Tweeds, Beads, and Cloches

I've said before that I'm not one to obsess over the goings-on of New York Fashion Week. I keep half an eye on various blog posts and tweets about it, but that's all. That changed last week when I saw a photo from Ralph Lauren's Fall 2012 runway show. I instantly swooned, then, once I'd fully recovered, immediately had to look at the entire collection.

 

 

 The British aristocratic influence can be seen as an obvious reference to Downton Abbey (apparently the models even walked the runway to the show's theme music!). While I can easily imagine Mary Crawley in any number of these looks, I'm also reminded of some literary characters. I'm thinking about the women from Virginia Woolf's Night and Day or even the girls from I Capture the Castle (though their versions of these pieces might have some shabby frayed edges to them). Personally, I'd love to dress like this all through the autumn. While these head to toe outfits may have a bit of a costume feel, the separate pieces are quite wearable. A touch of beading, a tweed blazer, or a fair isle pattern would be just enough to make me feel like I was secretly dressing up as my favorite character while still looking classic enough for every day.

What do you think? Would you use a literary character as fashion inspiration?