When looking at the harkeraquila.com home page, it appears that, for 56 percent of us, sweater weather is the best part about autumn. To be honest, I couldn’t agree more, especially considering how bored I’ve been with summer clothes. (What should I wear today? The skirt that doesn’t meet the dress code or the dress I wore last week?) But more on that later.

Unfortunately, the one hitch in my chilly weather happiness is that it’s not actually that chilly. With California lacking anything resembling a true winter, a cute sweater can turn into a sweaty disaster within a day.

I feel like the weather is playing a cruel trick on me; the morning lures me in with promises of crisp breezes and autumn leaves, only to have the fog burn off by midmorning, leaving me scorching.

So will I let the capricious California temperatures make a fool of my sartorial decisions? Never! Instead, I developed a number of strategies to help achieve an autumn look without baking.

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Meilan Steimle

If you can get past my poor posture and awkward posing, you'll see that I've layered a loose knit over a crisp button-down and a spring skirt. Are any of these clothing items actually warm? Not even a little bit. But the layers and long sleeves makes me seem warm.

Loose knits.

Lately, I’ve been a big fan of the loose knit, because it gives the impression of a sweater without the actual warmth, making it a pretty useless garment if this was really about utility. Luckily, it isn’t. Another advantage of loose knits is that they also often come in loose cuts, making it easy to layer a light cotton underneath.

No Skin

A lack of bare skin is a fall staple because it makes you look covered up, even if you aren’t. High necklines, which can be achieved through turtlenecks or scarves, and close-toed shoes give the impression of being covered up.

At the bottom of my sock drawer are four separate pairs of sweater tights: tights made from soft, warm material designed to cocoon your legs in fuzzy joy. But the weather being what it is, I’m wearing black nylons instead because they hide my skin while providing next to no insulation.

Dress like a pumpkin spice latte.

This sounds ridiculous, but what I’m trying to get at here is color scheme. When I say “pumpkin spice latte,” images of warm burgundies, maroons, cashmeres and rusts come to mind: autumn colors. I’m not saying accessorize with autumn leaves (although that’s quite the statement if you’re into that) but using warm, dark colors on the red side of the spectrum connote fireplaces and steaming lattés, even if the clothing items themselves aren’t warm.

Suck it up.

Are you incredibly lazy? Me too. If worse comes to worst I’ll just wear layers and swelter in silence. Pain is beauty.