Jess Cartner-Morley on fashion: pair a little skirt with a chunky jumper for the perfect balancing act

This is the most enjoyable time of the year to get dressed because clothes can just be clothes. They don’t have to function as a personal air-conditioning and sweat-disguising system, as they did for the summer, nor do they need to double as a portable central heating unit yet. Your outfit does not need to “take you from day to night” until party season starts, and it doesn’t have to jigsaw itself into a hand-luggage-sized capsule wardrobe until next summer. There is little in the way of functional heavy lifting, so you get to just wear nice clothes.

And this benign early part of autumn is more fun to dress for than the equivalent weather in spring, because we still have a bit of summer swagger. The summer habit of wearing shorts and halter tops and even swimwear has gotten us a little loose, a little more laid-back about flashing a bit of skin here or there. It is about more than bare flesh, though. There is something about summer that flexes the flashy dresser in everyone – whether that’s fancy dress for a festival, or just the way that putting on a pair of sunglasses brings out your inner movie star.

It is very important to hold on to that summer glow, that more fabulous version of yourself, the one who starred in your holiday snaps carousel, for as long as you can. I do this literally, getting through my bodyweight in Dove Visible Glow, my preferred slap-it-on-like-body-lotion gradual self-tan, between now and when the clocks go back. But the less literal-minded among you can hold on to that lovely golden-hour feeling in your mind, as well as in your body. Stay locked into your summer playlist and keep hold of that windows-down, shades-on spirit of freedom at least until the leaves start to turn.

Which brings me to the style formula I’m obsessed with right now: a short, flimsy skirt, nothing tailored or lined, worn under something with a bit more heft up top. My algorithm is suddenly full of French chicks sulking prettily in cafes wearing a lacy slip with a boxy shirt, a broderie mini with a ribbed jumper, or a satin mini with a leather jacket. A cardigan substantial enough to count as outerwear with a skirt that could be folded into a handbag.

The skirt is still daydreaming about holidays, but the top has read the forecast. Boudoir down below, bus stop up top. You want the jumper to look a fraction too big and the skirt a fraction too insubstantial: the tension between the two is precisely the point. The neat visual arithmetic of fitted top plus tailored skirt is not what we want here.

Please try to get over this being about your legs. Thinking that you can’t wear a certain hemline because you “don’t have the legs” is old-lady talk. This isn’t really about skin, it’s about the contrast in weight and formality between top and bottom. And one excellent thing about legs in general is that they are way more chill-tolerant than the rest of you. If they do feel cold, you can at least style it out. Bare knees in a sharp breeze reads as insouciant, while bare shoulders reads as a mistake. And by pairing them with a chunky jumper, you can get extra mileage out of skirts that are too insubstantial to wear with tights, before the time comes to pack them away till next year.

You want this outfit to look like a decision, not a compromise, and the key here is colour. Keep the palette moving in the same direction – navy and cream, chocolate and ivory, black and white. Apologies for the awful overused word, but this makes the look feel more intentional. And you need a proper shoe: a slip-on sandal can tip this look into “jumper over a nightie” territory.

I suppose what I am trying to say is don’t get trigger happy with the opaque tights or the knee-high boots. There will be plenty of time for them, later on. There is a temptation to get overexcited by the arrival of September and start dressing as if you are in an ad for a heritage paint company: corduroy, boots, tweed, burgundy, perhaps a basket of logs. Resist. Autumn will come whether you dress for it or not, so lean into the flimsy stuff a little longer. For as long as you can, keep one foot in summer. Better still, both legs.

Styling: Melanie Wilkinson. Model: Moli at Milk. Hair and makeup: Sophie Higginson using Ouai and Kama Ayurveda. Styling assistant: Charlotte Gornall. Half-zip jumper, £290, Ba&sh. Skirt, £24, Asos. Rings, £85 each, Daisy Jewellery. Socks, £18, London Sock Company. Loafers, £150, Alohas