The Surprising Place to Build Your Fall Capsule Wardrobe
Find all of your fall essentials and then some.
There’s a running joke among New Yorkers that fall is the three-day period between sweltering hot summer temperatures and the first sub-40-degree day, which is just as likely to happen in October as it is in December. And while dressing for winter is pretty easy—layering up and always taking a chunky scarf are good rules of thumb—dressing for the ever-elusive fall isn’t nearly as intuitive. That’s doubly true when it’s cold enough to need a winter coat at 9 a.m. but too hot for so much as a blazer by noon. (Nobody really knows how to dress for those days.)
Luckily, there are a few genius-but-simple layering tricks I’ve bookmarked over the years and always come in handy during these transition months. Some of them range from no-brainers, like adding a heavy leather vest over a button-down for some added warmth, to smart, sneaky tricks like layering an unbuttoned cardigan underneath a lined blazer, hidden from plain sight.
Ahead, 12 stylish outfit ideas for transitional fall days.
Bet you’d never guess that I hid a cardigan underneath this blazer. On a particularly breezy day, layer a cardigan beneath your jacket and leave it unbuttoned. (Or, take a cue from Hailey Beiber and button just the one.)
Layered leggings had its moment in the sun back in the early-aughts, but these days, opaque tights just might be your best friend if you’re looking to wear a midi dress for fall activities. Plus, they’re way easier to slip off and carry in your bag if you get too hot than most thicker layers.
To the naked eye, that sweater isn’t really serving much of a purpose. But anyone that’s taken their coat off and back on again more than a dozen times in a single hour knows it’s the autumn equivalent of an umbrella in the spring: It’s there if you need it, and looks stylish until then.
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Find all of your fall essentials and then some.