As the fun summer heat starts to depart and the cool beauty of fall arrives, your wardrobe choices will inevitably change. Each season has its own colors and fashions that work best during that time of year, but transitioning between them can be the toughest part. You don’t want to suddenly ditch your summer clothes for fall fashions. Like the seasons slowly transition into each other, you must also slowly adopt your fall wardrobe over time. Here are some great ways to make your summer to fall fashion transition much smoother.
Switch Up Your Sandals and Flip-Flops with Sneakers and Boots
One of the most subtle yet important pieces of your ensemble to update between summer and fall is your footwear. Sandals and flip-flops are fun and comfortable to wear in summer, but when fall starts sneaking up on you they become inconvenient and chilly. The best part of changing up your footwear first is that sneakers and boots can easily match both summer and fall outfits.
Match Sandals Properly
If you’re not quite ready to put your sandals in the closet for the year, match them with some jeans or dark dress pants. Lace up and ankle strap sandals are the best options here.
Believe it or not, you can also wear socks with sandals to keep your feet covered and warm while also enjoying your summer footwear. While combining sandals with socks has been a fashion faux pas in the past, it has become much more common and trendy in recent years. The trick is choosing a sock that complements your sandals. Ankle and crew socks are the most appropriate choices for sandals in regards to length. Knee-high socks can work, but typically only with shorter dresses and skirts.
Break Out the Maxi Dresses
Sun dresses are so light and fun to wear that it’s hard to give them up when the chill of fall comes around. Luckily, maxi dresses offer the same fun designs, colors and textures while providing more coverage for your legs and being a bit warmer to wear.
Wear Tights or Leggings with Your Shorts
This is another great subtle method of sneaking in some fall clothes while still enjoying your summer ones. Right as you get to the final few weeks of summer, start wearing dark colored tights with your shorts. They look great, provide coverage for your legs and offer a bit more warmth.
Throw on a Scarf
There’s no easier or more convenient fall accessory to add to your summer outfits than a good scarf. Scarves are incredibly versatile, and they come in a vast array of colors, designs, sizes and fabrics. You can find a scarf to go with nearly any outfit, and they add a welcome feeling of warmth as the days get cooler. While the type of scarf depends on your preferences and the outfit at hand, short and thin scarves tend to work best when summer’s just starting to come to a close, and blanket scarves are a great option as you get deeper into fall.
Tone Down Your Color Scheme
Summer and fall each have their own set of colors that work best with their fashion choices. Summer is a time of bright colors like red, pink and yellow. While fall is loaded with beautiful colors, the fashion choices of the season are typically more toned down. Here are some color swapping options as you move from summer to fall.
• A bright sunny yellow could be exchanged with a darker mustard or gold.
• A fierce red might be replaced with maroon or burgundy.
• Flashy pink colors can be swapped with lavender, lilac or rose.
• Strong blues like cobalt and princess blue can be exchanged with navy blue or teal.
• Vibrant orange colors can be replaced with burnt orange or maple.
Match a Mini-Dress or Skirt with Thigh-Highs
Just as tights and leggings add some extra warmth and coverage to your legs while you continue sporting your shorts, thigh-high socks keep your legs warm as you enjoy the comfort and style of your mini-dresses and skirts. The best part about this ensemble is that it also works well in winter since thigh-high socks can be made with thicker material than leggings while still looking natural. You can even wear some pantyhose underneath for a little extra coverage.
Be Smart with Layers
One of the easiest ways to transition your look between summer and fall is by adding layers. Not only do the layers update your look, but you can add more or choose heavier options as the weather gets colder and you can always remove them if they get too hot.
Wear a trendy t-shirt under a light long-sleeve shirt to keep your arms covered and warm. Grab a light sweater to go over a tank top. You can even sport a sleek leather jacket with your favorite maxi dress.
Another way of going about layering in a smart manner is by wearing longer top layers with shorter bottoms. Top layers, such as sweaters and jackets, that reach beyond the length of your bottoms look very trendy between seasons while adding much more coverage and warmth.
Cut Off Jeans and Cargo Pants
While the weather might be getting too chilly for shorts and skirts, you can still show a bit of skin and stay cooler with some cut off jeans. They’re also a particularly versatile choice of bottoms. Jeans go with nearly any top, and they’re stylish in any season.
Cargo pants are a more casual look, but they can be rolled up for warmer days and kept down for colder weather. They also look fantastic with a pair of boots and short sleeved shirts.
