Purchasing Decision. What To Spend my-wardrobe Voucher On?

[Martins]

I was lucky enough to be given a voucher for £175 for mywardrobe.com by my employer and I want to spend it on a single investment piece. I don't mind topping it up and have narrowed it down to the following;

http://www.my-wardrobe.com/paul-smith-shoes/black-leather-dust-smart-brogues-304516
http://www.my-wardrobe.com/barbour-by-to-ki-to/olive-quilted-waxed-sporting-jacket-164086

The shoes I will get more use of as I can wear them for work but the Barbour could be that special item that is different from the usual quilted jacket crowd.

Help!

[Evan John]

Hi Martins,

I think it depends on your situation. Do you live in the country or city? I wouldn't buy a Barbour if I lived in the city and unless you either a) go shooting or b) go for plenty of country walks/ live in the country, then I think a different style of coat would get you through more situations.

The shoes will draw compliments and could be something nice to wear to the office as a thank you to your employer. I'm a firm believer in spending alot of money on shoes and Paul Smith is clearly going to last.

[Martins]

Hi Martins,

I think it depends on your situation. Do you live in the country or city? I wouldn't buy a Barbour if I lived in the city and unless you either a) go shooting or b) go for plenty of country walks/ live in the country, then I think a different style of coat would get you through more situations.

The shoes will draw compliments and could be something nice to wear to the office as a thank you to your employer. I'm a firm believer in spending alot of money on shoes and Paul Smith is clearly going to last.

Thanks for the reply. I do live in the countryside and am a country boy at heart so would not feel in anyway pretentious wearing a Barbour however I do understand your point. Shoes wise I agree about spending good money on, I tend to stick to Grenson mostly. The Paul Smith's are wonderful though.

[Jay]

For some reason my head just can't compute black brogues. They just feel wrong somehow. Perhaps it's because the brogue is a less formal shoe and that black is often associated with dress shoes (although I don't have a problem with other black casual shoes).

I'm not sure I would quite agree with Evan on the reasons for not going with the coat (although I do agree with him on not buying it if you want a lot of future wear from it). I don't go in for much country sports and the like, but am quite happy in my country heritage look wandering around the city. Fashion constantly takes items out of their original contexts and integrates them into modern trends. However, therein lies the problem of investing (whatever that means) in something that is clearly a 'this season's fashion item'. You might get away with it next winter, but I flat out guarantee that by AW 2013 95% of all those quilted jackets bought this AW will be hanging up in the back of wardrobes never to be worn again.

[Martins]

Thanks for the replies, I went for the shoes as they are more stylish than fashionable which is what I want to go for.

Looking forward to getting them now.