Just some points:
What is expensive to one person may not be to another also you may pay if the occassion demend it. i.e. you want to look your best. (Weddings)
To be different from the rest you need to develop your own 'style'. This may look silly to everyone else, but if you want to walk around in long, dresses with hat and gloves - all colour co-ordinated - what has this to do with anyone else.
No, we do not need to spend a lot of money. I have seen rich women with no style and seen poor women who would look good in anything. (Someone once said of Marilyn Monroe - that woman would look good in a potato sack).
Clothes that fit (shop bought or home made) always look good.
Lesson is not to buy something that does not fit or looks good on you.