Do you buy for a season / year ahead?

Bijou

Living in Australia, we are experiencing our summer and the really hot weather has only just started. For the next 3 to 4 months, it will be warm to hot weather and yet here I am placing a Boden order - with a view to buying a few nice sweaters for winter 2019.

I am happy with my choices and also very happy at the prices (being bought on discount), but I have reservations about buying so far ahead. I have yet to seriously think about my fashion goals for 2019 and what colours or style direction I want to take. I am hard on sweaters - they wear out pretty quickly, so a refresh is in order, but, I do wonder if any of these will once winter 2019 comes around just no longer feel right for me. Whilst I often buy early in the season, this is definitely far more early than usual for me.

Do you buy ahead of the season, and has it worked out for you?

I have often thought that NAS is early, well before winter, so that may have a similar impact for those of you in the US and Canada.

Finds are my winter 2019 sweater refreshes:
1 to 3 - Boden sweaters ordered today
4 - My Christmas fair isle sweater (with westies, so likely to be a favourite)
5 - a sweater that I bought at the end of the Australian winter and then decided to save as new for winter 2019 - so this is my new chunky sweater to be worn with skinny jeans.

Boden

Muriel Sweater

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Boden

Cashmere Crew Sweater

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Boden

Cashmere Crew Sweater

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6 years ago

Shopping

50 replies

Latest reply was from unfrumped

Janet

(website)

Veteran

Yes, I do during NAS, and in looking at my purchases from 2018, I’d say my pre-season purchases are often not my wisest. I’ve returned a couple of NAS items and may return one more that still has tags on. (I’m sure Nordstrom doesn’t love that, but it takes me until the actual wearing season to work out whether something is going to be useful to me or not.)

I’ll be much more careful in my pre-season shopping moving forward. Our seasons here are too extreme and our transitional seasons too short.

6 years ago

Anonymous

The sweaters you have chosen are beautiful and classic. It makes sense that you would love them as much in the upcoming season as you do today.

However, like Janet, I can't say that I personally have had much luck buying pre-season. My pre-season purchases are almost always NAS purchases. I get so excited that I buy impulsively with no regard to a wardrobe plan. It is that lack of a wardrobe plan that trips me up. Perhaps if you were to sit down and develop a solid wardrobe plan, you would circumvent that problem?

6 years ago

Joy

Veteran

I have replaced basics like long-sleeved knits in basic neutrals to wear as an under layer and that has worked, but if I get a wild card, it can turn out to be a mistake. Exceptions have been holiday pieces...a red sequinned cotton sweater with matching scarf, jewelry. The weather factor can complicate things. Right now I am reaching for wool trying to keep warm, so am likely to buy too much that is heavy and warm. I would be most interested in fall items that could be worn in spring or now with extra layers.

6 years ago

Stagiaire Fash

Veteran

How much does your wardrobe plan/style change from year to year? I haven't followed you long enough to know, but it seems to me that they are fairly stable, and you have no problem pulling out, say, a puffer cape bought a few years ago to go with more recent purchases. I think Bijou style is stronger than trendy style, so you can pick what will work for you, no matter the season.

ETA, several of my favorite things this winter were purchased in advance--my red puffer, metallic ankle boots, pink cardigan, white jeans, pink jeans, black/tan striped shirt, and quite possibly a couple of other things I'm forgetting were purchased because the quality and price were right, and they were so "me". (Except for the jeans--I knew I'd need warmer summer clothes in Berlin, so I listened to Angie and the forum and got some skinnies).

6 years ago

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

YES, at the NAS. And I usually love my NAS stuff.

Apart from the NAS, I am careful not to purchase too far into "off-season".

Snap, I have the Boden stripe and neon pullovers, and love them.

6 years ago

Jenn

(website)

Veteran

I think I’m better off limiting my off-season buying to staples like jeans. I don’t like the feeling of things hanging unworn in my closet for months and I lose some of the excitement of integrating something new when I can’t wear it right away. This is a personality thing, though, and it’s taken me a while to learn it about myself.

6 years ago

Kathie

Veteran

I'd buy items that are either staple colors (for example, in my wardrobe, merino turtlenecks in black and navy) or a classic cut. Your Boden cashmere crew necks seem quite classic, and like you'd wear them next season.. With NAS, I try to focus on the items that are part of a larger plan (fill a hole, replacement items) and limit the wild cards. That said, Nordstrom's makes it easy to return items that don't work. So, if by mid-October, I haven't cut the tags on NAS items I take them back. I learned this the hard way, with a pink jacket that was a wild card.

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