Playing Autumn

At least once a year, you need to get into a leaf fight. I call it playing autumn. The days are running out, the leaves are becoming damp, and the time is nigh. Play it in the next couple weeks and you'll feel like you're 5 years old, in a brown boots ad or an American university photo shoot.

A couple of classic spins as leaves were being thrown up in the air...

Leaves have just been picked up at this moment, ready to fall aloft onto the photographer.

Outfit:
Top (I'm crazy about the scalloping and and Johnny Cash style ribbon), New Look. The sweetly feminine Zoella definitely inspired this one: http://schoee.blogspot.com/
Leather skirt, local charity shop. The skirt's long enough to feel preppy and grown-up, as opposed to a black leather skirt that's perfect for meeting Axl Rose on the Sunset Strip, circa 1986.
Cute and wonderfully ridiculous spats, Asos. http://thefabulousmission.blogspot.com/2011/08/back-to-school.html#comments With these sorts of two-tone brogues, you'll either have the urge to become a fat 1930s gangster who is really just a sax player, or inherit a poodle skirt and become an extra on Happy Days. Both options are rather great.  

Back to School

I definitely believe in Back to School shopping, even if you don't go to school. I wear sandals all summer. Then, as soon as September 1st happens, a piercing bite flows through the air and hits the head, autumn giving us the heads up to its existence. As much as I like to abandon sleeves and allow my legs their freedom in the summer, a soft long sleeve and trousers bring comfort and a bit of pulled-togetherness. I can see myself as Katherine Hepburn, luxuriating in elegance and one-liners equally.



This looks says: "I don't care for summer flights of fancy. I have more important things to do than pose for a photograph." She's a non-nonsense feminist, I think.



So, in the spirit of "let's get on with it," school, I purchased some new school shoes. If you like brogues, heeled loafers, or you need/want a new pair of shoes, Asos has a sale worth looking at. And these suede brogues are the colour of the coat I last wrote about (sigh).





Asos, £28






 

Yellow heeled loafer, Asos, £36



Fashion writers seem to love "transition pieces," which are usually blazers or light sweaters. These fresh-looking English mustard loafers do combine summer sunshine with the more sensible autumn--- they are shoes, not sandals. These are what I think of as a transition piece, though I'd happily wear them all year. I imagine a satchel and navy pea coat to complete the Ivy League schoolgirl look.

Alas, the shoes I went for are a more wearable black and white option. They're geeky, 1950s style saddle shoes, the white highlighting their structure. These are the kind of shoes I know I'll feel a little silly about wearing intially but then I'll languish in a too-cool-for-school pride.

Asos , £28