Grown-Up Boho: How to Wear Suede, Fringe and Crochet This Autumn

Boho came back two years ago and I will be the first to admit…maybe I took too many liberties with it. The fringing went over the crochet, the crochet went over the suede, and somewhere around the floppy hat I had accidentally dressed as a 2005 Glastonbury re-enactment. Now, in Autumn 2026…it’s time to do it right.

The reference is still Chemena Kamali at Chloé, whose 2024 debut put boho back on every mood board and whose autumn/winter 2026 show went further into folk territory with high-collar blouses, embroidery and fur-trimmed coats. What has filtered down to the high street is the useful part. Suede, in chocolate and cognac rather than the sun-bleached tan we all wore last time round. Fringe rationed down to a few inches at a hem. And crochet with an actual waist in it, which is genuinely new.

Start with one suede piece

Suede is the easiest way in, and a jacket is the piece that earns its keep, because it goes over the jeans and the plain knits you already own without you having to rethink anything underneath. Colour does most of the work here: chocolate and cognac hold up under grey September light in a way that pale tan does not, and both read richer than they cost. The high street has gone in hard on it, and Marie Claire UK has Reiss running a whole dedicated suede and leather edit this season alongside a chocolate faux-suede jacket from M&S.

Wear it over the plainest thing you own. White shirt, straight jeans, done. Anything busier underneath and the two pieces start competing.

Crochet works better with a waist

The old crochet was a shapeless holey thing worn over a bikini in a field. The 2026 weave is finer, sits closer to the body, and behaves like knitwear rather than a statement. So it works as a layer now, which the 2005 version never managed.

A crochet cardigan buttoned up and worn as a top is my favourite version of this, particularly under a blazer, where the texture peeks out at the neck and cuffs and the tailoring keeps the whole thing from floating away. Tuck it into a skirt if the hem is doing nothing for you.

Put the fringe on your bag, not your back

Fringe has been rationed this year, which is an improvement. A few inches at a hem, or a bag that swings, instead of a jacket with a curtain across the shoulders. Keeping it to an accessory also means you can put it away when you have had enough of it, which you cannot do with a coat you spent a hundred pounds on.

A fringed suede crossbody in cognac is the single most useful thing on this page. It moves when you move, and it sits perfectly happily against the plain black clothes you wear the rest of the week.

Boots hold the whole thing down

Every floaty thing in this piece needs something solid at the bottom of it or the outfit drifts. A slouchy knee-high or a western boot in brown suede does that job, and the slight scruffiness is what stops a tiered skirt reading as bridesmaid.

Cream crochet with worn-in brown boots is the pairing Who What Wear has been pushing all season, and it works because the two textures are quietly arguing. Something handmade-looking against something with dust on it.

Let the long skirt do the talking

The tiered maxi is the silhouette the whole aesthetic rests on, and it is also the item people most often get wrong, usually by pairing a busy print with a busy top. One print per outfit, everything else plain. Two prints is where it starts to look like a costume shop.

A dress is the lazier route and I mean that as a compliment, because a prairie maxi with a knit over the shoulders is a finished outfit in one decision. The skirt is the better buy if you want it to work harder through winter, since it will take tights and a jumper without complaint.

Four rules that keep it out of costume territory

The bit I like about this version of boho is that it survives being broken up. The suede jacket goes over your work clothes, the fringed bag goes with the black jeans you live in, and the tiered skirt comes back out in January with a polo neck. None of it has to stay in its lane, which is the only reason a trend is ever worth buying into.

One practical note. Suede in the good colours is the first thing to go in September, and what these rails are showing today will not all be here next week. Check the price before you let yourself get attached to it.