Fall, Where It
Actually Gets Cold
Last issue I made the case for fall in a warm climate — print instead of fabric weight, texture in the accessories, the cozy pieces worn as props. This one is for everybody who wrote back to tell me, politely, that it is thirty-eight degrees where they live.
Fair. A Northeast fall is a different assignment entirely. The coat stops being the thing you carry and becomes the thing you're seen in, every day, for five months. Knitwear has to actually work. And once you're covered from chin to ankle, the only things left doing any talking are what's at your throat, your ears, and in your hand.
So I went looking for all of it secondhand — and this is the part I'm genuinely excited about. There is a vintage patchwork suede coat in here for under three hundred dollars. There's a lambskin moto jacket for a hundred and four. The pieces with real character in this category are almost always vintage, and vintage is almost always a fraction of what new outerwear costs.
A hundred and four dollars for a lambskin moto jacket. This is why I never shop the mall in October.
Featured Finds
The coat is the whole outfit
In Florida a coat is a formality you shed at the door. Here it is the outfit — the only layer most people will ever see you in. That makes it the single highest-leverage thing in your closet, and the single worst thing to buy new.
Outerwear is where vintage wins outright. The cut, the hardware, the actual hides: a 1990s patchwork suede has a character no current-season coat is even attempting, and it costs less than a dinner out.
Express
Vintage patchwork suede coat with pony hair, 90s
Found on Poshmark
IRO
Jone lambskin moto biker jacket, burgundy
Found on Poshmark
Michael Kors
Jacket, brand new
Found on Poshmark
Valentino
Vintage 1980's alpaca plaid coat
The RealReal
Prices reflect individual listings at time of publication. Availability varies.
The layer you actually live in
Under the coat, the rules invert. Nobody sees this layer in public, which is precisely why it has to be good — it is what you wear for the fourteen hours a day you are indoors, and cheap knitwear makes a long winter longer.
Buy the fibre, not the label. A fifty-one dollar ombré turtleneck is the best value in this entire issue.
Tanya Taylor
Bella ombré turtleneck sweater, green
Found on Poshmark
Éterne
Striped lounge pants, white and grey
Found on Poshmark
Christian Dior
Vintage short robe
Found on Poshmark
Prices reflect individual listings at time of publication. Availability varies.
Dresses that take a layer
A dress does not stop working in October; it just stops working alone. The ones worth buying now are the ones that take a turtleneck underneath or a leather jacket over without looking like a compromise — long sleeves, real print, enough fabric to sit over a boot.
Hemant & Nandita
Brown and cream patterned maxi dress with tie waist
Found on Poshmark
Retrofête
Mini dress
Found on Poshmark
Prices reflect individual listings at time of publication. Availability varies.
Covered up is jewellery weather
This is the part of cold-weather dressing nobody warns you about: once the coat goes on, your outfit is a rectangle. The only things still visible are at your throat, your ears, and in your hand — so that is where the whole personality of the look has to live.
Which makes autumn the best possible time to buy vintage jewellery secondhand. These are pieces that were made to be noticed from across a room, and the resale market treats them like accessories rather than the statements they are.
Fendi
Bag Bugs monster eyes crystal FF necklace, with box
Found on Poshmark
Chanel
Vintage 31 Cambon Paris medallion CC pendant necklace
The RealReal
Fendi
Crystal and fur Spilla Monster brooch pin
The RealReal
14k Gold
Diamond and enamel evil eye pendant necklace
The RealReal
Prices reflect individual listings at time of publication. Availability varies.
Still available from last issue
I re-checked every piece from Issue 005 before publishing this one. These were still live — a couple have moved on price, and three that ran as “link coming shortly” finally have their listings.
What five months of real cold teaches you about buying secondhand — and where the money actually goes.
It is the only layer most people will ever see, and you will wear it every day from October to March. Per-wear, outerwear is the cheapest thing in your closet and the last place to economise.
Character in outerwear is almost entirely a vintage phenomenon — patchwork suede, real alpaca, hardware nobody specs any more. It also happens to be where the resale discounts are steepest.
Nobody sees your knitwear and you live in it for fourteen hours a day. That is exactly backwards from how most people shop it, and why a $51 ombré turtleneck beats a $300 one on the wrong yarn.
Once the coat is on, your outfit is a rectangle. Everything expressive has to happen at the throat, the ears and the hand — so this is the season to go looking for vintage pieces built to be seen from across a room.
Two of the best things on this list — a 1980s Valentino alpaca and a vintage Miu Miu lizard bag — sold while I was still writing the issue. Single-piece vintage has no restock. If it is right, it is right today.
So that is fall with an actual winter behind it: put the money in the coat, buy that coat vintage, judge the middle layer by fibre, and let the jewellery carry everything the coat covers up.
Two pieces here sold before this even published, which is the whole argument for shopping vintage the day you see it rather than the week you get around to it. Everything else was live when I hit send.
— Rachel
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