I will not part ways with my black leggings! They are such a classic staple, and let’s face it – hanging at home on a cloudy day requires something comfortable to wear. However, black is not part of the soft autumn palette. What’s an autumn softie to do? Here are some tweaks that take a not-so-soft autumn outfit to a very soft autumn level.
Here’s what I started with:
- Rust plaid shirt
- Charcoal t-shirt
- Understated jewelry
- Black leggings
- Black booties
The plaid shirt is definitely in our palette, but it’s not styled in a way that really accentuates the palette. It doesn’t look bad per se, it just doesn’t look great.
I swapped out the gray t-shirt with an orange (think faded terra cotta) t-shirt to bring the autumn colors up right next to my face. Then I swapped out the understated jewelry with some gold earrings and a necklace to add some warmth…again, right up next to my face.
Next, I swapped out the black booties with some brown chelsea boots (and brown socks). While any brown footwear would work, I chose the boots because the shaft goes a little further up the leg than a standard sneaker. This moves the “line” between the black and brown higher up the leg therefore minimizing the amount of black on the lower half of my body.
And finally, I decided to button up the shirt. This essentially did the same thing as adding the boots – it lowered the “line” between the shirt and the black leggings on the top half of my body. This maximized the soft autumn colors while minimizing the black.
Our finished product now features the soft autumn parts of the outfit and leaves the black as more of an accent. We can still wear black, but how we style it can make or break a soft autumn outfit. Give these tweaks a try!
