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R: PHX, S: FEATURES, D: 09/14/2000, B: Nina Willdorf,

Wrap culture

Sweater? Jacket? It's the perfect fall garment, if you can find one.

by Nina Willdorf

It's hard to know what to wear in September. Sunny days can turn chilly; a frigid morning can heat up into a balmy afternoon. This immensely complicates the decision of which piece of outerwear to grab when you leave the house.

Enter the sweater-jacket. This fall sweater, either jacket-length or coat-length, closes with ties, buttons, or zippers, or sometimes not at all. But even with its coat-like shape and weight, it feels more like something you're throwing on than piling on.

"They're what we call a jacket alternative," explains Jane Calvert, an apparel manager at Anthropologie, who says she's saving her pennies for the store's calf-length wool-blend sweater-jacket ($228). Anthropologie also has a multicolor Missoni sweater-coat in plum, maroon, or green ($98).

At Jasmine Sola, women are diving for the duds faster than store employees can put them on the shelves. Jasmine had a black Theory wool-blend number with a breast-level tie closure ($258), but a saleswoman at the store says they were cleaned out within five days. "We've even been special-ordering them for people," she says. (Rest easy, more are on the way.) Guess has a three-quarter-length wool and suede sweater in either charcoal or red, with black sleeves ($138). J. Crew sells a hooded, calf-length cotton cardigan with a belt ($78), but the hot item sold out of the store almost immediately in August. Until the store restocks in October, fans can find them online or in the catalogue.

Unsurprisingly, Urban Outfitters is also in on the trend. "I could go on and on about how fabulous they are," says Gabby Prince, a saleswoman at the Back Bay store, which sells an ankle-length, flaring Free People mohair sweater with no closure in cranberry and gray, or chartreuse fading to white ($88).

"These aren't for your typical Abercrombie & Fitch girls," she says. "They're a little too, you know, arty."

Stores mentioned in this article:

* Anthropologie, 799 Boylston Street, Boston, (617) 559-9995

* Jasmine Sola, 37 Brattle Street, Cambridge, (617) 354-6043

* Guess, 80 Newbury Street, Boston, (617) 236-4147

* J. Crew, 100 Huntington Avenue, Boston, (617) 236-5950 or www.jcrew.com

* Urban Outfitters, 361 Newbury Street (Back Bay), Boston, (617) 236-0088;
and 11 JFK Street (Harvard Square), Cambridge, (617) 864-0070