Fall is leather season. It's a time when it starts getting cooler, and you need something a little sturdier to carry you through the season then the thin cotton of the summer months. Leather used to be something that involved animal cruelty and/or harming the environment, but now there are so many designers who have taken to cruelty free faux leather products that they have managed to make really and truly look like the real thing at all different price points.
How to Pick Good Faux Leather
1. You want to avoid really shiny plasticky looking leather. It tends to look and be cheap.
2. Look for faux leather with a cotton backing or lining. If your faux leather does not have this, expect it to crack, peel, tear, and over stretch over time.
3. When it comes to durability, you want to find a leather that is on the thicker side. Thin faux leather fabrics tend to be really cheap and won't last long.
4. Colored faux leather is just going to tend to be on the weaker side because of the chemicals used to dye the fabrics vs. a black. Doesn't mean they are cheap or cheaply made, just means, if you are going to spend the money for a piece you want to last through the seasons through a lot of wear and tear, go for natural animal colors above brightly colored faux leather fabrics. Your choice.
5. Look for faux leathers with a grainy texture. Real leather naturally has this, but the imitators do too. You don't want faux leather that looks really smooth. You want it to have a bit more of a wear and tear look.
6. Avoid "street corner" leather. Odds are that super tight, super confining, super tight to the body leather will never be well made and will make you look cheap in more ways than one.
7. Even if you do buy some cheap looking leather because you have to have it, don't overdo it. A small bag, a shoe, a swath of it across an otherwise different fabric will make it look less cheap than going full on head to to with the look.
SHORTS/PANTS
SKIRTS
JACKETS
FORMAL LOOKS
What Girls Said
Some of that stuff is so cute! I love that grey skirt and the light brown jacket!