spending my whole life as a southern california resident, i don’t pay too much attention to outerwear. “cold weather” is truly a relative term and in recent years, the only time i’ve broken out my puffer jacket (my heaviest piece of outerwear, fyi) is when we’ve traveled to another part of the country (looking at you, chicago). but after seeing how pulled together some of my favorite bloggers looked when they added a light coat over an otherwise fairly simple outfit, i saw how transformative outerwear could be.

 

 

banana republic trench coat (similar) || madewell sweater, jeans & scarf

j.crew factory shoes (similar) || madewell bag (similar)

 

 

i bought this particular trench in santa barbara some three years ago when my mom and i were having a girls weekend away. it was one of those purchases i didn’t really need at the time, but i justified it with the fact that every girl needed a proper over coat, even the ones that live in temperate climates. i would be lying if i said it has gotten a lot of wear over the years but i blame that on the fact that it has needed to be taken to the tailor for a few minor tweaks ever since the day i bought it. the belt was always WAY too long and so the fact that it was ill-fitting always made me pass it up when i was thinking about putting together a chic outfit. but God bless my local tailor and his sewing sorcery. he scaled down the belt and added a loop for the leftover slack. a $5 fix and the jacket was ready to fulfill all of my fall fashion dreams -just in time to enjoy the perfect quintessential (san diego) fall weather which have been treated to the past few weeks.

 

 

for this look, i opted for a palette of neutrals -mixing tones of black, grey, and cognac. the scarf was the perfect way to tie everything together, i’m so glad i picked it up from madewell earlier in the season. fingers crossed these chillier temps are here to stay, i have a lot of lost time to make-up with this jacket!

 

shop the post:

 

3