So I can speak for girl clothes but not really on choosing anything andro.

On that budget, I'd go to a cheaper store... maybe Target. Walmart might be ok but their stuff tends to fall apart pretty quick. Maybe Old Navy would be good too?

Maybe walk around and try random things you see and like. Or just try random things you feel indifferent about. When you're starting out and you don't know what looks you want sometimes it helps to just see "hey maybe this'll work for me."

My staples for bottoms tend to be jeans (skinny boot cut are my favorite) or skirts that I see and like and that fit, but have no particular strategy for it. For tops, tank tops and cardigans, or if it's warmer out I'll wear a t-shirt over a tank top. Shoes.... well those are a bit more difficult for me, I'll have one pair of flats and one pair of boots and it takes forever to find shoes that fit me well (I'm a 12W womens). Girly shoes are a real pain in the ass.

I like dresses too but they can be kind of fussy or not fit me very well. A little more effort than I want in a time where I'm dealing with regular pain.

On a $200 budget you might not be able to buy a dress as they tend to cost as much as a nice blouse and a skirt. Assuming you've lost all your clothes (which I know you haven't but you asked), you're probably gonna need to spend it all on staples. At minimum I would probably like to have two pairs of jeans, a skirt or two, and at least enough tanks/tees/cardigans/socks/underwear for a week. Maybe no skirt if I can't find one that fits at a good price.

Make sure you try everything on before buying it. For skirts, dresses, and jeans, make sure to sit down if you can and see how it still fits then. If you find something tugs on you in an irritating way (for example things are often tight in the shoulders for me) imagine what it'll feel like wearing for 12 hours when deciding if it's a good fit.

Unfortunately in my experience I feel like when I'm shopping for stuff (unless it's something I know will fit like a certain brand of tank) I only find one thing that fits nicely out of 10 things as I'm pretty broad shouldered.

Anyway that was a lot lol but here are some tips!

This was definitely a good read :0 I don't have much to add because there's so much but it makes sense to try things on first.

Does it make sense to spend a lot of money on staples that should last a long time, if I don't know much about fabric/clothes? (I.e. clothes might shrink, or i might find I didn't get the right combination of kinds of fits, etc.)

I am far from a fashion person, but when it comes to men's clothes for $200, here's what I would do:

$100: A nice pair of skinny jeans, with fairly thick fabric. The ones with thin, stretchy fabric will feel great, but they tear quickly. In my experience, you can just walk into a shop with jeans, tell them what you're looking for, and they will set you up.

$30: An ok dress shirt, to wear tucked into the jeans for nicer occasions. You won't get the great stuff at this price point unfortunately, so look for sales. The important thing here is that you feel comfortable wearing it, but if you're not that into dress shirts you might need to convince yourself.

$40: 2-4 t-shirts, with a shape and print that you like

$30: A nice sweater

ooh i like this. I found some jeans that were super nice but $90, it's good to know that is a reasonable cost for jeans! thank you for your perspective

With fabrics you're kinda living in happy times as it's easy to research on the internet and the very basics are quite applicable in and of itself. You could just take two clothes made of different fibres and read on their differences and verify it through your senses.

I mean, this kind of a bottom up approach made clothes and fashion more legible to me at least.

Yeah what Moonside said. Also if you’re spending more than $15 on a blank T-shirt you’re probably spending too much lol. There is far less correlation between price and durability when it comes to apparel than I think anyone but corporations would like.

This makes sense. I think I will buy some cheap staples to expand my warddrobe and replace it overtime with quality things.

That makes sense. I recently looked into winter clothes, and there seems to be a lot of things that are costly because they're good, and things that are costly because they're fashionable. Like, I'm happy to spend $200 on boots that'll last me for many years and keep my feet warm and dry (that's a big upgrade for me here in New England).

But yeah I won't be spending $15 on a blank tshirt anytime soon x)

A good pair of leather boots will last a long time with proper care. If you don’t want leather for very understandable reasons, avoid anything that looks like fake leather as their cost tends to go into appearance rather than quality