THE TRANSITIONAL DRESS YOU NEED IN YOUR WARDROBE

Hi there, Megan here reporting from a v wet and miserable Manchester city centre.

Autumn is officially here, in Manchester at least. It’s been absolutely torrential for three days straight and it would seem that Manchester is very much living up to it’s reputation of being the rainiest city in the country… Excellent.

And with that I’m here to talk about transitional dressing. Can you believe we’re talking about this already? It seems only yesterday that we were prepping and talking all things spring-autumn transeasonal styling, but alas, it’s September, it’s LFW this weekend and we are well on our way to the colder months… Huzzah!

Whilst I feel we’ve had a pretty marvellous summer, by British standards anyway, I am rather excited for all things winter styling. There’s something about layering and wearing all of my favourite pieces at once that brings me such joy. I adore textures, I adore layers and AW brings both of them in their droves. So with that, yes, we have a rather summery post, pretty much the last of the season might I add, but I’m going to be talking about how you can style this little number up for Autumn/Winter to ensure maximum cost per wear, you ready!?

So this cheeky little number is a piece I picked up whilst at a personal shopping session at the Topshop Trafford Centre store, something I urge you all to do! It was so much fun having somebody else do the hardwork for me, in the nicest possible way of course. They selected pieces based on a few questions I answered prior to stopping by, along with checking out my Instagram beforehand and then I was off, styling up the items the Topshop shoppers had chosen for me… Easy peasy.

This dress was one of those pieces that if I'm honest, I wouldn’t have picked up had I been shopping for myself. This length of dress isn’t something I gravitate towards, I’m just 5ft 4 so a midi can sometimes be a little tricky to get right. However, as soon as I slipped into it, I knew it was love and I had a zillion and one styling ideas spring to mind, and not just for summer.

Here I’ve styled it in the most summery of fashions, with lace up espadrilles in sunshine yellow shades and a complimenting Gucci Marmont bag, you know, making the most of those summer hues and all that. It was the perfect piece to wear in the sunshine whilst on a recent trip to Tenerife, not to mention how perfect it was for shooting against this oh so fabulous strip of multicoloured houses. It’s lightweight, it hangs BEAUTIFULLY, comes in the most stunning of orange/red tones and features a badass slogan to the back panel… DREAMY ALERT!

However, as the dress features the must have shade of the season and also western accents with the white contrast piping throughout, a trend we saw all over the catwalks with the likes of House of Holland (heart eye emoji) it’s a no brainer for the season ahead too.

Think of it layered over the top of a contrasting grey, black or even a striped polo neck jumper in a fine knit… Gorgeous right!? Then for ultimate layer player points, how about throwing on a leather biker jacket over the top, finishing off with a pair of knee high boots in snake print and topping it off with a baker boy cap… HELLO dream autumnal get up! Don’t believe me? Then check out my YouTube video right here, as I style this look up for you all to see along with 4 other autumnal takes on my fave summer items.

So, if you’re heading off for any last minute sunshine (lucky you) or perhaps you have some winter sun up your sleeve (double lucky you) then I would highly suggest picking up this dress or some of a similar ilk, I’ve listed some of my faves below for you, those dresses that are perfect for a summer holiday but dresses that can be easily sassed up for autumn thanks to some rather special yet rather easy styling tricks… You’re welcome.

And with that, I bid summer farewell.

It’s been a gooden but alas winter is coming, I mean today Bob Dylan’s “Must be Santa” came on shuffle, and I didn’t even turn it off and v much enjoyed it, Christmas is coming kids (sorry)

x M

P.S if you're looking for some top places to get some winter sun, or a cheeky city break then read this lil article by FarFetch here, where myself and some of your fave bloggers are chatting all things travel and style, two of my most favourite of things.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY SOPHIE TRAYNOR