Fall Accessories for Women Over 60: What I’m Wearing and Coveting

The minute the light shifts in September, I start reaching for accessories way before I reach for sweaters. It’s the fastest way to make an outfit feel like fall without actually changing the outfit, and at this stage of life I have very little patience for anything that requires too much more effort.

This week I roped in a few friends whose taste I trust completely. Annie of Most Lovely Things has a menswear-influenced eye, all great tailoring and borrowed-from-the-boys details. Mary Ann of Classic Casual Home dresses like the effortlessly put-together girl next door, easy and unfussy. And Susan Blakey with her color theory trained eye sees combinations the rest of us would never risk and makes them look inevitable.

So here’s the split: what I’m actually wearing right now, and what I’m quietly coveting from afar.

What I Will be Wearing the Minute it Turns Cool

A lightweight wool or cashmere scarf in an interesting pattern I can’t resist.

Not the heavy, wrap-it-three-times blanket scarf. Something fine enough to knot loosely at the neck or drape open over a jacket, in a pattern that looks a little vintage or unexpected, uneven widths, an odd color pairing, something with texture woven right into it. This is the piece that does the most work for the least thought, and it goes with everything from jeans to a great blazer or jacket.

Shop My Favorite Scarves

A leather crossbody or a great tote with some texture or pattern to it.

Something with grain, or a woven or nubby finish, in a color or an interesting pattern. I pray Crossbody’s never go out of style because my hands are full more often than not these days, usually with Scout’s leash or a glass of wine, sometimes both.

Shop my Fave Fall Bags

Tortoise anything and everything!

Earrings, a stack of bracelets, ideally vintage or vintage-looking. Tortoise reads as fall without trying, and it goes with camel, rust, olive, and black. I’ve been collecting pieces for years and I still reach for them first (I know you are probably sick of hearing this).

Shop My Favorite Tortoise Accessories

Loafers in an interesting texture.

Suede, embossed leather, or calf-hair, or driving mocs.

A Great Comfortable Low Heeled or Flat Boot

in suede or hide

Shop my Favorite Fall Shoes & Boots

Glasses and sunglasses with real shape

I have a passion for great glasses frames and normally default to my friend Kyla at Specs by Kyla locally. Not the safe, forgettable frame. Something with a little architecture to it, an interesting color or pattern. Your glasses sit on your face all day, they might as well be interesting.

Shop My Favorite Eyeglasses & Sunnies

What I’m Coveting

A tote in a texture I’ve never owned before. Woven leather, or a vintage textile, structured enough to hold its shape and interesting enough that it doesn’t need anything else to make an outfit look finished. I don’t need another bag. I have said this to myself in the mirror and I did not believe it.

A cowhide bag, leopard or zebra. One good animal print piece does more for an outfit than three safe ones, and I’d love to find mine secondhand or vintage rather than new. I was gifted this bag (I absolutely love it). I had been coveting a vintage RL bag in a brown and white hide. This one is a close second.

Vintage Sterling Silver Jewelry from the Victorian or Edwardian era. An interesting locket, fob, chain, brooch or bracelet.

(The necklace with the watch face was a gift from Mary Ann many years ago. I still love it and wear it often!!)

Low heeled boots with some age to them. Not flat, not a heel that requires planning your day around them. Something in between, ideally leather that’s already broken in, ideally with a story. I’m always happier in something that looks like it’s been somewhere.

A wide leather belt to wear over a coat, not just jeans. Annie mentioned this to me and I haven’t stopped thinking about it. Cinching a long coat at the waist is such a small move and such a big difference, and I have yet to actually buy the belt that would let me do it.

Shop My Favorite Leather Belts

A great piece of Native American Jewelry- a vintage squash blossom, a great pair of earrings, or a cuff that can be the star or a simple cashmere sweater or blazer. Love a simple vintage squash blossom like Jill Sharp Weeks so flawlessly styled here.

The Thread Running Through All of It

None of these pieces are trying to reinvent us. That’s the thing about accessories once we have been owning your own style for a few decades: we’re not looking for transformation anymore. We might be looking for the two or three objects that make us feel most like ourselves and then we wear them until they’re a little worn in and a lot more interesting. That is the beauty of being our age and comfortable in our own skin.

You might also enjoy my post, How to Build a Personal Style that Tells your Story , or Six Jewelry Pieces Every Stylish Woman Owns.

Let’s see what Annie and Mary Ann and Susan are loving and coveting this season too.

Most Lovely Things

Classic Casual Home

Une Femme