How much is too much for a top?

You could pay £50 for a top and only wear it once.

This one looks like a "go-to" top if you're going somewhere special and probably won't date (just as well at the moment!).

I think I'm going to hang on and see if it goes in the sale.

No, I don’t think it’s the sort of thing that bobbles, @suziewoozie.

Yes, the top in the picture is lovely, will you be buying it trisher? I wouldn’t even contemplate paying that much for a top, suit or anything. Must be a real skinflint but just no. I remember in the late 80s a friend bought a lovely trouser suit costing £70. How much?? That has stayed with me all these years, must have made a heck of an impression.

YES!
If it makes you smile and you can afford it to buy it then you must buy it.
Remember this life is not a rehearsal and you only ever regret the things you didn’t do ......

if you were to wear it ?

.Witz would it bobble ( if you bet wore it) do you think ?

No, very hard to team it with other things (get me, using terms like "team!) Plus too distinctive, as in "Oh, she's wearing that top again".

Doubt if the cost to wear calculation would come out in its favour.

That is so true Dibby - the number of times I've just had to have something and then a few months later I am over it

The top in the OP is nice, but I wouldn't pay £165 for it.

No way would I pay that sort of money for a top , what if after you bought it it didn’t quite fit right or didn’t suit your shape or the material is not as nice expected . The most I’ve paid for a top is £40 as I find after a couple of wears the novelty wears of and it’ becomes just another garment hanging in the wardrobe .

I think the top is awful! The most I paid was £200 for a cashmere top some years ago when daughter had must moved to London. She persuaded me it was a bargain because of the label and the fact she had bargained the price down. I rarely wear it and was always afraid of spilling something on it and now that I don't go out much I probably won't wear it this winter.

I would buy it for a special occasion. Too much for everyday wear. I wouldnt pay more than £60 for that.

It is entirely a matter of personal taste and personal budget. Like others I now try and buy only natural fibres or viscose, which is a fabric made from cellulose from trees.

My personal budget would run to this top, if I really wanted it and knew I would get a lot of use from it. Personal taste says I would only pay that for a really exceptional woollen sweater, but as yet I have seen nothing good enough to tempt me.

My first child was an autumn baby and knowing I would be doing a lot of time pushing pram outside in the following years I went out and spent £20 on a really warm wool winter full length coat. £20 in 1971 was probably worth considerably more than £165 in current values and I never regretted it. That coat withstood seven years of hard wear and I was back at work before I had to replace it.

trisher....if you love it, really want it and can afford it, then go ahead and buy it.Chances are that you will love it for years.
I’m not buying clothes until next year now ( possibly not even then!) at least that’s what I tell myself, but like Callistemon I want a deep red long cardi ( berry coloured) so If I see one I will no doubt get it, despite my best intentions.
Having grown up in a poor household, I have never been able to bring myself to pay a fortune for clothes, and seem to have managed up to now.
There are special occasions of course, when you want to look a bit special, and maybe that deserves paying more for.

It’s 100% viscose, @Suziewoozie, which at least is a plant fibre AFAIK, but it looks and feels like heavy silk.

Love your best life and buy the top you like. We all need to find the happy lately

Ha, @MerylStreep, that’s reminded me of a very expensive and beautiful intarsia alpaca cardigan that was a present from dh some years ago (I’d never have paid that much) which a sister - and she’s 5 years older - asked me to leave to her in my will!?

I do think the top shown in the picture is beautiful but there is no way I would pay that much just for a top.
The most I have paid is £55 which I wore for the evening of my sons wedding I have worn it quite a few times since so it was money well spent.

No, I wouldn’t. It isn’t to my taste, but I’m not buying new clothes right now anyway. I have been de-cluttering and going through my wardrobe was a sobering experience! I’m currently refashioning a barely-worn FatFace dress into a top. The fabric is lovely but the dress is more or less a shapeless sack! Probably looked great on a tall slender model but I’m 5ft 1in and cuddly

I think it's gorgeous and if I were you, I'd buy it. I make my own clothes and sometimes treat myself to some gorgeous silk fabric to sew. It'll give you a thrill every time you wear it - and lots of compliments I'm sure.

A silk suit bought in Shanghai 2008. Its cost a lot of money but every time I wear it people love it. My daughter wants it written in my will that it goes to her ?
A cashmere blazer bought at least 20 years? ago. Still as good as new and so versatile dressed up or down.

I have bought a few pieces from Pure Collection over the years. Their sale is on just now and very good bargains to be had , 50%/75% off.

Oh Witz I like that - what fabric is it?

This was an extremely rare impulse buy of mine while walking through John Lewis. Quite a bit less expensive than the OP’s top, but still considerably more than I’d usually pay.

But that was at least a year ago and I still haven’t worn it! (I don’t do remotely dressed-up very often, esp. lately.)
But I will wear it, I will...eventually....

I think it depends on your personal choice.

I pay as much as I can afford for clothes then wear them for ever. So I have stuff that is donkeys years old. Even stuff that went out of fashion have come back in again, although I do tend to go for classical stuff which stands the test of time.

Like jane it works out incredibly cheap in the long run.