OOTD: Fall Color...with Snow? Already?

I generally think of fall weather as arriving in St Paul, Minnesota on October 15. This is the point at which skirts with bare legs become a no-go and it's all about the pants (and later, skirts with tights). But this year, I think the autumn weather hit us about a week early, with high temps in the upper 40s F (8-9 C) by October 7. But because of our warm September (our low temps overnight not as chilly as usual), we are also a bit behind on seeing peak fall color. The leaves have definitely started changing, but there is still a lot of green out there.

Then last Friday (Oct. 14), I awoke to this view from my balcony!

Uh, yeah, our first snowfall occurred before we reached peak fall color! I have lived in the Twin Cities for about 10 years, and this is the first time I recall this happening. And it wasn't a mere slight dusting of snow either. We got about half an inch of snow overnight and in the early morning of October 14, setting a new snowfall record for the date (previous record set in 1909 with a trace of snow).

The bushes below those trees always redden up pretty early in the season, so we had this interesting red and white color combination.

Looking out over the Mississippi River, the trees on the bluff look almost lost in fog due to the snow cover. You can see we did have a bit of accumulation on the grass, though the hiking/biking trails (and the streets) were clear.

I absolutely love the look of this red tree flocked with snow standing with its yellow neighbors.

Some of the trees at the dog park had already started to drop their leaves, but there was still a nice arrangement of green, yellow, and red leaves dabbled with snow.

My pre-planned outfit of the day served me well for this early winter weather. This is my first long sleeves over long sleeves layering for the season: a long-sleeved T with a lightweight corduroy jacket over it. I have started wearing scarves more frequently lately, with this "looped around the back of the neck and left to drape" style popular for the period when a bit of warmth on the back of the neck is welcome but I don't generally need/want much coverage around the neck. (Though of course I can wrap it around the neck as needed! This is the #1 reason a scarf is better than a turtle neck.)

OOTD 10/14/22

Of course this draping scarf also allows me to pair necklaces and a scarf in the same outfit, which is a maximal accessorizing style that I like to wear. This top (which I usually wear as a pajama top but is a normal t-shirt) has a great range of Blue-Green colors from a very dark peacock blue (that looks almost navy/black) to a light mint. So it was an easy pairing with the peacock blue outer column of color and the bright teal/white ombré scarf for a nice mixture of shades. Of course I like that the ombré wash of the scarf brings in the white from the background of the top. I also enjoy the horizontal stripes of the T crossed with the vertical ombré "stripes" of the scarf.

I made this DIY paper pendant (tutorial) using a teal and black geometric print fleece top image from a clothing catalog (Lands End, I think). I like how the fleece texture really comes through on the pendant.

No OOTD is complete without its DIY bracelet stack! I have shown these three DIY paper bead bracelets before (bicone bead tutorial) (tube bead tutorial). This time I combined them with my black glass bead duo and a mixed metal spacer bracelet (all DIY).

I have a bit of a mixed metal theme going here with the multi-chain necklace, the spacer bead bracelet, and the alternating gold and silver on one black bracelet. It's not possible for me to emphasize strongly enough how useful it is to have a few mixed metal jewelry pieces! Not everyone likes the look of it, of course, but if you do, having a even a couple mixed metal pieces can really help bring cohesion to your look. In this case, I wanted to wear my black flats with the gold buckle and the paper pendant with the silver bail and chain, so I added three mixed metal pieces so that the mix seems intentional and connected rather than haphazard.

Now if you like a "haphazard" look or a more color-blocked-with-metals look, wear your various metals however they come! But I'm definitely on Team Cohesion so using mixed metal pieces to unify a look is a styling trick I rely on frequently. Otherwise, I can feel awkward about having disparate metals in an outfit and thus try to keep them all the same, or at least in the same family (silver/gunmetal or gold/brass, for example)...and that can be very limiting for me. (If you limit your metals in an outfit or your entire wardrobe based on preference, then that's great, but I like all of them.) The mixed metal bridge pieces give me the freedom to mix things up while still feeling put together. That may sound like a contradiction, but it makes sense in my head and works for my personal style!

Over the weekend, my husband Robot helped me with my closet switch...which involves shifting the sleeveless and short-sleeved tops and the summer vests to the high bar in my closet (reachable with stepstool) and bringing down the long-sleeved tops and fall/winter vests and jackets to the lower level. I can still get lighter tops from that high bar, but I do like bringing the heavier items down to the easily accessed lower level once true fall weather has arrived. Over the last couple weeks, I have also washed my summer cardigans and cropped pants for storage until warm weather comes around again next year. My pullover sweaters, fall/winter cardigans, and fall/winter pajamas are always accessible so I didn't need to do any seasonal wardrobe prep there.

How is the weather in your neck of the woods? Have you done any seasonal wardrobe switching yet? Do you like to wear mixed metals?

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