Top 10 crazily priced fashion must-haves

In the midst of the worst recession for a century; a surprising trend is emerging for vastly inflated prices. For as long as there is such thing as the filthy rich they can stay disgustingly fashionable while the rest of us - alas - can only dream. Here are our top 10 budget busting fashion ‘must-haves\' which are selling like hot cakes...

By Julia Robson

1. Balmain one-shoulder cocktail dress: £15,100

Rather than scavenge for a bargain in second hand shops (where you find the best \'80s frocks by the way), the fashionista is hunting out super expensive pieces for her wardrobe. Anything by Balmain is a must. This label takes the prize for consistently coming up with unfeasibly high prices, which hardly deters its legion of stylish celeb fans (SJP, Penelope Cruz, Kate Winslet, Jennifer Connelly, Mary-Kate Olsen, Kate Hudson). There is no denying dresses by Christophe Decarnin, who trained in specialist haute couture techniques before joining the French fashion house, are spectacular, it just seems incredulous people pay what they do for his unique \'trashy chic\'. Even new, his ripped and frayed disco ball frockettes cut to there, look as if they\'ve seen a bit of party action if you know what I mean? Emperor\'s new clothes or fashion spin you decide?

2. YSL cage booties: £1,100

When did £300 become \"cheap\" for a pair of designer shoes? As Mike Skinner of The Streets once said, a grand don\'t come for free. It could buy you the most spectacularly fashionable of-the-minute accessory though: YSL cage optic open toe booties. These confirm the fact recession-unfriendly prices are the height of fashion, along with heels of 11cm. If you splurge on anything this season it has to be a pair of Stefano Pilati\'s miracle of shoe construction, a cross between a shopping trolley and a \'60s \'kinky boot\'. This designer is getting rather too good at knowing us ladies. No woman likes her feet and these are the perfect way to disguise veins, ugly bunions, hard skin and blisters while giving a flash of toe-cleavage (well, some people think it\'s sexy) and putting you 100 per cent out there. These catwalk-hot babies tick all the trends of the moment from glamazon to edgy black patent and are very much in the style of what Carrie Bradshaw would love. To hell with the price, these are fashionating! Love, love, LOVE!

3. Christopher Kane scalloped silk dress: £2,136

If you haven\'t embraced steg scales yet consider yourself a fashion dinosaur. No really, do. Add to that Christopher Kane\'s howling gorilla print dresses, cashmere leopard print cardigans and steg(osaurus) jackets which are currently selling like hot cakes despite their high prices. The Scottish designer most famous for pioneering the Body Con movement has consistently proved he has the Midas touch when it comes to eclipsing all other designers with the hit of the season. His current collection, inspired by prehistoric scaly monsters, came from nowhere and yet has dominated fashion spreads. The scalloped detailing on Kane\'s nude chiffon dresses, according to Net-a-Porter, is \"one of spring\'s most directional details\". Presumably the price tag involves doing clever things using a golden compass no less?  What else could possibly make it quite so expensive? For the time being scales equal sales.

4. Chanel Matrioshka handbag: £4,200

Five years ago you rarely found a designer garment priced above £1,000. Now this is, \"no big deal... especially for a handbag,\" according to Averyl Oates, buying director of Harvey Nichols. Remember when the original It bags - the Chloe Paddington and Fendi Baguette - made headlines for costing (shock! Horror!) £700. Then along came the million pound handbag - Tanaka Kikinzoku\'s diamond-encrusted platinum clutch - which made earlier price tags look like loose change. This season\'s most lusted after is a reassuringly expensive £4,200. Chanel\'s black resin and gold Russian doll handbag is made in the image of the traditional wooden Matrioshka nesting doll and was created for the Paris Moscow Pre-Fall 2009 show. Lily Allen has been swinging hers about whipping up bag envy because this little Chanel won\'t be available until mid-May. Matrioshkas had a fashion moment recently when Russian Vogue commissioned designers including Prada, Gucci, Giles Deacon and Martin Margiela to come up with one-off hand-painted versions for their 10th anniversary. How clever of Kaiser Karl to expand a concept into a sellable commodity?

5. Meadham Kirchhoff denim jacket: £1,715

Once upon a time denim was considered the working mans fabric. The cloth of cowboys. Now the great leveller has become the great divider. You not only have to be working but raking it in to afford a jeans jacket by super trendy Brit duo, Meadham Kirchoff. This oozes tough girl chic at rich girl prices. Tiffany Hsu, the buyer at the exclusive Feathers boutique in London says, \"We are not buying any differently (because of the credit crunch) we have always been about very special and unique pieces. What we have cut down on is basics. Customers want something special they can wear every day. With this jacket you can.\" Ed Meadham and Benjamin Kirchhoff\'s technique of slicing then stitching denim back together makes their skinny biker resemble a sort of sexy second skin armour. And the cowboys knew a thing too... denim doesn\'t wear out, it improves with wear.

6. Louis Vuitton Tribal sandals: from £1,100

They may not be the most expensive pair of shoes of the season (which are Roger Vivier\'s \"Dovima\" which cost £30,000 and feature 24 ct gold-coated mesh, semi-precious stones, jet, diamante, dove feathers and crocodile skin), but the Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton shoe designer, Fabrizio Viti tribal shoe collaboration are far and beyond the most influential. Costing from £1,100 to £1,930, these glossy patent and reptile skin sandals hover way above the normal \'it\' shoe stratosphere in price. These stonking platforms with eleven cm heels will seriously hurt... your bank account. That\'s if you can still find a pair. Inspired by a wanton fertility goddess, the shoes feature prominently in the LV Madonna adverts. Immediately after their debut on the spring/summer 2009 catwalks, Victoria Beckham, a woman who has the bunions to prove her shoe worship, wore them. Alexa Chung wore them to the recent Louis Vuitton show too. If you like your shoes adorned with rope, luxury skins, feathers, beads, baubles and mini masks, and you don\'t mind living off baked beans for a year, these are for you.

7. Balmain jeans: £1,200

No jeans, not even Current Elliot Boyfriends, come close to Balmain\'s bleached-out, glam-grunge skin-tight ones which come in white or pale blue wash. Inspired by spray-on styles worn by \'80s skinny rockers like the scary band members of Kiss, Billy Idol and Michael Jackson, the white Liz Hurley-esque pair costs £1,000. The faded blue ragged style costs more (expect to pay at least £100 per rip). There are also customised versions with elaborate embroidery for £6,000. \"For some reason in times of economic turbulence, splashing out on luxury versions of everyday necessities doesn\'t seem too frivolous,\" Sebastien Manes a director at Selfridges tells me. Compared to the cost of a Balmain t-shirt (£1,000) or wide-shouldered jackets (from £4,000-£9,000), the jeans are an absolute steal.

8. Louis Vuitton Graffiti trainers: £700

Fashion is currently revisiting \'80s streetwear - and how. If you have managed to get hold of the Louis Vuitton skateboard (just like the one Michael J Fox rode in Back To The Future) and wondered what on earth to wear on your feet how about the matching trainers? Marc Jacobs in his current Louis Vuitton collection pays homage to one of the hottest designers of the decade of hair gel and high tops, the late Stephen Sprouse, who first put together the notions of urban and luxury and commissioned graffiti artists, like Keith Hering, to create prints for him. This season\'s Louis Vuitton high-top sneaker boots feature the same pink graffiti LV monogram canvas used in the landmark Stephen Sprouse/Marc Jacobs collaboration of 2001, along with sporty DayGlo Airetex. They come in three colours, fuchsia, green or orange, with shiny gold Velcro calf leather fastenings and a black LV rubber label at the tongue.

9. Chanel pale pink quilted handbag: £2,400

Because a Chanel handbag still means so much to so many we can forgive its shameful price tag (which rarely falls below the £2,000 mark and frequently exceeds five - or six - figures!). What leaps out of the fabulous glossy spring/summer accessory campaign photographed by Karl Lagerfeld - even more than Jerry Hall crashed out on a bed in skimpy satin lingerie caressing the locks of her young beau - is the baby pink quilted lambskin bag. This is hand painted to create the sublime pink to white fade effect. Depending on the light it can look a delicious peach and cream too. Despite the classic black, navy or white quilted flap-over being a perennial best-seller and the graphic tote is popular too this season, there\'s something about a Chanel pink (NB not Barbie pink) version that appeals to the five-year-old girl in all women. Crucially hip, instantly recognisable, timelessly chic and a far more sensible investment than RBS shares.

10. Giambattista Valli for Moncler Gamme Rouge jacket: £2,000

This has all the right ingredients to create the perfect high-end designer cocktail. It\'s collaboration between Giambattista Valli, a darling of the fashion scene, whose whopping prices already push him way out of the reach of sensible fashion followers, and posh outdoor specialists, Moncler. In Italy, Moncler is a favourite with elitist Milanese known as the \'Paninari\' (The Pet Shop Boys once wrote a song about them). A Euro-trashy padded jacket which will set you back £2,000 might make you and I baulk but on chilly days during the recent shows, this was the fashionista\'s choice. Glossy, colour saturated Gamme Rouge down jackets have already sold out at Harvey Nichols. Wearing one now hints you picked it up at one of the seven Moncler boutiques in jet-set resorts like St Moritz or Aspen.