it means spending what you have wisely. In order to do that, though, you need to know what you can afford.

Accessorizing
It seems like I’m putting the cart before the horse here, doesn’t it? After all, I haven’t told you what to buy yet! Really, though, I can’t — only you know what you need and what you will wear (see above: Identifying your basics). What I can tell you is to choose basics that can work in a variety of ways — a dress that can be worn with flats and heels, for example, or with a cardigan or a jacket. Accessories — earrings, necklaces, scarves, bags, shoes — are a simple and inexpensive way to change your look without shopping for a whole new wardrobe.

The bottom line is this: Instead of blowing your budget on a mountain of disposable pieces (think Forever 21), take that money and buy a very few well-made things that you can wear and wear and wear. Choose carefully, launder even more carefully, and enjoy looking sharp even in a recession.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be offering specific strategies for smart wardrobe investing, including a list of basics to get you started and laundry tips for making pieces last. Have a question about what should be in your closet, or where to shop for it, or how to care for it? Leave a comment or shoot me an email (slw424@gmail.com).