Let's talk fall fashion, shall we? It's almost the end of August and high time I did my fall closet inventory. Time to look at what I own, decide what I plan to do with what I own, and figure out what I need.
This wardrobe planning thing has been a fall rite of passage for me for years. Like many of you, I've always done a big shop at the end of August, just before school starts. But in 2004, I formalized this practice somewhat and started to make actual notes on what was in my closet. Then I'd do my shopping research, and make a "to buy" list. Or at least a wish list for the season. A few years ago I began to see all kinds of articles and blog posts, and even a couple of books, on organizing one's life, building "capsule wardrobes," or "curating" one's closet. Huh. I'd been doing that for years. Was I a clever girl? (I know... not a girl... not for a looong time. Ha.) Or just an anal one who loves to make lists? Or both?
Before you answer that, let's move on.
My usual planning strategy is to go through my closets and storage drawers listing in categories what I own in my little book. Just like in the picture below.
 |
| My lists for 2018. |
Jeans, my black leather pants, and my black Vince wool leggings are no-brainers. As are white shirts, my Lafayette black quilted sweater, my khaki suede Moto jacket, and my burgundy Akris turtleneck which I was so excited to find last fall. Of course, I'll wear my Veronica Beard suit as long as possible into the fall. I generally pair it with my burgundy Marc Jacobs bag, and a burgundy scarf to make it more seasonally appropriate. My Max Mara fuchsia tweed fall coat is a given as soon as the weather turns cool, ditto my Vince leather-trimmed coat sweater. This year I plan to get more wear from my Theory white ruffled silk blouse, and a purple and white Tory Burch tie blouse which I still love.
 |
| Like Bridget Jones, I love these pieces just the way they are. |
There are few pieces in my closet which are teetering on the edge. One more season of not pulling their weight and I'll see if my friend Fiona can find new homes for them at her consignment store, Frock Exchange.
For instance, I've not worn that Vince sweater, below, nearly enough. And to be frank, I'm not loving that colour on me. It will probably get shipped to Fiona. I'm going to make a real effort to get my Max Mara double-breasted plaid jacket out of the house this season. I love the colour, and it still fits like a dream. I'd have a very hard time parting with it, or with my Akris leather jacket. In fact, if I could find a brown midi-dress, fitted up top, and flared from the hips, kind of Laura Ashley in style, but not girly, wouldn't it look smashing with that leather jacket and my low-heeled brown boots? Sigh. I may have to make a concerted effort this year to buy a dress.
 |
| Endangered pieces in my closet. Shape up girls or out you go. |
I moved this Elie Tahari emerald green and black animal-print silk blouse directly to my closet today. It's very light. I'll make an effort to wear it in the next while. Shame to have it languish unworn. I can wear it with my black cropped Rag and Bone pants and my black loafers in the first warm days of fall.
 |
| Let's see if I can fall in love with this blouse again. |
Those days are gone. As my closet becomes more and more refined, and better suited to my style needs now that I'm retired, I find that my fall shopping list shrinks year by year. That's because I need less and less. And this year... I need practically nothing.
I have all the jeans, white shirts, coats, jackets, coat sweaters, and boots I need. I have lots of scarves in lots of colours all of which I still love. I'm going to shed a few pieces that don't make me sigh when I put them on, and which I'd wear only out of guilt, not out of love. But their departure does not leave a huge hole in my wardrobe.
Now, before you think that I'm a totally reformed woman who finally, at the advanced age of sixty-two, has learned to eschew fall shopping in favour of more worthy pursuits... I should point out that I did say I needed practically nothing. Ha.
So, let's see what "practically nothing" looks like, shall we?
1. A quilted or puffa vest to wear under my light fall coats. I've been looking for one that isn't too tight, and doesn't have a hood, for a year now. Maybe I'll be lucky this fall.
2. A dress. See above where I wax lyrical on how to make my Akris leather jacket relevant once more.
3. Some sort of bronzie, gold, or reddish coloured long-sleeved tee or turtleneck to wear under my old Max Mara plaid jacket, and make this old piece look new again.
You know, the longer I'm retired, and no longer in need of a five day a week "business" wardrobe, I find that my "research," my dreaming over magazines, fashion blogs, and Pinterest, inspires me not to shop, but to find new ways to style old pieces.
But more on that in another post.
I doubt that I'll do much about looking for the things on my fall list for a while. I need to start thinking about what I want to pack for our Italy trip. Only four weeks from today.... I'd better get started!
Now, how about you, my friends? Want to talk fall fashion?
Do you have a strategy for fall shopping? Or do you run madly off in all directions snapping up sweaters and jackets only to suffer from shopper's remorse when you find you have nothing to wear them with? Come on. Fess up. We're all friends here.
Linking up this week with: Visible Monday, Fake It Till You Make It, #IwillwearwhatIlike, Turning Heads Link-up, Style Me Wednesday, Thursday Favourite Things, Fabulous Friday, Fancy Friday, Saturday Share Link-Up