Warm Weather Fall Wardrobe Prep

This dress is the start of my “Warm Weather Fall Wardrobe”. Each year around October I try to buy a few pieces that are darker in color than what I normally wear. That means more green, grey, navy, burgundy and can all easily be layered. As much as I love color I don’t like seeing all of the pretty fall colors in stores and never being able to wear them even if it’s only for  2-3 month out of the year. Instead of being sad I can’t wear that super pretty carmel color wool coat or a super chunky knitted scarf, I try to buy lots of lightweight pieces in both light and dark colors that I can easily mix, match and layer.

A few weeks ago I purchased these burgundy solid and printed shorts from LOFT. Their great because I can still wear fall colors when its sweltering hot out with a a tank top and layer a light cardigan at night and then once it cools off more I can pair them with boots and thicker sweaters. Even as born and raised Florida girl, I stop wearing shorts for a good solid two months out of the year. There does get a time when it gets to chilly for me to be bare legged but I’m glad it doesn’t last very long! Beach weather will always be my fav!

Dress: Francesca’s (purchased in store, similar)

Vest: DIY – I cut off the sleeves from a jean jacket (similar from Madewell)

Necklace: Disney Cruise to the Bahamas yearrssss ago!

Shoes: Gap (similar from Soludos)

Hat: similar from J.Crew

Not quite sure what I’m doing with my mouth…I must be deep into thought getting my picture taken ha. 

What I love about this dress is that I totally made it a summer look even though I originally bought the dress with the intention of wearing it with these Ralph Lauren boots. Summer dresses just don’t look the same with tan leather booties. I played on the white tie dye and just added white accessories from there like the beaded necklace and white sandals. I plan on wearing this dress with booties and layering a lot with cropped sweaters and jackets. An easy way to still keep warm but wear a dress is to layer a flannel over the dress, add a utility jacket, booties and top it off with a scarf or hat. Here’s how I wrote it on my Instagram. Your legs might be a bit chilly but if the top half of my body is warm, I’m usually okay.

It’s harder for me to make emerald or burgundy jeggings translate into a summer wardrobe staple. It’s possible but I only prefer to wear those color sduring the months of Oct – March. That time span may even be stretching it. It may be more like Jan-Feb ahhah then they get stored away in my closet until next winter. I’m always so happy when I pull out my pants from the previous winter and they still fit. Doesn’t always work that way for me, especially if I tend to lift heaver during the summer months! Strong legs don’t tend to fit into tight skinnies!

The dress is so comfy though and long enough for me to twirl around in! It was on the Francesca’s site a few days ago but I guess everyone else thought it was the perfect dress for fall also because it sold out. If your not into the tie dye or want a solid olive green dress, Francesca’s does have a cute shift dress!