London Fashion Favorites

London Trend Report

Everything I brought home (it fit in one suitcase)

Ah London, the fashion capital that you are. The city was practically overflowing with stylish people. Plus don’t even get me started on the vintage stores and markets around every corner of the city. Between the window shopping, actual shopping, and people watching, I have come back to the states with quite the trend report for you today. So, let’s get right into this London-inspired take on what I want to wear this season. Here’s the list of fall trends I brought back with me, either in the form of purchases or in the form of inspiration. Because god knows my carryon (not to mention my wallet) doesn’t have the bandwidth to bring everything home.

The art of layering

One thing about those Londoners is that they know how to layer. Which is a hard skill to master, and as I’m sure you’re aware, the line between cozy and frumpy is practically invisible. And I don’t care who you are, NOBODY wants to look frumpy. Starting off strong with big long coats. Trench coats specifically. All the stylish girls and guys were wearing trench coats. It worked with smaller jackets or sweaters worn underneath, paired with with trousers, jeans, or a good skirt/dress.

You might be asking yourself…dresses and skirts in October? Yes, dresses and skirts in October. Thank you tights! It adds a level of coolness to any fall outfit, plus it keeps your legs warm. Especially if they’re thermal tights. I saw trench coats styled buttoned up and open, but every time, they were serving fall and they were serving posh (one of my new favorite British words). The devil on my shoulder kept whispering “no, you need that vintage Burberry trench.” Which, luckily for my savings, I had the willpower to ignore.

When cute gets cuter

It can get cold in London, especially when it starts pouring and you’re out with no umbrella. Not speaking from experience or anything. Okay fine, it happened to me like once or twice. Regardless, dressing warm while still looking cute is important. Enter: accessories. I ended up buying these colorful kelly green gloves. They’re so cute, which is a good thing because they’re not exactly practical…the finger part only goes up halfway and then stops. But hey, beauty is pain.

Scarves were all the rage. Little cutsie decorative scarves, big thick warm scarves, and everything in between. I loved the creativity in how they were worn. Something that I plan on trying out is to tie a scarf around my waist and layer under T-shirts and sweaters. Just adds a little fun pop to an otherwise predictable outfit. It was interesting seeing all the different ways to tie a scarf, either looped around the neck, tied in the front, ect. They were also worn wrapped around the head, which hello? Any way to cover up a bad hair day, sign me up.

Hat hair, no problem

Speaking of bad hair days, lets talk hats! I did cave in the hat department and purchase a newsboy hat. But imagine you’re me, strolling through Camden Market, you turn the corner and boom. A cute old British man in a newsboy hat. Selling newsboy hats. Hats as far as the eye can see. It was basically inevitable and I had zero choice in the matter. But I love her and have no regrets.

Along with the newsboy/brimmed hats, everyone was wearing berets. In bright colors and patterns, they are just so European and fancy looking. I tried really hard to look good in a beret and forced Kennedy to stop and watch me try on berets like once a day. But moral of the story, I just simply can’t pull it off. So I didn’t bring one home, but if you look good in a beret please wear one for me.

These boots are made for walkin'

In any big city, your choice of footwear can be a make or break experience. Repping 15,000 steps a day, I was very aware of the shoes on my feet. Even my most worn boots started to give me issues because we were just strutting around town all day everyday. So, naturally, in my blister-ridden state, I really paid attention to the local shoe game.

Before we get into practical, let’s talk fun shoes. So many girlies were wearing tall boots, and I loved them all, especially tall boots with a thin heel. I don’t own anything like that, but it’s so elegant and chic. I might just have to buy some in the near future. I noticed fun colorful sneakers, but also a surprising amount of practical and water-proof looking black boots. I took note, green with jealousy as my red flats got soaked through outside of Buckingham Palace.

It's not what you wear - well...maybe it is

My final observation for today starts with my fashion rule of thumb. If your outfit isn’t interesting by color, make it interesting by shape. If it’s not interesting by shape, make it interesting by material. I saw lots corduroy, suede, leather, and my personal favorite; fur trim. Jackets, tops, hats, dresses, all with fur trim. It was chic and just perfectly over the top.

And what an amazing observation to end on. Moral of the story: if it feels like too much, it’s probably not enough. Actually no I have one more; if you look good in a beret I 1) kind of hate you and 2) go buy one now. That’s all, talk to you later.

Xoxo, Soph 💋