There's a particular kind of fall morning on Nantucket: fog sitting low over the gray-shingled roofs, cobblestones slick enough that you're glad you packed flats instead of heels, and a chill off the water that no September packing list quite prepares you for. The island empties out once the summer crowds clear, and what's left behind is arguably the better version of it, quieter streets, golden light that lasts all afternoon, and weather that actually calls for the kind of layering ELAN does well. If you're trying to work out what to wear in Nantucket this time of year, the answer has less to do with any single statement piece and more to do with building a small rotation that moves easily between a cobblestone morning and a wharf-side dinner.
Start with the base layer for those foggy mornings wandering Main Street's brick sidewalks and ducking into the nautical antique shops that line the wharf. The Canyon Sweater is an open, crochet-style knit with a honeycomb texture and soft tan-and-ivory stripes running through it, the kind of sweater that wants something underneath it, a fitted tank or a long-sleeve tee, rather than being worn alone. That's not a flaw so much as the point: it's a layering piece first, built for exactly this kind of changeable coastal weather, where you're warm enough by midday to want the breathability and cold enough by evening to need a jacket over it.
That jacket matters more on this trip than almost anything else you pack. Out toward Sankaty Head Lighthouse, where the bluffs catch the wind straight off the Atlantic, or on a slower afternoon walking the cranberry bogs on the island's moors, you want something that blocks wind without feeling precious about getting a little salt-sprayed. The Jericho Jacket does that job better than a lot of pieces built specifically for it: a denim shirt-jacket with a contrast suede collar and a removable waist tie, worn open over the sweater on a walk or cinched in for dinner later. We've written before about how this jacket updates a denim classic with a suede touch, and a foggy island bluff is about as good a setting for that combination as any we've found.
By the time the sun starts dropping, which happens fast and early on the island in fall, the plan usually shifts toward a raw bar or a chowder house down by the harbor, the kind of place where a sweater and jeans reads exactly right and nothing about the outfit needs to change for the occasion. The Juniper Jean, a dark wash, high-rise, wide-leg style with a frayed raw hem, is the easiest way to dress the day look up without actually changing much of anything. Swap the sweater's sleeves to be visible under the jacket, trade flats for boots, and the same pieces that worked for a lighthouse walk carry straight through to dinner.
It's a useful reminder that ELAN's instincts travel well outside the warm-weather destinations it's best known for. The brand that built its name on dressing people from Miami to the Mediterranean turns out to have just as clear a point of view on a cold, salt-air weekend on a New England island, soft knits, sturdy denim, and outerwear that earns its keep. If a foggy harbor town isn't quite your speed and you'd rather take the layering logic somewhere higher and drier, our guide to a fall weekend in the mountains works from the same playbook. And if you'd rather build a smaller, more permanent version of this same rotation for everyday fall wear at home, our fall capsule wardrobe guide is the place to start.
You can shop the full range of pieces built for this kind of weather in ELAN's women's sweaters, jackets and coats, and jeans, pants, skirts, and shorts collections, or read more about the brand's own history of dressing for travel on the About ELAN page.
