Leather
Whether it’s on my shoes or my bag or my belt, I love adding touches of leather to my clothing in autumn. I usually go with faux leather rather than genuine leather for my own outfits. Leather isn’t just for autumn, of course. This is just when it works best with my wardrobe and my needs.
Plaid
Plaid (or tartan, if you prefer) prints and wovens can make a stylistic nod to schoolgirl uniforms or to the coziness of plaid flannel. It’s classic, goes with a wide variety of styles, and it comes in almost any color you could want.
Heavy Knits
This tends a little more toward mori kei than most of my lists, but I’m a huge fan of heavy knits, especially cable knit sweaters. While they might not always be perfect for the vintage or lolita aesthetics I tend toward, heavy knits are an essential autumn item for me. I love cable knit cardigans paired with plaid skirts. I love cable knit tights as part of a monochrome outfit that layers texture upon texture (whether that’s in mori girl or another style entirely).
Heavy knits are just so darn cozy. To me, they’re the uniform for sipping apple cider and reading a book on a gray day in October.
Corduroy
And another type of fabric that isn’t necessarily in my usual vein: corduroy. Corduroy pants are a pretty common autumn wardrobe choice hereabouts, and corduroy makes for really cozy clothing. It doesn’t pill or look too informal like flannel, but it still gives just the right amount of warmth.
I’ve got a couple of corduroy pencil skirts, myself, and I’ve been considering adding a corduroy JSK.
“Autumn” Colors
This one might seem like a no brainer given the name, but an autumn color palette is pretty essential to the way I go about dressing in the fall. I wear a lot more brown and ivory, add in touches of forest green and burgundy, and dust off my burnt orange. I pull out the quintessential autumn color palette from back when “doing your colors” was a thing that people did.
And “doing my colors” is probably part of the reason why I love clothing in autumn so much: it’s the color palette that looks best on me.
Do you have any autumn essentials that I haven’t mentioned? I’d love to hear about them.
I like all of items on your list for autumn, but maybe leather would not be on my list because I wear it in my shoes and bags all year round.
ReplyDeleteIn addition, my list would contain velvet dresses and items with artificial fur (like removable fur trims for a coat) and wool (mostly I am thinking of wool coats and skirts). And maybe orange pumpinks as a motive ;)
Unfortunately, I do not own items for each entry from your list (e.g. I do not have a cable knit sweater), but I would love to!
And not an item for an autumn outfit, but I usually start buying winter-themed chocolate when autum arrives. My favorite is this one, with cinnamon and coriander: http://www.amazon.de/Lindt-Weihnachtschocolade-Schokolade-einem-Koriander/dp/B0039NBHIO (Sorry, I did not find an English product page.)
By the way, I am an autumn type in the "doing my colors" thing as well. ^_^
In Germany, it was labelled with "color me beautiful" or "style counseling".
I try to wear autumn colors all year, but it is really difficult to find them in the shops...
Chocolate with cinnamon and coriander sounds delightful! I might have to try hunting some down (or find some way to make it myself)
DeleteI would be more than happy to send some German chocolate and christmas cookies to you, if you would be willing to pay the items costs and shipping.
Delete(Just in case that you cannot find or make it yourself ;)
Would you really? That sounds delightful and I am always ready to try new things. :D
Delete(And, as for finding or making it, I've found nothing and the closest I've seen to making was a chocolate tart which, while delicious sounding, isn't quite what I was looking for).
I will go and buy Christmas chocolate and cookies for me anyway. It would be no problem to buy some more and send it to you. ;))
DeleteOne of my favorite chocolate manufacturers is the Swiss company Lindt. They carry chcolate bars with milk chocolate and dark chocolate and offer "pure chocolate" (no filling) and fillings with almond cream, fruits, berries, spices and even chili. They also carry chocolate truffles and boxed chocolate, but I find them too expensive.
They have an US website, so you might be able to buy Lindt chocolate bars in your own country...?
http://www.lindtusa.com/shop/bars-12053--1
In Germany, Lindt chocolate is available in super markets and department stores.
I did not find the Christmas chocolate from my previous comment on the Lindt website, but it is also not listed on the German Lindt website...
Germany has a lot of special Christmas cookies. Maybe you would like to try some of those? ;)
I list the German names because for me the German names are technical terms. Most translation cannot really cover the taste ;)
Elisen-Lebkuchen
cookie with traditionasl dough with spices and nuts. A special version with no flour, only nuts ius available. Could be without coating or coveredwith sugar frosting or chocolate. I buy mine from this bakery, but cheaper ones (but less tasty ;) are available at supermarkets
http://www.lebkuchen-schmidt.com/Elisen-Lebkuchen/
Zimtsterne (cinnamon stars)
The top usd sugar frosting.
http://www.bahlsen.de/de/produkte/zimtsterne-unser-star-146
Speculatius
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speculoos
Domino-Steine
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominostein
Lebkuchen-Herzen (gingerbread hearts)
The hearts are filled with apricot jam and come in milk chocolate and dark chocolate
http://www.discounter-preisvergleich.de/Lebkuchen-Herzen-ALDI-Sued-1454.html
Stollen
It is a fruit cake, optionally with marcipan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stollen
Plätzchen
several small cookies, often weith regional names and recipies, like shown in the image on https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weihnachtsgeb%C3%A4ck
Schoko-Nikolaus or Schoko-Weihnachtsmann
They come in milk chocolate and dark chocolate, in different sizes and in the shape of a man (St Nicolaus or Santa Claus or bishop) or recently, as a teddy bear ;) The inside is hollow.
Adventskalender
Not a Chrtistmas cookie. It is a calendar. From Dec 1 to 24, you can open one door each day. The door usually contains chocolate. There are calendars for people without the "sweet tooth": the doors hide tea bags or nice Christmas-y images or quotations from famous people.
http://www.adventskalender.net/adventskalender-onlineshop/schokoladen-adventskalender
Are any of these cookies known and available in the US...?
Is there traditional food that is eaten in winter / before Christmas?
(to be continued)
(part 2, due to size limitations for comments)
DeleteJust to give you an idea of pricing:
Most of them would cost between 2 and 4 euros per package when bought from a supermarket. I buy the Elisen-Lebkuchen from a traditional bakery, originally located in Nuremberg. I think 5 (big) disks cost about 6 to 8 euros.
I could ship a box with dimensions up to 45 cm x 30 cm x 15 cm and weight up to 1 kg for 7 euros, as letter, no tracking, no insurance.
In case that you are overwhelmed by all the possible options, I could buy what I would buy for myself, and send you a part of the cookies as a sample, for tasting, in sealed plastic bags. You could order a second package of your favorite items after the tasting.
For this approach, I would ask you to send me a
- a list of like / dislikes / allergies,
- if you would like a minimum of servings, e.g. at least 4 servings because you are planning to share the food with lolita friends or family
- what items you would like and/or how much money you want to spend overall
I will be on vacation from mid of October to beginning of November, so I would plan to send you a package at beginning of October. ;)
Communications might be easier over email, so pleae feel free to send me your email address over livejournal or add me in the Line chat app. I am looking forward to hearing from you!