Why We’re Not Ready to Dress Like Autumn Yet
September is a funny little month, isn’t it?
One minute you’re outside wondering why you bothered bringing a jacket. The next, you’re standing at the school gates wishing you’d brought three.
The shops, meanwhile, have apparently decided it’s November.
Brown. Burgundy. Camel. More brown. Possibly a tasteful oat.
And while we have absolutely nothing against a lovely autumnal colour palette, we’re not quite ready to pack away the colour just because the calendar has flipped over to September.
At Kit & Hop, we’re firmly in our wear-the-pink-skirt-with-a-jacket era.
The in-between season is actually the best bit
There’s something brilliant about dressing at this time of year because there aren’t really any rules.
A floaty maxi skirt with trainers and a chunky knit? Yes.
A colourful quilted jacket over your favourite jeans? Obviously.
A bright bag with an otherwise completely sensible outfit? Always.
It’s less about buying an entirely new wardrobe for autumn and more about adding the pieces that make what you already own feel exciting again.
And frankly, we think clothes should be exciting.
Dopamine dressing isn’t just for summer
Colour often gets treated like something we’re supposed to grow out of once summer ends.
We disagree.
If anything, the darker mornings and increasingly questionable weather are exactly when we need it most.
A flash of pink. A ridiculous print. A bag that makes someone stop you and ask where it’s from.
Those little things can completely change how an outfit feels.
You don’t have to dress head-to-toe in colour either. Some of our favourite outfits are incredibly simple: jeans, a white shirt or knit, boots, then one properly brilliant bag or jacket doing all the work.
Maximum impact. Minimum thinking required.
Which, when you’re simultaneously trying to find your keys, remember whether today is PE day and work out why everyone else in the house has suddenly forgotten how shoes work, is quite useful.
Buy things you actually want to wear
We’re becoming increasingly interested in the idea of wardrobes built around personality rather than trends.
The pieces you reach for again and again.
The jacket you throw over everything.
The bag that somehow works with far more outfits than something that colourful has any right to.
The skirt that makes you feel good every single time you put it on.
That’s also where Kit & Hop is heading.
More colour. More print. More personality. More pieces designed around actual lives, not just beautiful photographs.
We’re working towards creating more of our own prints and putting even more of the Kit & Hop world into the things we make. Things that feel recognisable, useful and just a little bit unexpected.
Because there are already plenty of sensible things in the world.
We’re quite happy making the fun ones.
So, what are we wearing this September?
Summer clothes, still.
Just with layers.
We’ll add quilted jackets, knits, boots and socks as the temperature drops, but the colourful skirts aren’t disappearing. Neither are the prints. And we certainly aren’t putting the bright bags away until spring.
Autumn can come.
It’s just going to have to be colourful.