sallyinstpaul
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read

Styling Bronzed and Browned Summer-to-Fall Outfits With the Thrifty Six

I have recently been welcomed into a wonderful group of fashion and lifestyle bloggers that focuses on styling preloved clothing and accessories in themed monthly posts (third Monday of the month). I hope that this showcase of secondhand items and outfits provides some shopping and style inspiration for anyone who is interested in creating great looks in a way that is sustainable for our planet and our pocketbooks.

Today's topic is Bronzed and Browned, which feels just right for the month of September. Some people are returning from their late summer vacations on sunny beaches with bronzed skin (note: I am not one of them), and the grass and trees are just starting to inch their way toward the browner shades of fall.

I knew I wanted to created my Bronzed & Browned outfit around this thrifted Target skirt that has a wonderful array of rich autumnal tones, such as dark orange, warm bronze-brown, and deep teal. This skirt truly comes into its own when true fall weather arrives, but I love that I can style it on a warm late summer day to add some autumnal vibes in a temperature-appropriate way. My brown leather Born flats are my favorite shoes to pair with this skirt.

I added a simple dark brown short-sleeved T to further the brown theme and a thrifted open weave lace shirt-jacket in ivory to lighten up the outfit's color balance for a still-summer feel. This combination of top, skirt, jacket, and shoes is another Favorite Foursome in my closet!

I have an all-DIY layered necklace in shades of dark peach, beige, rust, and warm brown. The shortest and longest necklaces are a recent layered necklace project that I call Rusty Peaches, made primarily from beads in the Peach Sorbet Bargain Bead Box but supplemented with beads from Curated Bead Box and my stash. The short necklace is primarily a stone piece with peach quartz and rust agate beads. The long beaded chain necklace has a good amount of frosted crackle glass and wood beads with a ceramic pendant from Fire Mountain Gems; I've had that pendant (and its twin in a 2-pack) for a couple years with no idea how'd I ever use it, but then this necklace came together. The middle necklace is a bead soup necklace in shades of warm brown with antique bronze seed bead spacers strung on Chinese knotting cord with a button closure.

My daily bracelet stack is based on a paper bead bracelet set I made to coordinate with a print cardigan that has a lot of mint, teal, and rust colors. I picked up on the rust color and added some more brown in my choice of accompanying bracelets, including carnelian with a silver rabbit charm (a gift from my husband) and DIY bracelets in dark orange, brown and cream, mixed metal spacers, and striped warm brown beads.

I don't have any photos of the dark teal and rust tube-shaped paper beads, but the lower mint and orange-bronze-brown bicone paper bead bracelet started out as a full-page image of a birdwatching woman in a birding magazine. I sporadically added orange marker to the edges of the strips to bring the colors closer to my desired palette.

My earrings are bead soup dangles that I made from two not-quite-matching pairs of shaped beads: gold-drizzled brown stars (on top) and brown butterflies (dangling below). I got these beads as part of the random assortment in the Boss's Bead Bag from Fire Mountain Gems. Even though neither the stars nor the butterflies were in the same shade of brown, when I put the four beads together, I had a lovely array of toasty tones from a lighter caramel to a dark brown. I think I like the mix-of-brown earrings better than I would have if they'd matched perfectly. To me there is something very pleasing about the look of mixed and blended shades of brown in an outfit or a single item. It helps that these browns are all on the warm side rather than some of them veering toward the taupe/grey side of the line.

The Bronzed & Browned theme is also perfect for looking at some rabbits since these are colors that some bunnies love to wear year-round in their fur. These two bunnies show how stylish a mix of brown tones can look. The lop rabbit in the back of this photo has a beautiful variegated coat in shades of soft orange-tan to a cool dark brown. The satin rabbit in the front has coppery reds shading into a rich black-brown. These rabbits are demonstrating the gorgeous multi-colored "agouti" coat pattern that is created when each individual hair has bands of alternating dark and light colors. This is also known as the "wild-type" pattern because wild rabbits often have this coloration.

Now let's review the Bronzed & Browned outfits that my thrifty friends have styled...

The Thrifty Six:

Emma of Style Splash

"I love retro brown and orange floral prints so this vintage dress is one of my favourite thrifted finds. I bought it on eBay a couple of years ago, and have added a belt that I bought in a charity shop. The dress has a button missing on one cuff which the previous owner replaced with a brooch. I think this is a charming touch and adds to its uniqueness!"

Jane of Preloved-Vintage-Handmade

"September’s T6 theme is ‘Bronzed & Browned’ - perfect for this original 1970’s dress with all the tones of Autumn. Sadly it’s been devoured by moths leaving it covered in holes, some small, some not so small. It was heading for the trash with its previous owner so I stepped in to save it and restore its former glory!

It was super, super long so, out of necessity, I removed four inches from the hem. Once cut away, I used the fabric to pattern match and patch the holes. Placing it inside the dress, under the damaged areas, I was able to invisibly mend all the holes from the top. I was meticulous, even using different coloured thread to conceal my tiny stitches…

…so now I challenge everyone to spot any evidence of the tragic moth damage!"

Jodie of Jodie's Touch of Style

"I found that all 3 of my crew has different shades of brown pants so we came up with ideas on how to style them.

These rust brown joggers were thrifted just this year, but everything else has been preloved in my closet for a while.

I almost think the proportions aren't fabulous with this top and joggers, but you can't win them all."

Nancy of Nancy's Fashion Style

"There is a lovely story about this dress, which is one of the archives as I just got back from holiday and didn't have time to shoot new photos. The photo doesn't do justice to the glorious colours of this one. Gold, caramel, cognac, all bronzed and browned hues on a beautiful shiny fabric, not polyester! I was so, so very much in love with this dress. I felt like a princess in it! When I bought it the second time the magic was gone......"

Shelbee of Shelbee on the Edge

"I went back into the big box of beautiful that Daenel sent to me for this preloved bronze and copper colored Kantha Bae silk tunic. I added an old thrifted LuLaRoe (remember them?!) lace duster vest in tan and my thrifted two-tone brown and tan cowgirl boots. I made my tan tassel earrings from broken bracelets and earring hooks. Dark brown leggings, a rusty colored hat, and a funky rag necklace complete my very Bronzed and Browned outfit."

Next month's topic is Animal Print, Not Leopard...which offers up so many possibilities!

In the meantime, visit these lovely bloggers for the details of their thrifted Bronzed & Browned outfits and more style inspiration:

Do you sport a summer tan in September? When do you start gravitating toward fall colors and styles (if at all)? Do you like to wear brown clothing/accessories? How about bronze jewelry?

Blogs I link up with are listed here.

Styling Bronzed and Browned Summer-to-Fall Outfits With the Thrifty Six

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