If you go by the fashion industry calendar, autumn starts at the beginning of September; if you set your watch by nature, it’s all about when the leaves turn. But truly, the point when autumn gets real is when you have to get up and ready for the day while it’s pitch dark outside and getting dressed seems a much less inviting option than getting back under the duvet.
At this point, all the plans you had back in those halcyon days of early September for a directional new season look based on crisp shirting and trousers cropped above the ankle bone go out of the window, because the only thing you want to wear is a jumper. This primal appeal is the reason I buy too much knitwear, finding myself drawn like a sucker to those neat, pretty coloured stacks that are everywhere at this time of year, stockpiling polo necks the way other people do Heinz soup. When the apocalypse comes, I’m your girl if you’ve got a spare penknife or torch to trade for Gap cashmere.
For now, when it’s not the actual apocalypse but just a bit chilly and miserable, the challenge is to keep a soupçon of new-season snazziness in your wardrobe on days when getting dressed feels like a chore to be got out of the way as quickly as possible so you can have some toast. And I’ve got an idea. The answer is to get dressed the wrong way round: put your jumper on first, then a slip dress. It’s a thing, in fashion, now. I’ve never mastered the white T-shirt under a slip dress, which is the summer version of this (you had to be a 90s supermodel to pull that one off) but this autumnal equivalent is more flattering, especially if you choose a polo neck as your base layer.
I don’t wear spaghetti strap dresses to work, even on hot summer days (not judging, just not personally wild about a naked shoulder in the office, and with a spaghetti strap you can sometimes inadvertently give a full frontal armpit view that’s quite intimate) so this gives dresses that normally get airtime on a sunny Saturday a new, chilly-Monday lease of life. It’s cosy enough for autumn, but with a reminder of summer jollity. And most of all, it’s right for now.
•Jess wears jumper, £245, joseph.co.uk. Velvet slip dress, £49, topshop.com. Court shoes, £75, dunelondon.com. Copper chair, £89, grahamandgreen.co.uk
Styling: Melanie Wilkinson. Hair and makeup: Laurence Close at Carol Hayes Management.
