It is so stressful to dress for this in between (Fallish) weather, as autumn in New York, can be a bit tricky. It is usually chilly during early morning runs, then catches up to much warmer climates at lunchtime and then those tall temps drop dramatically again when the sun sets. I do get around during the day, so I have extra insurance in the car that I won’t ever be stuck for a quick change when necessary. My SUV is an arsenal of ready to wear, back up plan after back up plan – there are outerwear options carefully piled, sometimes held over from season to season, just sitting there, waiting to come in from the cold. It’s true that when I get the car washed there is an immediate cry of “don’t open the back door!,” lest an eager car washer disturbs my neat bundle. This girl scout is always prepared, for whatever ‘just comes up’ or when any particular day is just a little extra brisk, mean, frosty, windy – or the worst, very cold. So, wraps and vests and turtlenecks and sheps and anoraks and capes are the pile du jour that I am usually ruffling through these days and nights. And that is because, I am always cold.

Wherever I am, the temperature will always disappoint. Especially at this time of the year – when there is a ‘a chill in the air’ – it seems unfair, (for the cold blooded set) and downright unacceptable for any air conditioners to run, hum or churn the already cold air – especially if I have to be in a frigid space, in their company. I have been known to turn the heat on in the car in August, and I keep two deluxe model compact heaters at the corners of my already heated (or so they say) office, just for back up. Green office buildings, and the pretty space that is my office, are always set on very ‘hot for the cool temp’ mode, and no one seems to ever be bothered by it – in fact, when I see an open window, and there is clearly no one smoking, it sends me in a panic.. And the worst part of my disregard for chilly spaces is that everyone around me seems completely comfortable. Some may think it rude to watch the sour puss that comes over me when I accidentally leave my arsenal of covered layers behind, but it never lasts for long as a gentleman’s jacket is usually nearby, and then all is well with the world – or the restaurant, or the theater, or just about anywhere during this crossover. The irony of the ‘woe is me, and the cold’ saga, (and it gets old, I’ve been told) is that I love to ski and I run every single day, so the volume of complaining when I start out to do what I start to do, is bumped up a notch when I am doing it and it lasts and lasts, until a Dunkin Donuts or a Starbucks is in sight or in my near future.

So, transitioning for Fall, in particular can be tough as I have already worn out a lot of stuff (what other people probably had stored away months ago.) It ran like this, I occasionally wore some Fall during Summer, so now I have fallen behind, like I usually do, and now need to up my game, (along with the thermometor) and figure out a way to look “cool” again.

There was a cute read recently in The New York Times regarding the differences in how men and women feel the cold. It was a bit campy, not terribly informative, but touched upon an all familiar topic, one that many men may chuckle at, it seems that women are – well – just…colder!

A preview of some S…Winterish styling, photographed in the most beautiful and the warmest brownstone in New York! (vest, sweater, skinny jeans, boots, crossbody bag  & pearls courtesy of J McLaughlin, J. Crew, Kate Spade, Diane von Furstenberg and One Kings Lane)

Photographs by  Viva Violeta Photography