It was fall in Chicago this past weekend. Real fall, the kind you can feel the minute you step out the door — that first breath of cool air that makes you stand up a little straighter and think, oh, there you are. I lived in that city in my early twenties, and one thing I’ll say for Chicago: she has never once been coy about the seasons. When it’s fall, it’s fall.
And oh, is she gorgeous in it. I forget every time, and then I’m standing on a corner with my neck craned back like a tourist. Architecture galore — this is Frank Lloyd Wright’s city, the place that invented the skyscraper and then kept perfecting it, Carl Sandburg’s big-shouldered town with the lake on one side and all that limestone and glass on the other. It’s also the setting of my novel, Hidden in the Frame. Yep. My protagonist, Reggie, grew up in Chicago, not far from my hotel on Pearson Street, and I’ll confess I walked those blocks this weekend half looking for her. That’s what happens when you live inside a book for a few years. The city starts to feel like it belongs to somebody you made up.
And then I flew home to Georgia, where it is still, stubbornly, unapologetically summer. I’m waiting for Georgia to catch up. Fall comes when it comes, and she has never once been in a hurry in this neck of the woods.
What I’m wearing (dressed for the fall I want, not the one I’ve got): my Ann Taylor Faux Leather Jacket (limited sizes left — this Leather Cropped Jacket is a good similar), a Short Sleeve Turtleneck (similar), Zoe Barrel Jeans (they run small — size up), Leopard Buckle Shoes, a Brown Satchel (similar), and Tortoise Shell Glasses (similar).
My travel outfit from the weekend and my Nordstrom Fall Savings Event picks are linked further down. Everything’s in Shop the Post at the bottom.
Fall isn’t the only thing I’m waiting on, as it happens. It’s been a season of it.
Key Takeaways
- You can dress for early fall while it’s still 85 degrees — white jeans, a turtleneck, and a leather jacket you carry until sundown. I’ve never believed in the Labor Day rule anyway.
- Seasonal turns are when we tally things: what changed since last fall, who’s here now who wasn’t, who isn’t.
- Some waiting comes with a date circled in red. Some doesn’t. Both of them turn out to be most of life.
Early fall outfits for women over 60 (when it’s still summer)
Here’s how I handle September in the South, and I’ve had a few of them now: I dress for the season I want and let the thermometer catch up whenever it feels like it. White jeans after Labor Day? Absolutely. A white barrel jean with a frayed hem is the single most useful pair of pants I own right now, and it’ll carry me straight through to Thanksgiving. A short-sleeve turtleneck instead of a tee, because it reads fall from the neck up and summer from the elbow down, which is exactly the compromise the weather is asking for. A faux leather jacket I put on for the photo and take off by ten in the morning. And leopard flats, because leopard is the first thing that says fall to me even when nothing else in the whole state does.
Jess shot this one on a rooftop in Atlanta, and I promise you it was hot up there. But here’s the thing about dressing for early fall in the South: you’re not waiting for the weather to give you permission. You pick the pieces that can take the heat — a lightweight turtleneck, white jeans, a jacket you’ll carry more than wear — and you let the leopard flats and the leather do the talking. It’s less a trick than a habit, and after ten years of Septembers down here, it’s one I’m happy to pass along.
Waiting on a baby
Granddaughter number three is scheduled to arrive at the end of September. She’s a little sister — my son and daughter-in-law’s second —, and there is a date on the calendar with a circle around it, which makes this a very particular kind of waiting. A due date is a guess. A scheduled date is a countdown. Every morning the number gets a little smaller, and I catch myself doing the math over coffee before I’ve even finished the first cup. Nine days. Eight. It’s a little like waiting for Christmas, except Christmas has never once had a name picked out.
I should tell you where I stand on all this. I’ve only been a BeBe for a little over a year. My oldest granddaughter is sixteen months old, so she has no opinion yet on becoming a big sister — though she has very firm opinions on raspberries, high chairs, and bathtime, and she’s not shy about sharing them — and I can tell you that being a grandmother is the best thing since sliced bread. I mean that. Nobody had to warn me; I knew I’d love the title and everything that came with it. What I didn’t know was how much. And now there’s a person I haven’t met yet who is already, somehow, mine.
Waiting in airports
Then there’s the kind of waiting nobody circles on a calendar. If you follow along on Instagram, you know I’ve been on the road a lot this year, and I’ll say it plainly: travel has been dicey. San Francisco in May, the flight home twelve hours delayed — I walked into my house in Athens at five in the morning. New York in July: flight canceled due to weather, but we were lucky enough to grab a direct flight home earlier in the day to avoid the thunderstorms. And then this weekend.
Friday was effortless, and I say that with some wonder given the year I’ve had. The plane left on time, the driver was waiting at the airport, and the only hitch was that my hotel room wasn’t ready yet. But it was lunchtime, so I cooled my jets in the restaurant with a glass of wine and my laptop and got a surprising amount of work done. If every delay came with a Sancerre, I’d complain a lot less.
Saturday was the good part. Two hours in the car to South Bend and two hours back, to see my Aunt Teri — my mom’s only remaining sister, 88 years old — and my Uncle Nelson. We had lunch, we gabbed about life, football was on the television, and fall was in the air. If you read Friday’s Weekend Notes you know I’d been looking forward to it, and it was every bit worth the miles. Some visits you don’t put off.
Sunday was the other part. My flight out of Chicago was canceled — raining, again — and I was rerouted through Detroit (ugh!) and walked in my door at 9:30 at night instead of 2:30 in the afternoon. So that’s three for six this year, if anyone’s counting. I’m counting.
I’ll say this for the day: I was very glad I’d dressed for it. A Cellini Cashmere Sweater, my On the Loose Pants, a Quilted Jacket for the plane, and a Tote that held everything. When a day gets a few more miles and a few more hours added to it than you signed up for, comfortable is the whole game. I’ve learned that one the hard way more than once this year, and I’d like to stop learning it now, please.
I even had a date Sunday evening. Rescheduled, naturally.
And since I’ve said that much: yes, I’m dating a little. I had a string of dates in the spring, then I got busy settling into the Atlanta apartment and let things go quiet. Last week I decided to hop back on one of the apps, had a lunch date Thursday that turned into a second date, and — who knows? That’s exactly where I am with it. Who knows. I’ve made my peace with those two words, and I’ll leave it there for now.
Waiting to decide
I’m supposed to be in LA again in October, and here’s the honest truth: I’m not sure I want to go. That is not a sentence I’ve said very often. I’ve spent my whole life traveling — ten years as an expat in Asia, three boys raised on airplanes, more passport stamps than I can count — and for the last decade, if the trip was there, I took it. That was the deal, that was the job, and most of the time it was the fun part. Suitcases don’t scare me. Layovers don’t scare me. Nothing about getting on a plane has ever given me a moment’s pause.
So it’s strange to notice that something has shifted. A year of gate areas and rebookings does something to a person. So does a baby arriving on the 30th. So does a sofa in a city where I’m finally, after all these months, starting to feel at home. The flight is booked. I’m still on the fence. I’m telling you that because I suspect some of you know exactly what this feels like — the moment when a thing you’ve always said yes to, without even thinking about it, gets weighed against a quieter life you’re only now getting to know.
One thing you don’t have to wait for
On a lighter note — because I’ve made you sit through a lot of waiting — the Nordstrom Fall Savings Event is on right now, 25% off select styles, and it ends Wednesday, September 23. I was supposed to pick up my order Sunday. You know how Sunday went. C’est la vie — I’m picking it up today instead, and here’s what’s in the bag: the Cloud Nine Blazer, the Academia Cropped Blazer, the Benny Slim Plaid Shirt, the Easy Does It Striped Tee, and the Level Up Sweater. Two blazers, a plaid, a stripe, and a sweater — which is to say, fall, whether Georgia is ready for it or not.
The Tally
Seasonal turns do this to me. The first cool morning — whenever Georgia finally decides to deliver it — is when I take stock. What’s different since last fall?
Last fall I didn’t have an apartment in Dunwoody, and now there’s a whole second set of keys on my ring and a granddaughter ten minutes down the road, soon to be two. Last fall the SAACA team was a much smaller crew, and this month there are new names on the calendar and a schedule I don’t run alone anymore. Last fall Hidden in the Frame was still mine and mine alone; now it’s out in the world, in other people’s inboxes, and I’m waiting on that too. Last fall Oscar was still here, walking me around the neighborhood every morning whether I felt like it or not. This is the first fall without him. And Aunt Teri is still here, 88 and gabbing about life over lunch, which is exactly why four hours in a car on a Saturday is nothing at all. Who’s here now who wasn’t. Who isn’t. Who still is. That’s the whole tally, and I don’t add it up to be sad. I add it up to be sure I noticed.
Closing Thoughts
Most of life, it turns out, is waiting — for the weather, for the plane, for the baby, for the text that says the date’s back on. I used to think the waiting was the part in between the real things, the stretch you got through to get to the good part. I don’t think that anymore. I think the waiting is where you find out what you actually want. It’s why I’m standing on a rooftop in a leather jacket in September, and why I keep looking at the calendar, and why the LA flight is booked and I’m still sitting on the fence about it. Fall will get to Georgia when it gets here. I’ll be ready when it does.
Style has no expiration date — and neither do you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, and I’d argue they should. A white or ivory barrel jean reads as fall the minute you pair it with a turtleneck, a leather jacket, or a leopard flat. The Labor Day rule is a relic; the fabric weight and what you put with it are what matter.
Fall colors and fall textures in lightweight fabrics. A short-sleeve turtleneck instead of a chunky one, white or cream jeans instead of dark denim, and a jacket you can carry over your arm until the sun goes down. Leopard flats do a lot of the seasonal work without adding any warmth.
A cashmere sweater, a soft wide-leg pant, and a quilted jacket you can take off and stuff in a tote when the plane gets warm. It looks put-together at the gate and still feels fine at hour nine, which — this year especially — is the only test that matters.
Wednesday, September 23, 2026 — 25% off select styles. Blazers, plaids, stripes and sweaters are where I’d look first; those are the pieces that carry from this in-between weather straight into real fall.
I’m still finding out. What I can tell you is that a lunch date is a low-stakes way to start, and that “who knows?” is a perfectly good place to stand for a while.
Shop the Post
Browse my full ShopMy storefront for outfits, home, and more.
The Rooftop Look
- Ann Taylor Faux Leather Jacket (limited sizes) · Similar: Leather Cropped Jacket
- Similar: Short Sleeve Turtleneck
- Zoe Barrel Jeans (runs small — size up)
- Leopard Buckle Shoes
- Similar: Brown Satchel
- Similar: Tortoise Shell Glasses
The Travel Outfit
Nordstrom Fall Savings Event — 25% off select styles, ends 9/23
- Cloud Nine Blazer
- Academia Cropped Blazer
- Benny Slim Plaid Shirt
- Easy Does It Striped Tee
- Level Up Sweater
Before You Go
What are you waiting on this fall? Tell me in the comments — and if fall has already arrived where you are, tell me that too, so I can be properly jealous.
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