Here it is; that time of the year when the Perth summer ends and we need to start getting used to the cooler change.

Lucky for us, a “cooler change” isn’t anything like our friends in the Northern Hemisphere or even on the east coast, but it does provide for some tricky wardrobe decisions when getting dressed for a day in Autumn.

This is where the art of layering comes in. Style that keeps you cool when you need it but also warm when you need that too. In order to make sure your outfit will take you from a warm autumn day to a cooler night when the sun goes down, you need to be a little strategic…

Here are some ways to embrace the Autumn trends and create some layers to your outfits, for when the Perth Autumn day calls for it.

The Autumn Layer Staple Outfit

This outfit is a layers on layers on layers: pants, shirt, blazer, neck tie, crossbody bag topped off with a duster coat. Phew!

First up – the lightweight coat. Lucky for us, the colour camel does the rounds almost every season, making the camel duster coat an Autumn wardrobe staple. Duster coats are the best Autumn item as you can throw it on over almost anything to create that extra layer of warmth, and also easily throw off when you don’t need it. Tailored pants and blazer sets are making a comeback for AW16, and are a great outfit combination for a working day where you want to look put together but also stylish. The addition of a beautiful silk scarf gives an outfit a sophisticated vibe, and also a layer to keep your neck warm – that St George’s Terrace wind tunnel? Fear no more.

Wearing Sportscraft Pant +  Blazer Suit Set, Sportscraft Top, Sportscraft Coat, Sportscraft Silk Scarf, Sportscraft Bag, Zomp Shoes. Available at Sportscraft Carillon City and ZOMP King Street.

The Trend Outfit

While this outfit may not involve many “layers” so to speak, it’s all in the choice of fabrics and cuts that will make this perfect for Autumn.

A button down, long sleeve cotton shirt is an absolute winner for your new season wardrobe – lightweight enough for warmer days and still enough coverage to take you through to a night out.

A ripped pair of jeans is a winning pairing, the rips giving it a little more style than your average pair of jeans and also technically making them a pretend layer of clothing (hehehe). A big trend for AW16 is bell sleeves on everything, and these sleeves on an otherwise boring “work shirt” is something I know I’ll be wearing a lot of.

You can always throw on a leather biker jacket to grunge this up too and add some extra warmth to an evening out, or even a cute sweater.

Wearing Zara Blouse, Zara Jeans, Betts Shoes, Givenchy Bag. Available at Zara Murray Street Mall and Betts Hay Street.

You can’t beat the sweater

When you’re thinking about layering, you can’t go past the turtleneck sweater and jacket combination, not to mention the warm on top – cooler on the bottom outfit (one of my personal favourites!). Yes, turtlenecks are back and better than ever!

The perfect pairing with a light denim jacket, ensuring you are toasty warm without over-roasting when that Perth sun comes out. This outfit is a super cute play on some of the big trends this season; pastel colours, denim everything, the mixing of colour palettes and the comeback of Mod.

Wearing Topshop Sweater, Topshop Denim Jacket, Topshop Suede Leather Skirt, Zomp Boots. Available at Topshop Murray Street Mall and ZOMP King Street.

Matching Sets

Besides the cute factor, the best thing about matching sets is the ability to remove the jacket and still have an awesome outfit. Layering done the easy way! Every type of print is in this season, and while we are at it, clashingprints are in this season. Matching a floral print back with a stripe is probably the easiest way to embrace this trend – and why not, it looks pretty good together!

Here we’ve teamed a stripe, lightweight sweater with a colour cuff, underneath the navy and pink floral set. While this may not immediately be your choice of pairing, it works perfectly together to create some clashing but aligned layers to a classy outfit.

Wearing Anna Thomas Blazer and Skirt Matching Set, Anna Thomas Sweater, Zomp Heels, Givenchy Bag. Available at Anna Thomas Brookfield Place and ZOMP King Street.

T-shirts create the best layers

Layering done the casual, street style way. Remember when we were younger and our parents would put a t-shirt under a thin strap dress for a little bit of modesty? Well that is back, but probably moreso for the trend factor than anything else.

The perfect streetstyle look you’ll see doing the rounds this Autumn is a white t-shirt under a black dress – a cool outfit on it’s own, or combined with a bomber jacket and some white sneakers for those extra layers and edginess.

Wearing Topshop Dress, Topshop T-shirt, Topshop Bomber Jacket, Adidas Sneakers. Available at Topshop Murray Street Mall and Hype DC Murray Street Mall.

It seems as far as fashion goes, Autumn isn’t that bad after all! With City of Perth stores receiving all the new AW16 fashion, there’s not much stopping you from getting out there and creating your own Autumn layers.