My Rules for Buying Fall Items (while outside it's still hot)

I find that buying ahead of the season is a quite tricky (even if more and more "necessary") exercise but in the past I made the biggest mistakes around this time of the year, shopping for clothes while wearing light summer clothes. So I wanted to share with you some rules that I came up with over the time and that I try to keep in mind when shopping for fall outfits in the summer.

My rule # 1 (not only for fall actually) would be "Don't by too early", especially if you're into some new "trend". Trends can have a very short life and it happened that a trend announced with big fanfares by some high-end magazine (read: Vogue) turned out to be a big flop that the same magazine renegaded at some point later.
Also, you can get bored with clothes that you have bought too early because of the regular rollouts of new stuff every month or so. We all know that new is more exciting that old and what was new last month can get old very quickly without you even wearing it.
I know that this rule is more and more hard to follow because the retailers today scare us off with the threaten of low inventory due to the economic climate and when you like something it's difficult to resist the impulse to grab it right away before it sells out. I'm only saying that before buying one must at least look around and try to figure out what will really make one's fall wardrobe special that year.

The rule #2 is "Don't buy too many transitional pieces". We all know that, at least in the Northeast, "Fall" is more of a marketing concept than a real season and it will get cold (like, really cold) pretty much overnight.

Rule #3 is one of the most important: "Don't forget that you'll wear a sweater (and probably a thick one) under that jacket". We tend to try Fall jackets over tees and thin summer tops, but as soon as it gets colder we'll want to put a sweater on and the look can be much different (and bulkier).

Rule #4 is the one that I always have a hard time to follow (clearly I didn't follw it the other day) and the one that lead me to the biggest mistakes: "If you're buying a skirt, don't forget that you will wear it with stockings". It's summer, you're probably a little bit tanned and your legs look much nicer tanned and without tights. But you're not buying a summer skirt, you're buying a skirt to wear in fall and winter. With stockings. Probably black or dark or thick (and those dusty rose shoes won't look the same). And you will probably wear it with boots more than pumps. Try to picture it in season: the look of it could be completely different.

Rule #5 is especially true this season: "If you're buying a pair of skinny jeans/cords, remember that you will wear them a pair of socks underneath". You don't want the elastic band (especially if you're wearing knee-highs) to show under your pants (think toothpick jeans/cords).

Rule #6 is a variation of Rule #4 "Don't forget that your tan is going to disappear soon and a color that you like (or dislike) now because of the tan can look very different on a pale face/cleavage." Of course this rule doesn't apply if you never get tanned, but I'm always a little bit tanned this time of the year (I tend to get a nice tan pretty fast and I know how to make it last!). I personally find very hard to buy plum hues now because they fight with my tan.

Rule #7 is "Try to make an inventory of what you have in your wardrobe at every change of season because you might find out that you already have a sweater that looks exactly the same as the one that you just bought (and you could have saved your money for something that you don't have)". Who needs three black cashmere sweaters (OK, maybe this year the buttons are different, but who's going to notice)?

Do you agree with these rules? Do you have a rule that you would like to share?