The fashion week frenzy that is September is now behind us, leaving an influx of runway-inspired items to revive wardrobes that are in dire need of autumn staples. The Battalion Life & Arts editor Katie Canales chose four fall pieces that are bound to provide a quick way to stay fresh and modern this season.
FUR COAT
Re-entering the market are glorious fur coats Cruella de Vil herself would envy. I’ve seen swaths of coats, made of both faux and genuine fur, varying in textures, hemlines and even dyes. The knee-length Jazz-Age high-collared-coat has made itself known, but also introducing itself to clothing lines is a shorter hemline, cut right below the pelvis and features less collar and more volume in the sleeves. With this cut, the fur coat can easily make its way into the modern woman’s closet — it can replace or substitute for the leather jacket, blazer or denim jacket. A perk of vintage-inspired items resurfacing on the runway is the ease in which you can find them in thrift stores and vintage stores — not to mention your grandmother’s closet. I scored mine for about $35, which isn’t bad. Tips on vintage fur coat hunting: look for the ones that have mink lining and no designer tags. Tagless articles usually imply an aged production date, or that it was custom-made. A downside of vintage fur coats, to all you animal rights activists: yes, real fur was used to make them. Oftentimes rabbit fur, to be exact.
SKINNY SCARF
A portion of my next paycheck is going towards this. I never thought the tacky, sparkly skinny scarves of the bygone eighth grade days would resurface, but alas, they have. And I’m glad for it, because this scarf’s next life is less Italian pop star and way more Stevie Nicks. Along with the 70s influenced collections strewn across New York and Paris runways and throughout fall catalogues came the staple items of the decade — the bell-bottoms, Penny Lane coats and the skinny scarves, wound once around the neck with the ends left hanging down the front. Another take on this can be from a modern and minimalist standpoint — think a blacked out palette with a dark skinny scarf against a mod black shift dress, complete with the inevitable black Chelsea Boot.
BERET
There is arguably nothing more timeless and fresh than horizontal Parisian stripes, a trend that has remained intact through the fall. With the everything-is-better-in-Paris theme that is partly dominating fashion magazines came another quintessential French article — the beret. Though it had been around way before, the beret’s first mass producers were Spain and France, the latter of which took the cake on adopting it as a cultural icon. Now that it’s resurfaced, what the beret is paired with can be the difference between whether an outfit is costume-like or chic. Like the skinny scarf, it’s never a bad decision to combine an old world style element with new world modernism. Boyfriend jeans and a leather jacket are all you need to make the beret work.
CHELSEA BOOT
The Chelsea Boot — also known as the boot you can wear with literally anything and still look killer — is traditionally identified by a pulley on the heel of the shoe that allows for easier pull-on and were originally used as a worker’s boot. Like many everyday items, someone had the brilliant idea to take it and revamp it for runway standards. There are quite a few variations of this — my favorite, I’d have to say, is the ultra-pointed toe faux leather, menswear boot, which is a little difficult to find at a reasonable price. But the most common Chelsea Boot adaptation can be seen in every catalog, store shop window, online store — the ankle bootie with a short chunky heel. The original Chelsea Boot has a very distinct, androgynous look, which isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. The ankle bootie allows for the fusion of the traditional Chelsea Boot identity and a feminine touch.
