The short answer on Princess Polly Denim Jacket: pick one anchor piece, keep the palette to two colours, and let the shoes decide how formal the whole thing reads. Repeat one element, a metal, a texture or a colour, and an outfit looks deliberate. One piece should lead and the rest should stay quiet; two competing pieces read as an accident. Anything over about 2 per cent elastane will bag at the knee by the afternoon. The groups below run from the decision that matters most to the ones you make afterwards.

What decides this is rise, leg opening and stretch content. Everything else is preference. Two from the first group show the range: apc-us.com's Sainters denim jacket at $283, and retrofete.com's Landon Denim Jacket at $328. The first is the easy entry point; the second is where the money goes. Check the leg opening, not the name; two brands can call the same measurement straight and wide. Rigid denim gives about half a size after a week. Stretch denim gives it back after a wash. A higher price mostly buys materials and finishing, and occasionally it buys nothing at all.

Rise decides everything above the waist, so pick the top second. Hem to the shoe you actually wear with them. From the second group, otteny.com's Suede Collar Denim Jacket ($830) is the one that earns its place, because it works in more than one context without being restyled. The third group is smaller and deliberately narrower, jeans, for the decisions you make after the main one. None of this needs the whole group. One piece from each is usually enough.

There are 20 jeans here from 13 brands, $84 to $830, all in stock when this was written. We would not buy all of them, and neither should you. vicicollection.com's Stay Awhile Denim Jacket at $84 is the low-risk way in, and otteny.com's Suede Collar Denim Jacket at $830 only makes sense if this is a category you already use constantly. On princess polly denim jacket specifically: the difference between the top and the bottom of this list is real but smaller than the price gap suggests. Nothing here is included because it is famous, and price is not used as a proxy for quality anywhere on this page. If you take one thing away: buy the one you can picture using this week, not the one you are saving for later.