pre-fall portal

A strong late-afternoon thunderstorm cancelled my flight out of JFK the other day but it also blew in an unexpected whiff of back-to-school air in the city. While I rolled my bikini-packed suitcase down Broadway back to my sister's apartment, I walked past buttoned-up, office-bound troops, their pace hurried, purposeful and ironed suit-clad. It's only the first week of August, but, hold on to your hats, school opens it doors to my kids in just 16 days! So, here we are already in pre-fall, back-to-work reality, a portal American Airlines re-routed me into, with kicking and screaming and no turning back! Thankfully, Shopbop debuted some on-trend clothes to wear during this transition, ranging from power reds and oversized denim (to which I conceded and wear Frame while writing this!), along with "it knits" and edgy, outfit-punctuating accessories, like this, this and this. If I could buy only one thing right now to prep for fall, it would be these walk-up-and-down-Broadway, kitten-heeled Madewell boots (named after Dimes Square to connote its cool factor) to wear through next spring, pre-summer and beyond.