Money isn’t everything, as the rich kids of Instagram unwittingly prove: you can put together a perfectly creditable closet without maxing out your credit card, or indeed your daddy’s.

This is the refreshingly easy-to-follow FashionBeans instruction manual for how to build a wardrobe on a budget. And no, we don’t mean IKEA.

Buy Better, Not Best

Articles like this are fond of telling you to ‘buy the best that you can afford’, which is a little trite, not to mention simplistic. What you can ‘afford’ requires more consideration than whether you have the right amount of cash in your current account, as we’ll explain.

Then there’s that word ‘best’. Quality and cost are not on a linear graph. Of course there are things worth shelling out for, but beyond a certain point, you’re often paying for a, yeah, nice but unnecessarily fancy fabric, or an ultimately meaningless designer label. The trick is to find the point at which paying extra makes a material difference to the item’s look or longevity, and go no further.

(Related: 40 Things That Are Worth The Money)

For example, if you’re able to it’s definitely worth stumping up for a suit with a floating canvas. This is basically an extra layer of material (if you pinch the fabric apart by the top button, you should feel it). A canvassed jacket moulds to your body over time and holds its shape, as opposed to a ‘fused’ (read: glued) jacket, which can be passable but will never look as good – especially if it gets wet and bobbles. It costs more, but it’s worth more – see the logic? Similarly, if you can spring for full-grain leather shoes, they’ll look more polished and crease less. Plus, if they’re Goodyear-welted, they can be re-soled over and over again, saving you money in the long run (or walk).

On a more casual tip, save up for selvedge jeans that were actually made in Japan and not just made with Japanese denim. It seems like a small distinction, but there’ll be a big difference in the sewing quality and stitch count (typically 20 per cent more).