As summer is coming to a close, I have become rather bored of my go-to bohemian looks. My June and July were filled with flowy dresses, off the shoulder tops, gladiator sandals and lots of embroidery. While I will always love this genre of style, I have been trying to experiment with more polished looks to transition to fall. I promise I’m not completely leaving my boho roots behind—but as the seasons change, so do my daily demands. Fall means back to school, which for myself and many students, means internship and job hunting. It is important for your clothes to reflect who you are, and where you want to go. As the saying goes, “dress for the job you want, not the job you have.”
To find inspiration for some more sophisticated looks that can transition from class to a career fair, I turned to the runway. There are so many incredibly artistic couture fashion lines to sift through, which I thoroughly enjoy, but what I favor most in a line when I look for personal inspiration is practicality. Could a regular woman (read: not a six foot tall model whose life revolves around wearing these over-the-top ensembles from runway to runway) wear this look in her everyday life? I call this the runway-to-real-life transition.
Derek Lam has mastered this necessity of mine with his pre-fall 2015 collection. This collection is filled with classic shapes, made modern with geometric patterns that give the collection some necessary graphic dimension to contrast its neutral color palette. Lam was inspired by classic American sportswear for this collection, with a subtle equestrian feel throughout from the camel tones to dark leather boots. This collection is polished enough to wear in a professional setting, yet could be worn casually as separates as well. This sort of versatility and functionality is exactly what I will be looking for as I build my fall wardrobe this year.
I used my inspiration from this collection to create a look that meets somewhere in between care-free summertime and the grind of back-to-school. To do so, I started with a black and white grid-patterned top, extremely similar to that of look one and two in Lim’s show. I paired this with a structured white envelope skirt to create the sleek, minimalistic look I will be going for all season long. I absolutely love the black and white trend that has dominated this spring and summer, so I kept this look monotone with a black and white pair of lug sole platform heels and a boxy white satchel.
Get My Look: 1. Tailored grid top. 2. Envelope skirt. 3. Lug sole platform heels.
