← Her Style Podcast | Shopping, Color Palettes, Fashion, Wardrobe, Outfits, Clothing
Her Style Podcast | Shopping, Color Palettes, Fashion, Wardrobe, Outfits, Clothing
276 | How to Transition Your Wardrobe from Summer to Fall Without Starting Over
00:16:21
It’s officially fall here in the northern hemisphere and I’m curious… Have you experienced this yet? The first crisp, cool morning of the season, you’re standing in front of your closet, and suddenly that flowy summer dress or easy linen top...
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It's officially fall here in the Northern hemisphere and I'm curious, have you experienced this yet? The first crisp, cool morning of the season. You're standing in front of your closet and suddenly that flowy summer dress or easy linen top doesn't feel quite right anymore. There's always that awkward seasonal in between that can tempt you to run right out and impulse buy all the cozy layers you're not sure you can live without. But you really don't have to start over. You don't need a whole new collection of clothes to survive the weather fluctu situations, and you definitely don't need to panic shop just to feel put together this fall. Today I'm going to walk you through how to seamlessly transition your wardrobe from summer to fall without starting over from scratch. Because your style can evolve with you season to season with just a few smart swaps instead of a full overhaul. Let's get strategic about buying what you actually need for the autumn weather ahead and utilizing what you already own all year long. Welcome to her style podcast where we're all about empowering you to show up and get dressed every day with confidence. I'm your host, Heather Riggs, a 15 year and counting certified image consultant and color specialist ready to build a wardrobe and a personal style you love. Let's get started. Okay, I guess it's time we move on from the bootcamp and get back to our regularly scheduled programming. I know I for one am already counting down to our next live event which will be happening in the new year. It sounds really far away, but I know we're gonna blink and we will be in the thick of the holiday season. So today we're gonna slow time down just a little bit and focus on what's right in front of us, which is getting your wardrobe ready for the fall. It's actually been pretty warm here in the Philadelphia area this week, but I know that the cooler days are coming and I don't know, but I want my wardrobe to be ready. And what I'm not gonna do is what I used to always do and run out and buy up all the cute sweaters and the cool knee high boots that are cropping up in stores. Okay, maybe just a few. My footwear collection desperately needs an autumn up level, but we are gonna keep up our momentum of being strategic and intentional shoppers and maximizing what we already have. So if that sounds good to you, I wanna give you a very doable five step plan to get your fall outfits ready for the transition. And I'm confident that you can tackle this within two 90 minute sessions. So you can either take the first half on this weekend and then maybe you do the second half of this process the following weekend. Or if you can set aside two to three hours in the days ahead, I bet you can knock this out and you will feel really set up for success in the season ahead. So step one is to take an inventory with fresh eyes. I would expect this to take you about 30 minutes and what I want you to do is start by pulling out 5 to 10 of your favorite summer pieces that you would love to keep wearing. I don't want you to just pack everything away. I want you to stop and ask yourself which items can still work with the right layer. Seasonal shoes or some updated accessories. I'm going to give you a couple of examples. Your camisoles and tank tops could slip neatly under a cardigan or a blazer. Maybe your sleeveless midi dresses could look amazing layered over a long sleeve mock neck T shirt. Lightweight blouses can tuck beautifully into darker denim or some trousers in a great trend color for the fall. If you want to lean into those rich Burgundies or chocolate tones, there's so many options that you can do to take some of those lightweight summer tops and carry them into the fall. And to finish out this step, you might like to create what I call a bridge rack. This is just a small section in your closet where you can stash your favorite transitional pieces. That way you don't forget all about them once your sweaters take over and you'll be more likely to see and reach for those items during the in between season. This can really also help you stay out of a fall outfit Retsu if you tend to wear the same types of outfits over and over again. If you keep some of those easy transitional pieces close at reach, it'll inspire you to mix things up in some different ways as well. All right, step number two is to pinpoint the gaps again. I think you can do this in another 30 minutes, maybe even less. If you were at the Wardrobe Revamp Bootcamp last week, you might also be noticing a pattern here. It's going to be really smart for you to repeat these same steps in the same order each and every season so you can keep a pulse on what you need and make sure that your wardrobe is always up to date and current with your life. So your next step is to look at where your outfits start to fall apart when the weather cools down. Do you suddenly feel underdressed because your legs are Bare or your sandals are feeling too chilly for your morning commutes. Maybe you love your sleeveless tops, but you don't have layers that feel professional enough for work. Instead of grabbing up random pieces that you see when you're browsing online or shopping in stores, I want you instead to identify the weakest link in your outfits and then make a short, focused shopping list. So think about your calendar. We're going to come back to this in a couple minutes. Not just the weather, but if your October is filled with client meetings, your gaps are going to look different than if it's filled with soccer games and pumpkin patches. You might have a mixture of both as well. And you need to consider both work and weekend wear and think about which pieces can pull double duty. What can you use for different purposes and functions? I want you to let your real life guide what you actually add to that shopping list. So. So the next thing is to really think about those gaps and what is making it difficult for you to get dressed each day. Then step three is gonna be to maximize what you already own. I know everybody wants to better utilize the pieces that they've already invested in, so this is probably gonna take you a little bit bigger chunk of time. It could be anywhere from, I would say, 30 to 60 minutes. Even longer if you can. But before you rush out to buy those things that you pinpointed as the missing pieces in your wardrobe, you it can be super helpful to take even just a brief amount of time to start assembling new outfit combinations from your existing pieces. This is a little bit different than pinpointing the gaps. This is actually getting into your closet, seeing what you can put together, what you feel excited to wear, and what new combinations can work for the transitional temperatures. This is really where the magic happens. It can impact how you prioritize your shopping list, or it might help you eliminate some of the items on your list altogether. So you might find that you can get by with a lot less than you thought. I want you to start layering some things strategically. Maybe you're going to take that, go to summer dress and try adding a pair of tights and some boots and maybe a cropped jacket. Done right, you take that summer dress and just layer it appropriately to get through the next couple weeks. If you have a linen pair of pants that you loved and lived in over the summer, you might be able to pair them with some loafers and a chunky knit sweater. Easy peasy. I just want you to start thinking about new possibilities and how you can mix some of your summer and fall or winter items together. Now, personally, I like to keep my whole wardrobe accessible to me all year long. Thankfully, I have enough space in my closet to do that. But if you do need to pack away some of your items, it might help to follow what I call the two for one rule. Every summer piece that you keep out should be able to transition into at least two fall outfits. So if you have that tank top that you loved, maybe it's going to work under a blazer for the office and then also under a cardigan for the weekends. Using the two for one rule is going to make it really easy for you to decide what's worth keeping out and what can go into storage. If there's really only one way that you can utilize it, or if you can't think of any ways to utilize it in the fall, you can go ahead and safely tuck it away for the next summer to come around. So that's the first half of the process. We've already gotten through the first three steps. I think that you could tackle some of that this weekend to help you feel a lot more in control of your closet and more confident with assembling some new outfits in the morning. So then when you're ready, we're going to keep going through the rest of the steps. The next thing is step four, which is to align everything with your lifestyle. We did talk about this before, but I want you to remember that your wardrobe should fit your calendar, not the other way around. So once you have taken your inventory, you've started your shopping list, and you've built in some time to see what you can style from your existing closet. You should have a much better idea about which areas of your life are easier and harder to dress for the fall. So then you can take, I don't know, anywhere between 15 to 30 minutes maybe to make sure that you have a plan for what's on your calendar in the weeks and months ahead. And when I say have a plan, I mean have a plan for what to wear. There's nothing worse than standing in front of your closet and for a special occasion or even just a day to day activity and struggling to put any kind of looks together. So we want to think about that ahead of time and make sure that you actually have what you need. If you're working from home this season, then you might want to add some cozy cardigans in your best colors or soft blouses that are practical and easy to move around in but still look really professional and put together on zoom if you're in a corporate setting, it might be more important for you to invest in a new blazer or some trousers that feel comfortable and fit your body like a glove. If you are a social person and you love going out on the weekends, then you're probably going to want to make sure that you have a few fun options like a dress or two or maybe a jumpsuit that layers well with tights and jackets and a pair of great boots. Of course, we want to bridge your personal style preferences with what's appropriate for your real life. I don't think you have to compromise there. I think we just need to be strategic in making sure that what you like visually also works with what you need practically. And this is where your style can stop feeling all over the place and start aligning with the way that you actually live. So make sure that you have outfits pre planned for any important events coming up and use your calendar to finalize and prioritize your shopping list. All right, our last step number five is to invest with intention. So we are finally going to talk about shopping. And if you were paying attention in the last episode, I told you shopping comes last, not first. Something else that you might have heard me say before is that cost per wear matters so much more than just the total cost. I know sometimes when you're lining up your budget, you can get really focused on how much an item is, but you want to think also about how much you're going to wear that item. So I want to encourage you to think about your purchases in terms of elevators and fillers. Elevators are those couple of key pieces that are going to instantly lift your wardrobe. It could be a chic new pair of boots, a classic leather jacket, maybe it's a statement blazer. Some of those options that are going to make a lot of different outfits work better for you and help to elevate your style in the direction that you want it to go. And then filler pieces are those little trendy items that you just buy because they're in style this season. Unless they fit your signature look to a T and they will work overtime in your wardrobe, you can use them for lots of different purposes. Then I don't think you need to prioritize them in that case. Those are just going to be some extra nice to have items if there's a little wiggle room in your budget and once you fill in the legitimate holes in your wardrobe. So remember, prioritize those elevator pieces first. The things that are really going to move the needle for you that are going to take everything up a notch and and then as a secondary, you can fill in with a couple of trendy items or just because pieces that are going to make you feel excited to get dressed and still bring a little fun into your closet for the season. I promise when you shop this way, you're not just going to be accumulating more options. Instead, I would love for you to make intentional investments that evolve and elevate your wardrobe without overwhelming it. I think we all can say that it's nice to have a little bit less but better. So I do want you to take your time. I would recommend devoting at least one hour to hunting for the pieces that you put on your shopping list. And of course, depending on how long your list is, that might take more or less time. I'm gonna link up a couple of other episodes with some of my best shopping tips and strategies to curb your impulse shopping just to support you with this step if you wanna dive even deeper. But I think it's always worth taking your time looking and waiting for the right pieces to come along and not being too quick to invest in things, especially if you're not sure whether you're going to actually wear them. And that's it, my friend. It can be that simple. Transitioning your wardrobe from the summer to the fall doesn't necessarily mean starting over. It just means taking inventory with fresh eyes. Looking at what you actually have, pinpointing your gaps, maximizing what you already own, playing stylist and mixing new combinations together, choosing what to pack away, using that two for one rule. If you need to create something more space for new pieces. Always making sure your outfits and shopping list align with your lifestyle and what's on your calendar. And then finally, last step, always investing with intention. Prioritizing those wardrobe elevators, not the fillers. Keeping in mind cost per wear and how much you're actually going to use those things in the season and hopefully seasons ahead. So your style can and should evolve with you from season to season. This is really going to help you to stay out of a wardrobe rut. But you don't have to start from scratch. You don't have to reinvent the wheel every single time. The leaves change, the temperature changes, the weather's fluctuating. And if you're listening right now thinking, I love these tips, but I know I'm going to need some more personalized help to figure out what my gaps are to maximize what I own. Maybe I really don't know how to put my pieces together in new ways that's something I get stuck stuck on and I want to know how to shop more strategically then I've got to tell you friend, that is exactly what we do together. Inside Her Style Collective this is my 90 day group coaching program where I personally walk you through this process step by step. You get tons of hands on support so you never feel like you're starting over or wondering where to start. If you're overwhelmed by all of this. So take what we talked about in this episode. If you want to dive deeper, I would encourage you to visit herstylellc.com collective for more information about how we can team up on this together. Either way, I do hope that you feel equipped to transition your wardrobe with excitement and ease. I want to thank you so much for listening today and if you found this episode helpful, or if you were at the Bootcamp with us last week and you enjoyed that and took away a lot of valuable information that you can implement right away, then I would love for you to take just a minute to rate and review her style podcast. It means the world to me and it definitely helps more women like you find our incredible community. Until next time. Remember, your style can evolve with you and I bet you already have a lot more to work with in your wardrobe than you think. So go have fun making some new autumn outfits this weekend. I'll meet you back here on Monday for the next episode. Thank you for listening to today's episode. If you want to stop copying everyone else's style and start dialing in your own swoon worthy signature look, head over to take my free 5 minute personal style quiz which you can find at the link in the show notes. If you've enjoyed our time together, please be sure to rate, review and subscribe to Her Style Podcast so you never miss an episode. Finally, I invite you to make this a two way conversation and send me a DM over on Instagram eatherigstyle to let me know how I can best support you on your style journey. I'm always here for you in style and service. Until next time.