I know it’s painfully early to think about next season’s Autumn and Winter trends when we’ve barely got our heads around the forecast for Spring. But having just seen Fall designer collections at Fashion Week, it’s fresh in my mind.

Here’s a taste of what’s in store for us 6 months down the line.

• Booties, booties, booties and more booties: Still “the” footwear item to wear with skirts, dresses and tapered pants. I have four pairs of booties and I’m on the lookout for more.
• Leggings, leggings, leggings and more leggings: There is no end in sight.
• Strong shoulders: Lots of shoulder pads, voluminous shoulder treatments, ruffled shoulder details and extended shoulder lines. If you have dainty shoulders like I do, you’ll be all over this trend.
• Tuxedo jackets: This is on my shopping list right now. Fab with jeans and just as fab over formal attire.
• Red and Purple combinations: From the brightest tomato with lavender, to the deepest burgundies mixed with eggplant. I’ll be adding bright purple to my wardrobe and mixing it with tomato red right way.
• Blue: In all its forms, from pastels, azure and cobalt to the richest of ink.
• Black and white: Not quite sure what’s happening to tan and beige later this year, but black and white is still strong.
• Chartreuse: Yay! I adore this shade of green.
• Longer and roomier skirts: A welcome change to the abundance of pencil skirts. I’m still a pencil skirt gal at heart, but it’s time for A-line options.
• Sequins: They’re big every season, yet I see few people wearing the look. Wonder if this year will be different.
• Silver mixed with gold: Yup. It’s cool to mix metals.
• Tonal coloured tights: Tights in very muted sea greens, maroons and teal blues were all over the runway and worn in extremely monochromatic outfit combinations. I like coloured tights worn this way, especially when they match the colour of your booties or boots.

In some cases (e.g. booties) the trends are a repeat and you can scour the current sales to find items that fit the bill way in advance of the next Autumn and Winter season. You can also be an early fashion adopter by starting to wear some of the other trends right away (e.g. new colour combinations).

Trouser jeans are boot cut or wide-legged slacks made of lightweight stretchy denim. They are usually styled with wider waistbands, extended tab fronts, slanted or side entry front pockets and welted back pockets. It’s these details that make trouser jeans look more like trousers than jeans, especially when they’re in dark blue and black denim washes. No fading, fraying, contrast top stitching or any form of distressing — all design features that make an item look more casual.

Trouser jeans look exceptionally fab when matched with either conservative or creative dressy business separates. Note: it’s important that the separates are dressy. Match up trouser jeans with casual separates and you will look casual. For example, wear the bottoms you see below with a fitted knit top, silky blouse or button down shirt, blazer, a pair of heels, a few accessories, a smarter handbag and Bobs your Uncle. You’ll look professional, polished and pulled together in my book, even though you’re theoretically wearing denim, which isn’t part of the business casual dress code.

I often pop my clients into elegant trouser jeans for biz casual because they look and feel more hip than when they wear a pair of slacks. To this day no one has even noticed that they’re actually wearing denim to work because the ensemble looks business-like. And it’s quite fun to bend the rules.

As a fashion stylist, I can dress up a pair of dark wash trouser jeans for biz casual and look totally appropriate. Do you think you’d get away with it too? Or are trouser jeans still too casual for your work place. Let’s hear it.

I’ve noticed that my heels slip inside some of my ankle boots and knee-high boots as I walk. More specifically, my heel lifts away from the foot bed as I step onto the balls of my feet. If the shoes were ballet flats, this foot action would probably cause them to slip off my feet. But since my foot is enclosed, the boots stay put.

Strangely, I really like the fact that my heels slip as I stride in my roomier cowboy and slouch boots. I find the walking motion very comfortable because there’s excess room around my entire foot when this happens.  But, I also enjoy the comfort of a snug fit if the boots are soft. This is the case for my Dr. Martens.

It seems that I’m not the only one whose heels slip in boots. Roomier boot styles this Winter season have caused lots of heel slippage talk with my clients. Some enjoy the walking motion as I do, whereas others prefer their heels to stay flush against the footbed.

Do your heels slip inside boots too? If so, do you find this foot motion comfortable or uncomfortable?

I’m already having apoplexies about cropped pant styles this season. Where are all the leg lengthening knee-length walk shorts and clamdiggers? At the moment, it’s all about short shorts and longer length cropped pants that finish a few inches above the ankle. Short shorts are adorable if you’re young and have a fab set of gams, but cropped pants are tricky to say the least – even on a skinny, leggy supermodel.

Cropped pants that end below the calf and above the ankle are okay if they’re super tapered AND you add leg lengthening high heels into the mix. This visually raises the length of the hem which is ultimately more flattering. But when cropped pants are not tapered and you wear them with flats, it’s leg shortening suicide.

My immediate plea is to say stay away from this season’s new cropped pant styles if they don’t taper at the hems and you can’t wear them with three to four inch heels. Alternatively, have them hemmed to a shorter length.

I have to admit that I am hyper sensitive to the lengths of pants and what they do to your long lean line. So if you don’t see the extreme leg shortening and unflattering effects of these styles the same way I do, you’ll have a field day with cropped pants this season.