Someone asked if I was thinking about what to wear in Autumn and it's just about all I'm thinking about! Last year I couldn't buy from the UK high street and had to gear my funds towards travelling, but this year I'm back at Uni for the final time and am really, really looking forward to getting some new stuff! I didn't buy a lot of anything last year and realised that most of the things I wear are years old. I can't get my head around getting rid of old purchases even if they're all miss-matched and worn many times. I've been trying to be as sustainable as possible and haven't bought any clothes for ages, but working in a shop and watching haul videos of people often buying new things is making me reconsider. I never actually 'shop' in the sense that you wander round looking at things that catch your eye and come home with random buys. I always think things through meticulously and buy things if I need them. I only have one pair of shoes to go out at night in and I'll wear them until they fall apart. Why would you need another pair? On a student budget, I don't have the luxury of being able to buy a range of things to choose from, I have to prioritise essentials, but the truth is that there's nothing fresh about my wardrobe. I'm going to do an overhaul as the bank holiday in two weeks means there will be loads of carboot sales, and my sister and I are planning on clearing out all the things we leave at home when we go to Uni.
Within reason, I'm going to make a list of new things that I need to invest in, and I've been circling things in the September issues and saving runway images with ideas. I'll document all that on here as I haven't finished yet, but for the past few weeks I've been thinking about one cape. I have three coats; one is the amazing purple Reiss swing coat I got two years ago, one is the military, ruffle Gina Tricot coat I got before Christmas and wore to London Fashion Week, and one is a black New Look toggle coat I picked up to wear all the time in Sweden. They're all swing or dress shapes so aren't right for maxi or calf length skirts. This is where the cape comes in! I'll probably take all my coats to Uni and I love buying a new one almost every year because you get so much wear out of a great coat. I wore my Reiss one in my second year from about October to March, that's so many times! All the things in my wardrobe that I've only worn once or twice could equal the price of it.
I was thinking of a camel coat ever since the fashion weeks but don't think I'd do the androgynous shapes justice, and then I saw the Olivia Palermo shoot in ASOS Magazine featuring a great cape. It's featured twice in the issue and both times it looks different. Even on the buying page on the site, it's featured on two models and it doesn't quite look the same. There's even a video of the shoot and the standard ASOS item video and they still look different! I haven't ordered it to try myself because 1) Even if it's amazing, isn't it a bit early? Would I still love it in two months when I first get to wear it? and 2) Will something better come out on the high street? My thoughts were confirmed when I spotted this cape in a H&M Autumn preview post on Nitrolicious, which is great for checking out new monthly and seasonal H&M stock but a lot of the rest is American brands. I'm guessing this cape would be more like £50 to ASOS's £80, but I wish the piping colour swapped so it had brown leather like the ASOS cape! Both need to be tried on so I'm tentatively watching ASOS as no sizes are sold out yet, and I might try to find out the release date of the H&M cape, or at least keep tabs on the store!
I've actually got to zero on my google reader for the first time since April (woooohooooooooo!!!) so I'm getting on with the rest of the Internship Guide and also have someone for you to soon meet! Have you got any premature Autumn buys in mind?
