This weekend, I walked through Nordstrom and kinda laughed to myself… right there, next to the racks and racks of summer sale shoes… were brand new suede boots for winter!

Now that’s a total style juxtaposition!

This is always such an interesting time of the year retail-wise. On the one hand, there are tons of summer sales going on, so you can stock up on tanks and shorts and sandals at great deals.

On the other hand, the pre-fall clothes are starting to trickle in to the stores. Which means lots of sweaters and jackets and cold-weather shoes… usually displayed front and center so you have to pass them in search of the summer clothes, which get relegated to the back of the store.

True, it’s nice to see some new, fresh merchandise and to get a preview of things to come, but Southern California plays by its own set of retail rules. Thanks to the awesome weather, I won’t be wearing a winter sweater or winter boots for months and months. Probably November at the earliest. And even then, it will still be hot and I will complain that it’s not cold enough to wear my newly purchased winter wardrobe.

And therein lies the rub.

Retail is always moving forward, always way ahead of the seasons. But there are times I just want to sit back and soak in the actual season we’re in. Call me crazy, but I want to enjoy summer clothes when it’s actually summer.

Maybe that doesn’t make me a trendsetter or ahead of the fashion game… but you know what? I’m OK with that.