Fashion Blogs

With the start of August, Autumn is just around the corner. Many women believe that once fall comes they should put away their summer dresses and other clothing pieces. While some pieces are best left for exclusive summer wear, many pieces of your summer wardrobe can work well into the fall and winter months, depending on how you wear them. Today’s style trends encourage layering and unexpected colors and patterns, which makes transitional dressing even easier.

Add Tights

Still in love with your summer dresses and skirts? Make them cool-weather appropriate by adding tights. Tights are still in for 2012, so you should take advantage of the trend while it still lasts. You can wear traditional colored tights like black and brown, or branch out into the more recent trend of wearing colored tights under your dresses and skirts. Wear a complimenting color to the rest of your outfit so you don’t end up looking like a circus performer.

Layer

The key to transitional wardrobe pieces is layering. Adding another layer to an outfit not only makes it warmer, but it also adds textural and dimensional details that make your outfit stand out. Wear long-sleeved blouses and tees under shorter-sleeved tops and dresses. Layer blazers, cardigans, blouses, and other longer-sleeve styles over thin, knit layers. You can even transition a summer sundress into a fall-appropriate outfit by adding a jacket and tights.

Change Color Palettes

Some colors strictly scream “summer.” While the current trend of bright colors does not seem to be going away for the fall, the tones of the colors do tend to change. While red is still a wearable color, fall colors usually use more wine-colored reds and burgundies, rather than firehouse reds. However, in an outfit of mostly fall neutrals, a bold or bright colored piece of clothing can stand out and look seasonally appropriate. Often, pairing your summer pieces with the right tones of neutrals or other traditional fall colors can help them feel at home in cooler weather.

Close Your Shoes

Sandals are a traditional summer shoe. Any shoe that looks like it belongs on a boat or has an espadrille-style base, is a strictly summer shoe. Do not try to transition these shoes into the fall. However, shoes that have a more classic profile, like peep toe pumps, are perfectly at home in the fall and summer alike. The best way to transition a summer outfit into fall is to wear closed-toed shoes, or shoes that give off a cold-weather vibe, like boots or suede.

Add Pants

One easy way to transform a summer outfit into fall is to switch out the bottom layer for pants. If you wore a flirty skirt or shorts in the summer, switch out the outfit for pants to instantly make your outfit look more cold-weather appropriate. Darker washes of pants also look more at home in cooler temperatures, including dark wash jeans, darker browns, and greys. Black pants will also make an outfit look more autumnal. You can even add skinny pants or leggings under skirts and dresses to give them a fall-like look.

Increase Accessories

Typically, the trend is to wear more accessories during the colder months. Whether it is to counteract the multiple layers, or if it is the only way for the accessories to stand out in a multitude of layers, fashion designers tend to pile on accessories in the cooler months. Help your summer clothes transition into fall by adding more accessories per outfit. Belts are huge for fall fashions, and can pull together disjointed outfits in seconds. Create stacks of bracelets or necklaces, and allow your earrings to shine. Wear hats in fall fabrics, like wool and leather. Switch out summery-looking handbags for richer fall colors.

If you follow these tips, you will get much more mileage out of your wardrobe. You may find it unnecessary to pack away your summer clothing at all this year, and your cost of purchasing a new fall wardrobe may decrease significantly.

This guest post was provided by Laura Stelain.  In preparing for the colder months, Laura is taking off her vintage dresses and switching over to something a little warmer.