how to shop intentionally for a new season: fall edition

plus what I bought this summer

To be honest, I am not one of those excited-for-the-hint-of-fall-in-the-air people. I’m more of a there’s-a-hint-of-fall-in-the-air-oh-no-my-seasonal-affective-disorder-is-coming kind of person. As of the writing of this post, I haven’t given one thought to fall yet. I love that there’s been entirely new writing about fall wardrobes on Substack this year, here with must-haves from your friendly local social worker and farmer and others on

Corinne Fay

’s

Big Undies

and here about looking to the past season instead of ahead at the new season from

Totally Recommend

.

But I thought some of you probably are fall lovers and I wanted to give you this framework to help you be intentional about your fall purchases.

As I said in my spring wardrobe planning post, you certainly don’t always need to buy new things each season, but having a plan ensures that you don’t end up with stuff you don’t actually need (interesting to note that by this time last spring, I had not only made a plan, but mostly purchased the items I needed - I just don’t have the same energy about fall). I see many people making one of these three mistakes:

• Buying the new stuff that catches their eye, without pausing to consider where the new items fit in with what they already have.

• Buying the thing the influencer recommends without considering how their lifestyle might differ.

• Buying the thing that’s discounted even though it’s ultimately money wasted when they don’t ever wear it.

If you take a few minutes to go through this exercise, you’ll have a much clearer idea of what you need and want.

Step 1. Collect inspiration.

Create a fall inspiration board on Pinterest. Grab any images that appeal to you, without censoring yourself based on your body or your lifestyle, just stuff that looks cool. If you like to save images on Instagram, don’t forget to pin some of your saved IG images to Pinterest as well. I haven’t done this yet, but here’s my Fall 2023 board.

Step 2: Analyze. What do your inspiration looks have in common?

In stark contrast to my spring planning, there are mostly neutrals and only lighter neutrals at that. It’ll be interesting to see if I’m still feeling that this fall.

What outfit combos do you see repeated in your inspiration images? (ex: Wide leg pants+cropped top+sneakers or skinny jeans+tunic+birks)

Simple sweater with jeans or light colored pants, denim on denim, stripes with light colored pants, wide leg pants with long layers on top.

What colors or neutrals are most represented?

🧈🍞🥚🥔

Step 3: Make a list of items you’ll need to recreate some of the outfits on your inspiration board (ex. wide leg linen pants, light wash denim, cropped white tee, etc)

Neutral simple sweater, light colored heavier weight pants, tan boots.

Step 4: STOP! Don’t buy anything yet until you've done this step. Take your fall clothes out of storage and take inventory of what you already have. Check off any of the items in Step 3 you already have.

Since I did this last fall, I have already added those things. Again, TBD for this year.

Step 5: Reflect. What worked and didn’t work last winter? What’s worn out or doesn’t fit? What do you need to replace? What will be different about your wardrobe needs this winter? What might you need or not need that will be different from last year?

Honestly, I think most of this did work for me!

Step 6: Finalize your shopping list.

Step 7. Set a budget.

Depending on your habits, you may need to set a budget to limit your shopping (overbuyers) or to give yourself permission to spend anything at all (underbuyers).

NOW, AND ONLY NOW, CAN YOU GO SHOPPING!

What do you think? Will this be a change in how you approach a new season?

Before you go, I just want to make sure you know about my group program, Making Space. It’s an 8 week program that takes you through every step of my client process, from telling your body story and defining your style to editing your closet to shopping mindfully. The program is delivered asynchronously, with recorded content, a workbook, an active discussion platform with weekly prompts, and weekly videos answering your questions on the week’s content. We start at the end of September, make sure you’re on the waitlist to get first access, the group will be limited to 15 participants.

Paid subscribers, continue reading to see what I bought this summer and how much I spent, a workbook version of this post, and for a big discount on my ecourses.