I had no intention of participating in the NAS this year. Frankly, I was overwhelmed by all the stuff (and all MY stuff), and with summer having *just* arrived in Toronto, I was finally enjoying wearing my summer wardrobe and didn't even want to think about Fall.

But then I started seeing all the chatter on the forum...

I still stayed away from NAS - I didn't need anything for Fall! Plus there was too much stuff, the stuff I was drawn to sold out, and it seemed like a lot of trouble for Canadians.

Then I went into Winners to return a pair of shoes for my daughter...and saw the most beautiful olive blazer from Theory and a sumptuous Italian leather handbag.

I knew I needed a warm coloured handbag, and I had been hoping to add olive to my closet. But I wondered if I needed anything else for Fall...after all, I hadn't looked at my Fall wardrobe, so I didn't know if I had any holes. 

So I opened up my Stylebook app and browsed the outfits I'd been wearing the previous Fall/Winter,,,and I couldn't believe it. I thought I had been wearing all these crisp, well fitting outfits - but that had really been only around May/June. All winter long I had basically been wearing joggers or the same 2 pair of skinny jeans (and I am so OVER joggers and most of my skinny jeans right now.) Somehow none of the outfits from last Fall felt 'right' to me anymore. And i remembered how sick I had been of black and grey by the end of the winter.

The blazer and the bag felt right. Right colour scheme, right look and style I wanted to project. And I realized that I actually did need a wardrobe refresh for Fall - that I was getting by with far too many things I didn't love anymore, and that my heart was calling me in a new direction.

I went home and in ten minutes, I had given away 17 sweaters I had been holding onto for far too long (the is in addition to probably another 50 items I gave away earlier this summer.) I decided that I want to move in a slightly new direction - still neutral heavy, but filled with rich, warm neutrals, continuing with sumptuous fabric and clean lines. I came up with a palette that has been calling to me for the past 18 months or so:  adding rust, olive, navy and camel to complement the ivory, grey, blush and black in my wardrobe. I was drawn to those colours last Fall but only added one scarf, so now is the time.

My main outfit formula will be well fitting straight leg full length pants + silk top/crew neck sweater + blazer.

Given this, I realized that I needed:
- more pants. while I had gotten some great-fitting quality pants through thrifting, they were all black - I needed quality pants in other colours (the one non-black pair of pants I bought last year, I wore every week - which showed me this formula worked.)

- more thin crew neck sweaters and tops with luxe design details to layer under blazers.

- maybe a blazer in rust if I find the right one.

So I went back to Winners and got a great pair of grey straight leg pants that fit well from Reiss (a HEWI for me) and a pair of funky navy wool pants from Rag & Bone. And a beautiful rust silk shell from Theory.

And from Club Monaco, I got a beautiful slash-neck cashmere sweater and a fawn-coloured cashmere sweater with a subtle stitching detail that seem about right.

So - my conviction that I didn't need anything turned into a wardrobe overhaul and revamp. I'm an emotionally-driven ENFP so that's how I roll

But I *am* going to plan my Fall wardrobe out more - I realized that's why it's been hard to get dressed in the mornings and that even my best intended outfits feel haphazard to me. I'm going to build a capsule wardrobe out of my new colours using these new pieces and existing pieces to make getting dressed easier, and make me fee inspired again.

But first - a big try-on session. I'll be posting to YLF because I want brutal honestly. I don't want to donate a bunch of mediocre stuff to then go out and buy more mediocre stuff! I will do as Angie suggests and have an outfit creation session, and ask for thoughts here.

And I have created a Pinterest board of the style direction I want to go in, so i can keep myself true. Hopefully this level of thinking and planning will lead to a happy wardrobe in Fall pieces in pics below. And if you stuck with me so far - thank you!