Shopping the Summer Sales That Will Take You Stylishy Into Fall

Shopping the Summer Sales That Will Take You Stylishy Into Fall

By Maureen Mancini Amaturo

Carpe diem, ladies. August is the month of my favorite four-letter word, SALE.

Get your money’s worth from summer sale items by searching out pieces that you can wear into fall, pieces that have an afterlife. Don’t discount discounted summer dresses. Many work perfectly with a leather jacket and boots/booties for fall. Knowing what’s on the fashion horizon can guide clearance/sidewalk sale buys. As you bargain hunt, keep these things in mind for more mileage from great finds.

History repeats itself. When thinking about which fashion trends are over and which are new, it’s a matter of the cycle coming around again or a new way to wear what’s old. I mean, really, clothes have been around a long time. Scientists think that humans started wearing clothes about 170,000 years ago, maybe around the end of an ice age. (They waited until the end? Brr…) That’s a long time to be throwing hides and fabrics over a shoulder and cinching them at the waist. Trends are bound to repeat. Now that we’re clear that in fashion old is new and new can be old, let’s talk about morphing end-of-summer finds into new-for-fall.

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Fall/winter is spotlighting animal prints to replace bold stripes (on the way out.) Scan summer sales for anything leopard, cheetah, zebra, etc. Right, animal prints are not new. But keep an eye out for animal prints that bring a new interpretation to an old classic–like distortion in the print, unexpected colorations, combinations, and on unexpected items.

The kimono, robe-coat is on the way out, but not completely. All those printed dusters and cover-ups out there can layer for fall. But the real <new> in outerwear is glossy, shinier-the-better fabrics. Vinyls, patent-leather, even holographic shine trench coats, rain coats, and big-belted wrap coats in reflective finishes. If you find something on sale that fits the shine category, grab it.

Streetwear is shifting. Less athleisure. Don’t panic. It’s not totally out. But the new focus is on classics – tailored separates, fitted blazers, cardigans, tartan, and check patterns. While sale surfing, search for a cardigan, check or plaid blouses to repurpose with a blazer, denim jacket, or classic jeans.

There’s a shoe switcheroo coming. Flatforms — solid, very high sole with no incline, no heel, and look a bit like a brick — are stepping aside for pumps. Not that flatforms were new when they were “new” since David Bowie, bless his blazing fashion spirit, wore them in 1973. And pumps? New? Ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans wore elevated footwear, and pumps really became a thing in medieval fashion. But the new pumps are all about the sculpted, whimsical, figural heels, exciting colors, unusual silhouettes in the body of the shoe. There were plenty of whimsical pumps out there this summer that are on sale now.

Remember all those fun, see-through, plastic belts, handbags, and shoes that were so trendy? Metallics are replacing them for fall. Keep your eyes peeled for a metallic-thread summer sweater or blouse or summer-sale blouse in metallic silk that will work with a denim jacket or blazer for fall. BTW, metallics have a split personality. They can be impact pieces or act as neutrals. Finding a metallic belt or bag discounted now would be a real “steel”.