Édit No. 57: When It’s Too Warm for Autumn but You’re Done Dressing for Summer

A few of you have written to me recently with the same question in different forms: what do you wear when you no longer feel like buying summer clothes, but it is still too warm to really dress for autumn? I thought it was such a good question that I wanted to devote this week’s Édit to it.

I feel exactly the same. I have already been looking toward the autumn collections for a few weeks now, and perhaps it is simply knowing that August is the last real month of summer, but every year I begin to sense a change around this time. The light feels a little different. The mornings can be cooler. Here in Amsterdam, at least, we have already had several days that feel almost like September, with the occasional reminder that it is still very much summer.

And I think our wardrobes often begin to shift before the weather properly does. You may still need linen trousers, bare arms and lightweight dresses, but perhaps you no longer want to wear them quite as you did in July. You might be returning from holiday, going back to work, spending more time in the city again, or simply craving clothes that feel a little more polished and less like high summer.

The good news is that you probably do not need an entirely different wardrobe to get there. Much of what you have been wearing all summer can continue into late August and early September. The difficulty is knowing what still works, what is beginning to feel too summery, and which few pieces are enough to move everything forward without overbuying or dressing for weather that has not arrived yet.

So this week, I wanted to make that transition as simple and useful as possible for you: what to keep wearing, what to put away for now, what is worth bringing back, and the few changes that make the greatest difference. I have also put all of this into a 9-piece French transitional capsule and 5 outfit formulas for the return from holiday, the office, the city, or simply those warm days when you are ready to dress a little differently.