School is back in session, and as the crisp fall air quietly settles over Spokane, you walk down Bulldog Alley on your way to class, confronted by your demons, past, present and future. You think to yourself, ‘At last I look good right now.’
Because in your Ugg booties (mid-rise only) and your faux fur jacket, you do look good. You are the star.
We all know the basic rules for dressing for a change of season — layer, layer, layer and when you’re done layering, layer some more. Keep the basics around (the black tank, classic white sneakers, Levi’s jeans that you never wash, you know the drill), and add those unique pieces back into your wardrobe that you have been waiting to uncover for months. In this case, as the weather is getting colder this may mean pulling out those threadbare cardigans and baggy cargo pants.
This fall, however, it’s time to level up. No more simple layering and dressing up the basics — we did that all spring long. And who even wears clothes in the summer anyway? Fall is the time to prove that you are the style icon you always knew you were. Or the time to pull out your grandmother’s faux fur jacket, at the very least.
You’ve waited all year long to not only
show off your fall pants and hoodies, but to truly let loose in all areas of life. To help us achieve this state of feral that fall demands, this season we will be channeling our favorite grungy rock icons — think Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones, Debbie Harry, Kim Gordon and Patti Smith, to name a few.
All of these legends exude a certain “je ne sais quoi,” or simply, a laid-back ease to not only life, but to their wardrobe.
While you may be thinking to yourself, ‘I can never achieve the easy yet oh-so-cool look of the rockers of the past’ with a few simple steps, any fall outfit has the ability to be endlessly cool.
The first step to the inevitably cool fall fit is a solid base. Dark wash jeans are always a safe bet, while a pair of black, brown or navy Dickies provides the same strong base, with a cleaner silhouette.
After figuring out the pants you will wear, move to step two, your top. The fall is the time to show off your graphic tees. That one shirt you thrifted during the summer with the joke on it that no one but your younger brother found slightly funny? That’s the shirt. Put it on. Tuck the shirt, but keep it slightly loose, and you have a strong base for any fall day fit.
Now that you have your outfit (which is really nothing special at this point), it is time for the fun part. Fall is the perfect time to flex your outerwear game, whether it’s a jean jacket to compliment your jeans (Canadian tuxedo, anyone?), or a knit button-up to pop over your graphic tee. Regardless, the light top layer was made to be seen during fall.
Step three of designing the perfect fall fit requires us to get creative. It’s time to add all the odds and ends to your fit that will truly make it iconic.
The ideas are endless when it comes to fall-ifying your outfit — cowboy boots, fingerless gloves, a pair of sunglasses to keep out not the sun, but the looks of the ones who are unironically still following the wave of #christiangirlautumn, and of course, a hat, beanie or five-panel, are all valid (and effortlessly cool) ways to style your fall fit.
No faux fur jacket or mid-rise Uggs? That’s OK, because whether you are demon fighting on Bulldog Alley, crying through your anatomy and physiology study session, or simply walking through life, as long as you remember that it’s not so much about what you wear but about how you wear it, you’re sure to have a solid fall fit.
Yo La Tengo sums up the casual unpredictability and ease of fall perfectly in their wonderfully relevant song, “Autumn Sweater.” Their words I’ll leave you in parting:
“We could slip away / Wouldn’t that be better / Me with nothing to say / And you in your autumn sweater.”
