The thing with this is that you're saying high fashion brands are overpriced. These brands are made with some of the best fabrics available. I saw an embroidered silk/satin Chanel dress at their flagship on Madison and it was 42,000$ (look number 17 from Paris/Byzance) and it was truly magnificent. The fabric felt like nothing else, and it felt like I was looking at the Mona Lisa. Those clothes are priced according to the amount of money it takes to make the garment and the amount of profit they need to make. When I was at Chanel I saw a woman who was obviously rich, and she was buying a 30k dress that she didn't even know anything about. Why? Because she has the money. There are brands like Balmain however who do overprice, their spring 2011 show is an amazing example. They had a leather skirt that was covered in safety pins for 15,000$, wheras I could make one just like it for around 50$. Brands like Prada, however, really aren't as expensive as one would perceive it to be.