Last week, I wrote a post on how to transition your work wardrobe from summer to autumn (which you can read here) and got a ton of requests to do the same post on casual transitional fashion and how to do it. While I normally reserve today’s post for One Item, Five Fashionable Ways, the requests on this topic made it seem smart to bump a post on that topic and focus on this. Yet, considering my weekly posts on five ways to wear one item is also quite popular, I also chose to use a tight group of items in today’s post to show that you don’t need a lot to get a lot from your transitional wardrobe. What you will find is a limited amount of pieces being used multiple ways.
Like I said in last week’s post, transitional dressing, be it casual or for work, can be tricky for many, but, really it isn’t. All it really takes is layering and borrowing from two seasons, summer and autumn, and creatively combining them. Here are some tips on what you need to get the most out of your casual transitional wardrobe and the best pieces to hold on to and wear once the weather gets cooler. And, as I did with last week’s post, in the middle of each outfit below you will see one main piece per outfit. On the left are the summer components and on the right are the transitional pieces.
Casual Transitional Fashion: How to Do It
Outfit #1- The casual summer dress
Once the weather gets cooler do not pack your casual summer dresses away, especially if they are in richer prints or in darker colors. These pieces can easily be “autumized” with a few layers. You can layer with cardigans, blazers and denim jackets.
In this outfit, I took this Modcloth dress and, for summer, styled it with a teal pair of sandals, and orange Coach handbag and turquoise earrings. To take this dress into autumn I simply added a cropped cardigan from Boden, a pair of grey tights and booties, used the same handbag and added a teal infinity scarf and tarnished gold necklace instead of the more summery earrings.
With so many colors found in this rich print there are many rich shades you can use to easily bring this dress into the cooler months.
Outfit #2- The printed skirt
Another thing you don’t want to pack away once the weather starts to cool are your printed skirts. With similar tweaks like the dress above it can work perfectly for transition. In fact, you will notice here that I used the same exact accessories with this look as I did the previous one with this Boden skirt and white sleeveless top.
Outfit #3- Cropped jeans
Last week I also wrote a post on how you can easily transition your crop pants into fall. You can also do this with a pair of cropped jeans or boyfriend jeans, both that can work well during the early autumn months. In this outfit, I took a pair of boyfriend jeans from DKNY and the same sleeveless top used earlier and, for summer, styled these pieces with tan Sam Edelman sandals, a cognac handbag and wood necklace from Max & Chloe. The great thing about accessories is they are often seasonless. In the autumn look on the right, I kept the accessories the same and simply swapped in tan oxfords for the tan sandals and layered a J Jones cardigan over the sleeveless top.
Outfit #4- Tunics
Tunics, woven or knits, are also summer items that you can wear well into autumn. While you can layer something like a cardigan over one you can also think about pairing a slim turtleneck sweater underneath like I did with this summer tunic sweater from Mango. On the left, using the same boyfriend jeans as used earlier, along with the same bag, the outfit is perfect for warmer months. And with just a few changes of a pair of skinny jeans, a brown turtleneck and riding boots, the tunic also works for fall. The last thing I did was change the necklace for a pair of chandelier earrings from Stella & Dot for the autumn outfit. With a turtleneck earrings like these will work better.
Outfit #5- The summer maxi
On my Facebook Page yesterday, someone remarked that they are not looking forward to storing away their summer maxi dresses for the cold weather. While a maxi dress may be the last thing anyone wants to wear when it is really cold, they certainly don’t have to go away anytime soon. In this outfit I take this Lucky Brand maxi dress into fall using mostly the same accessories I did earlier. The only additions are the denim jacket and gold ballerina flats, which may be a better choice over sandals on cooler days.
