October 15, 2017

The Five Key Pieces You Need For Your Autumn Capsule Wardrobe

A.K.A) The uniform I’m not taking off for the next couple of months…

The nights are drawing closer, crunchy leaves litter the pavement and my ability to socialise past the hour of 6pm is practically zero – AUTUMN IS HERE PEEPS. I feel myself slipping back into my comfortable uniform of jeans, boots, a knit and a semi-tailored coat and quite honestly, I couldn’t be happier about it. Autumn is my homegirl, with the weather being crisp and bright and the right temperature that sometimes you don’t even have to wear a coat. Year-round sweater weather is the dream. If there was a place where this season appeared exclusively for 365 days of a year then I would up sticks immediately. Of course it can get a little samey, so for this week’s video I’ve taken inspiration from my favourite Instagram gals to create outfits that I’ve never worn before. There are new pairings galore and some surprising combos, so have a scroll down to the bottom of this post to watch that. In the meantime though I thought I’d share my most worn items in my current wardrobe, which if thrown on together create my uniform that I’ll be wearing for the next six months. Seriously – you’re going to have to peel this off my hairy, non-shaven limbs come summer time…

A CHUNKY BOOT

I’m that person that still tries to wear boots on the hottest day of the year in the U.K. Ain’t no-one need to see these toes creeping out of a pair of flip-flops. My collection is small but board, in that I owned a studded pair, a black flat pointy pair and a leopard print pair, but the one category that I was lacking in, was the black chunky heel front. I scouted high and low for the perfect ones, but I found them in the form of the Dear Frances Spirit Boots which I get asked about daily. In answer to your questions, 1) Yes, they are lush and feel high quality, so are worth the investment in my eyes, 2) I’ve experienced no rubbing because the leather is quite honesty like butter, but it is taking me a while to get used to walking in such high shoes and 3) Go on, get the blue velvet pair – who cares about the rain, eh? Being that they weren’t the cheapest purchase ever, I’ve rounded up some dupes below, but once you’ve got them in your wardrobe, I promise they won’t gather dust.

MY TOP PICKS

A PEA COAT

I’ve noticed that out of the handful of jackets and coats in my wardrobe, that it’s my pea coat that gets the most love. This one is from Whistles last year – remember it has the little furry blue collar that can be buttoned on or off? To me it’s the perfect coat. It’s wool-based, so it’s thick and actually does a pretty good job of keeping me warm and it’s the length and cut that’s just right. It’s long, but not too long and the cut is fitted but not too formal, in the way that sometimes a trench or blazer can look a little too tailored. I wear it with everything, whether I’m popping out to pilates in my gym gear or trying to look a little more put-together for a dinner out. I’ve looked around and there isn’t much to choose from on the high-street as everyone seems to be going nuts for trenches or jackets that really don’t look that warm *insert the Grandma emoji*. If I needed to get one this season, I’d be all over this Warehouse number I reckon.

MY TOP PICKS

A CASHMERE JUMPER

I’m pretty sure you don’t need to hear me bleating on again for the 857th time about about how cashmere jumpers are the little luxury in your wardrobe that are 110% worth it, so I’ll keep it short and sweet. But there is nothing softer on the skin, and being the hugger that I am, it’s quite nice when someone comes back for another snuggle because my jumper is so soft (this oddly happens a lot more than you think that it would – I obviously give off serious hugger vibes). In this post I’m wearing one I picked up last year from the ASOS White collection, which I had completely forgotten is the mutt’s nuts when it comes to cashmere. It’s not as wallet-walloping as other options out there, but it washes well and I love the colours and styles that they do. Another place to check out is & Other Stories and if I wasn’t on a mid-season capsule wardrobe shopping ban, then this millennial pink jumper would be coming home with me.

MY TOP PICKS

STRAIGHT LEG JEANS

I’ve been a skinny jean girl since my sixth form days where if they didn’t look like they had been painted on then I wasn’t interested. The more I needed to unfasten my zipper after dinner the better. I wanted them to look TIGHT. Thankfully the range of denim available these days is vast and I’m all behind the fact that straight leg styles are having a moment and I no longer have to disguise my unbuttoned waistband when I get up from the dinner table. I’ve mentioned before how it’s the Topshop MOTO Raw Hem Straight Leg style that are currently floating my boat, although I have been hearing good things about the & Other Stories range and the Levi’s Wedgie style which I like the sound of quite honestly, just the for the name. If you have any others you’d like to throw into the ring, then please do in the comments below. I know we all love a good well-fitting, non-bum sagging jean recommendation.

MY TOP PICKS

A MULTI-USE BAG

BAGS. I went through the whole summer without getting a case of ‘bag brain’ – you know when you find the perfect bag and you can’t stop thinking about it and you spend the whole day doing maths calculations in your head working out how you can justify such a ridiculous purchase that you never want your parents/other half/anyone else in the world to find out about? There just wasn’t anything out there that was floating my boat. But then autumn hit and I’m seriously considering selling two of my current line-up to make way for some new additions. For the autumn/winter season I like my bags to be made out of a hardy, scratch-resistant leather and in colours that will make them easy to pair with any outfits; like black, blues and tans. I know it’s not the most timeless of pieces, but I still can’t stop thinking about the J.W Anderson Bag and if I really was into p***ing money up the wall then I’d throw in the Marni Trunk Bag too – hey at least that ones looks functional. Can you tell I have a major case of bag brain?