Ah, fall. Where a not-so-young woman’s thoughts turn to…cozy mornings spent with a hot cup of coffee wrapped in knits and (faux) furs. I LOVE fall. It feels like…new beginnings. New year full of possibilities. A chance for reinvention. But first thing: The Fall Wardrobe.
No lie, the big, fat issues of Vogue, Elle, Harper’s, Cosmo, Marie Claire, Glamour, MORE and many others are what I live for in September. I easily spend two entire weekends learning all of the latest trends and watching repeats of the New York Fashion Week coverage over and over.
Then comes the best part, the shopping. This year I did what I usually do - got some lower-cost basics as well as a few statement pieces. Here are some of the outfits I’m loving:
OMG this coat. This coat is my favorite thing I bought this year and is reserved for fashion events and date nights with my sweetheart.
I got it in NYC during my book launch event with consumer press. I was walking through SoHo and I saw it in the window of a little boutique called 3NY. I practically sprinted across the street to investigate. It looked steampunk, futuristic, elegant…and terrible, impractical white. I had to have it. It’s by an independent designer named SoHung (Tom) Tong of SoHung Designs who went to Parson’s School of Design and his works are legit pieces of art. Each one is hand-made and one of a kind. I am wildly in love with his work.
I wore this to the Rachel Zoe show at Bellevue Fashion Week and just random people kept asking where it was from. I felt so bad I didn’t have cards to give credit to Tom. The man is a genius. I will be making a stop into both 3NY and Tim’s boutique every chance I get for sure.
The piece de resistance of the whole shoot? The boots. OH THE BOOTS! I have been lusting and longing for these Stuart Weitzman Highland over-the-knee suede boots for 2 years. Last time I was in NYC in 2013 I tried them on 3 different times and talked myself out of buying them since they were expensive. I instead, “bought around them”, where I got 3 other pairs of boots that I didn’t like as much, that weren’t as good quality and wound up spending as much as I would have on these! I wear these pretty much every day. The heel is high (around 4 inches), but is chunky so I can walk around in them all day. I found these lower cost ones that are a great intro pair for other boot addicts.
This next outfit (featuring said boots) is something I’d wear to work, around town to brunch, or take on a trip. Just great basics that can be mixed with many other things.
I fell in love with this mustard coloured skirt at Zara. Zara always has fun, trendy things that are generally work-appropriate and when I took this skirt into the dressing room and tried it on with every single top I’d chosen, it went with literally everything. I have a serious love affair with yellow things. Anytime someone is wearing a yellow thing, I have to comment on it like some kind of moth to a flame problem. Here is something similar.
The black off-the-shoulder sweater is also from Zara and something I’ve been looking for for a while since my last year’s one is all stretched out and pilly and weird. Something similar is here. The faux fur is from a few years ago from the Saks Fifth Outlet in Minneapolis where my sister lives. I love it because of the fun memories of me and Bonnie (sis) doing serious damage at Saks while our husbands looked amazed at our ability to hunt down the best deals ever. I have felt this strong affinity with wearing white after Labour Day this year for some reason and I kind of randomly threw the vest on as I was about to leave my apartment and I really liked how it looks. Something similar is here.
The last outfit is just fun. This is something I’d wear for a stroll around town in any city in cold weather, but especially somewhere glamourous like NYC, Paris or Madrid. I got the hooded cape in NYC at my favorite vintage place on earth, New York Vintage. If this sounds familiar, it’s because it’s Rachel Zoe’s favorite. I mean, check this out. That’s pretty much me every time I’m there. I got an amazing pair of vintage Alexander McQueen ankle boots there and this cape. And the best part is that you get to NEGOTIATE which is pretty much the best thing in the whole world.
A lot of people ask me about my fuchsia lipstick that I wear almost every day. It’s this incredible long-wearing liquid-turned-matte by Kat Von D called Bauhaus. Extremely flattering on all skin-tones.
Under the cape, I’m in suede pants from Rachel Roy, who makes really good quality basics and a sheer white blouse with gold, metal tassle things from my Zara haul. The shoes are trusty Fluevogs, lovely ones called Ludovika, a pair I got in San Francisco during the HoloLens team’s //BUILD event in San Francisco (BONUS! You can see our very own Beth Crane in this vid). I love these because they are cute with the laces in or pulled out.
So there it is, some of my favorite fall looks. I’m about to hit the road for a month long adventure starting with Grace Hopper in Houston the past week, then a 2 week book tour in Spain, France and the UK where I will be visiting and speaking at MBA schools about tech + business, followed by a week in NYC teaching a coding + cocktails event to members of the consumer press. I’m feeling pretty good about my fall looks and fashion hall. For the first time, I will be practicing capsule dressing with 4 tops and 3 bottoms, 2 jackets and 2 pairs of shoes. I’ll post updates. Wish me luck!
Till next month for the mid-season update. XOXO Dona