BorderStyle: The September Issue(s), Vol. 4: Layers upon Layers

From Khelan Bhatia. You can follow Khelan on Twitter@KhelanB. He lives in the U Street area and writes about style for Borderstan.

Welcome back, Borderstanis, to the fourth installment of the September Issue(s). And yes, my calendar has about 48 days in September. Doesn’t yours?

Anyways, we’re continuing to work our way towards the perfect fall outfits. As you recall, we started with shoes, then moved up to bottoms and the last time we got together, we discussed tops.

Today, we’re gonna chat about the season’s best layers… in other words, the essential sweaters, cardigans and jackets.

In contrast to summer’s more vivid palate, autumn is traditionally filled with subdued and darker hues… the grays, the browns, etc. Occasionally, we’ll see a splash of orange to, you know, remind us that Halloween is around the corner. Nothing wrong with that.

You know me, I’m a sartorial traditionalist. But I’ve got no problem with injecting a burst of color every now and then.

For example, this fun, red cardigan by Hawkings McGill (top left photo) will add a little pop when paired with a white oxford, dark jeans or gray corduroys. You can get it exclusively at Urban Outfitters.

The Skipper Sweater by khelan on polyvore.com

Next up, we have a more conservative, yet not boring, article of clothing: this fitted Skipper Sweater by Gant Rugger.

While the brown pullover is a staple in every man’s closet, you probably don’t have one that’s quite as sharp as this one.

It’s the detailing, especially military-inspired shoulder buttons, that do it for me. Before we move completely off sweaters, I have one more recommendation: