I have bad news. We've reached that point in the year where summer stops feeling infinite and starts feeling like it’s practically over.
The nights have been drawing in again for a MONTH. Time begins running away like sand between your fingers and instead of endless outfit possibilities, each day feels so precious that you worry you might have one long nap and wake up to find it's September and everyone's got a jumper on.
At this point, shopping for summery stuff starts to become reckless. Let’s be honest, your shortie playsuit days are numbered. How many times are you actually going to get to wear that backless sundress before you have to put a polo neck underneath it? Is the third ‘spare’ pair of espadrilles really a vital purchase, though? Compared to say, I dunno, shoes that aren’t made of sacking and straw?
And yet, the urge to shop persists. Because you are human, and you want to squeeze every last juicy drop out of summer before it shrivels and goes all mouldy in your metaphorical fruit bowl. You are Sandy and Danny, snogging on the beach. Except the beach is the Zara changing room, and your T-Bird is the ruffled gingham blouse that looked fugly back in May but which, after a couple of months stewing on it, you’ve suddenly decided you HAVE TO HAVE now.
I have a theory on why it makes sense to buy things before you actually like them but it’s too late for that just now. So instead, here's how avoid buying anything (much) else for the rest of the summer. You can do it.
Remember, summer fashion is fickle
I’m not sure why it works this way, but winter trends are so much more durable than their summer counterparts. You could pull out the stuff you wore in November 2015 in a few month’s time and find the main principles basically unchanged. But summer trends, like summer clothes, are flimsy and shortlived. They can bloom and die in a day, like desert flowers.
So buying trends at the end of the summer is almost always a mistake because the chances are, things that look hot and fresh right now will look embarrassingly retro by the time you pull them out of the back of the wardrobe next year. And if you still need convincing, tell me: how many times this summer have you worn last year’s blue cotton embroidered Bardot smock dress?
I thought as much.
Do a wardrobe inventory
It’s ok, you don’t have to get rid of anything, but get it all out and have a look. Pick up your floordrobe. Fish out the stuff down the back of the chest of drawers. Put everything that’s covered in sun cream stains, and ice cream drips in the wash, and give things a proper iron. Try everything on that you haven’t worn in a few weeks, with a 90s soundtrack to make it feel like a movie montage if that helps you.
Look, it’s that thing you bought back in April and forgot you had! And whaddya know, it’s some shoes from last summer that look perfect with it! And to finish it all off, the belt you told your flatmate you hadn’t borrowed in 2013.
Think about your actual holidays
I know, I get it – you still have a holiday coming, you must shop for your holiday bits! YOU NEED YOUR BITS, GODDAMNIT. But let’s take a minute to think about the real holiday you’re going on, instead of the fantasy Instagram photoshoot one in your head. The one where you pack so much you get charged because your suitcase won’t fit in the airline sizer thing, then spend the entire week wearing the same one baggy slip dress because everything else is too tight on your sunburn and it’s because fine, ‘my wet bikini washed it clean.’ Does that holiday genuinely need a hand-embroidered kaftan you found for £110 on Etsy?
Save your cash for sangria instead. Brexit happened, remember – it’s not cheap anymore.
If you must buy stuff, buy classic
I know, I know – ugh. Telling you to buy ‘classics’ is like telling you to always wear facial SPF or carry roasted almonds around as a healthy snack. But if there’s one time of year that you should summon up all your restraint to walk past the rail of strapless floral jumpsuits and towards the trench coats and well-cut trousers, it’s now.
If not shopping at all is too hard, try to kerb your craving for bright, frothy quick fixes by asking yourself the classic question: ‘will I wear this at least 30 times?’. That way, hopefully, you’ll end up buying the fashion equivalent of a slow-release complex carb.
NB. This doesn’t mean it has to be beige. But let’s be honest, it might be beige.
Or switch to vintage
If you can’t help scratching that shopping itch, go secondhand instead. Strolling round a lovely vintage market is going to be so much better for your zen levels than another sweaty steeplechase round the Topshop sale. Plus the clothes have the benefit of being a) sustainable, so less guilt-making if you don’t end up wearing them loads, b) less likely to look dated by next year because obviously they already ARE dated, and c) less likely to fit you perfectly, which means you’re d) less likely to buy them. Thanks for all the help, tiny-waisted women of the ‘50s!
Get excited about autumn clothes instead
Try to channel all that shopping energy into embracing next season’s stuff instead. I know it’s hard to imagine right now, with the bus sweat still evaporating off your neck, but soon there will be frosty mornings and bowls of crumble with custard. There will be long sleeves, warm shoulders and functional reasons to wear a scarf. Tights, guys. There will be tights.
And if the AW17 catwalks were anything to go by, there’ll also be heritage checks, crocodile, textured wool, berry reds, dreamy purples, sharp suiting and quilted duvet coats. And because fashion is seasonally confused, loads of it is in the shops already.
So you leave the swivel-eyed sales shoppers to wrestle over the last half-price pom-pom basket bag, and take yourself on over to the ‘new in’ section. It’s lovely and calm here, isn’t it? Oh, look! A jumper!
Liked this? You might also be interested in:
A First Person Guide To Radicalising Your Plus Size Wardrobe
Follow Lauren on Instagram @laurenbravo
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.