Happy Sunday. Today, our style expert is covering her favorite fall wardrobe hacks, including:
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| Source photos by Ganni, Cuyana, La Ligne, NYT Wirecutter |
My fall style vision? Classic yet opulent. |
By Frances Solá-Santiago Frances is a style writer at Wirecutter. She loves fall fashion so much she used to wear leather jackets when she lived in Puerto Rico. |
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Every fall, I rediscover my personal sense of style. The season allows for so many textures, layers, and moody colors to come into play. Often referred to as “the January of fashion,” I see autumn as a superior time for a closet audit and refresh. (My colleagues have some excellent closet organizing tips, by the way.) For me, a refresh starts not in stores, or in the depths of my wardrobe, but with a moodboard.
My seasonal Pinterest boards include much more than runway images. I collect shots from movie stills and album covers that remind me of the season, celebrity street style, old brand campaigns, color swatches — even random screenshots I find on my phone. Then I get down to business, connecting the dots between all the images I’ve collected. What is the overall mood? Are there any specific colors, styles, and pieces that stand out?
This fall, the overall theme on my moodboard is classic yet opulent elegance, a conclusion I reached through the myriad loafers, opera-length leather gloves, chocolate-brown pieces, and vintage brooches I found myself pinning.
With a direction in mind, I go to my closet to review everything I own, assessing what I already have and what pieces I’m missing. It might sound extreme, but the end result is a core shopping list of just a few items — sartorial essentials for the season ahead. Zero excess.
A few more tips — and classic pieces — for fall dressing that I swear by:
- Sweaters make the best scarves: This is not a new styling trick. But it’s effective and timeless. Tying a sweater — like this elegant, ribbed crewneck — around your neck adds a chic detail to your look.
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- Create some go-to outfit formulas: When I comb through my moodboard, I like to pull a handful of formulas — pairings that show up again and again in my inspiration images that I know work well, and that I can replicate. A few in my recent rotation: a trench coat paired with a white T-shirt and jeans, or a blazer and sweater with knee-length shorts.
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- Sock it up: Save the no-shows for summer. I love the look of loafers (these slipper-like ones are a personal fave) with red socks and blue jeans, or knee-high socks with pleated Bermuda shorts. Writer Zoe Vanderweide recently tested more than 90 pairs of socks and found some true standouts — including colorful $4 Uniqlo ones I’m personally obsessed with.
- Shop secondhand: Because so many fall style essentials are staples that have been around for ages — leather jackets, suede bags, and Frye boots — it’s a great season to find good quality (and often more affordable) items secondhand. Take this epic pair of Ganni rain boots I searched far and wide for — and eventually found for just $50 at an outlet — the brand no longer makes them, but they’re widely available in the secondhand market for much less than retail.
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How Frances thrifted an almost entirely designer outfit for under $250 |
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| Michael Murtaugh/NYT Wirecutter; styling by Megan Hedgpeth |
We recently sent two of Wirecutter’s style writers, including Frances, on a mission to thrift a sweater, a pair of jeans, and a work bag, all within a set budget. Part of the joy (and advantage) of buying used is that it can help shape your personal style more than shopping for what’s trending. “I ended up with something completely different to what I originally envisioned, or even usually wear,” says Frances. And she loves it.
See Frances’ secondhand scores — and the thrifting tips she swears by→
One last thing: The very best hangers |
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| Marki Williams/NYT Wirecutter |
For matching your moodboard vision IRL, you’ll want an organized closet. And that often starts with the right hangers. Good ones will keep your clothes tidy, neat, and free of damage. But great hangers will do so while also looking nice — ideally for many years.
We’ve loved these hangers for nearly a decade→
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