Breathe a Sigh of Relief: Winter Fashion is Coming

My favourite fashion moment is upon us, so here I break down my perennial back to school look & offer tips on how to take the cold weather style plunge.

Aside from summer sandals, it’s not often I feel the need to add to my wardrobe at any particular moment of the calendar. That is aside from September 1st. After our funny-old-summer of hotchpotch trans-seasonal fashions (by necessity, not choice), it’s almost a relief to know where we sartorially stand again. September is just so abundantly clear: back to school, coats, boots, knits, the full fireworks night ensemble. La rentrée as the French term it, is both the gateway to winter and the ultimate moment of style rebirth. This day zero for the new fashion year is about the only circumstance when I might *potentially* buy something expensive full price, as I usually only shop designer sales and resell.

I know I speak sparingly about clothes here, simply because I generally feel a picture speaks a thousand words when it comes to elegance. But several of you have sent me emails asking me about style tips and as a) I’m no gatekeeper and b) this is a moment I’m well versed at navigating, the time seemed opportune to explore clever winter wardrobe shopping.

So where to start? Caveats? Probably. I’m 5’3’’ and generally child-shaped with size three feet and narrow shoulders. If I tell you that both men and woman pick me up at a certain point of the evening, you have a good idea of my proportions. I mention this because my slant on outerwear in particular is majorly impacted by my diminutive stature. What would I give to be a Phoebe Philo woman in oversized brushed wool. I remember a girlfriend of mine once extolling the virtues of her broad shoulders at fashion week—we’re often told that it’s snake hips and svelte figures that help clothing ‘hang’ (depressingly most designers seem to mean ‘hang off’), but possessing a literal coat hanger within your skeleton seriously gives you the upper hand when it comes to winter chic. Additionally, and it will be clear from the below, I am not a blind trend follower, instead choosing to build my wardrobe year-on-year with the pieces I know I will always want to wear. Staples don’t have to be pedestrian.

My Saks Potts puffer remains recognisable

The coat remains my number one purchase of the year. There is no single closet staple which will see the light of day (even the short ones) more than your coat. I try to keep mine in good nick year to year so I’m not wearing (and knackering out) just the one. But my coat collection is very specific and so distinctive that people spot me on the street from behind. ‘I’m a long time follower and I knew it was you because I recognised the Saks Potts puffer.’ True story.  Anyway, I believe deeply in a character coat and am unlikely to ever spend cash on anything black or basic. Red, yes. Leopard, yes. A great brown plaid, ab-so-bloody-lutely. If this piece of clothing is going to be the piece that makes people clock you from BEHIND, it better be good.

One of my favourite hacks when buying a winter coat is to purchase a matching roll neck at the same time. I have discussed my Uniqlo cashmere collection on other occasions (black, camel, grey and navy in round, v, turtle and cardi varieties) but I mention it again because I don’t know how I would weather the weather without my roll necks. Under dresses, under bigger knits, layered with a cardigan. They are the bread and butter of my winter look.

Matching the knit to your coat

But back to coats, a camel coloured woollen style (Maxmara being the dream, Nanushka the still pricey step down, Whistles and Reiss being the actually very good alternatives) looks so effortlessly chichi with a matching roll neck. You can then just wang on a pair of jeans or neutral or black trousers or skirt and you look on the money. 

As for the coats themselves, I have years-old high street styles as well as designer numbers too which I pull out perennially, so I definitely don’t believe it has to be high end or nothing. One favourite is my Mango checked, ankle-length style—you might remember Gigi Hadid wearing it too and yes I bought a chocolate coloured roll neck to match. This year my number one dream buy is a leopard print wool belted coat by Raey. Impossibly it is already sold out in some sizes, though remains available in mine. This is the insanity of winter coats. It’s a late August race which requires your readies ready at the exact moment you’ve bankrupted yourself on Aperol and summer camps. I always miss out on the crème for this exact reason. Here, I’ve found a similar style from Albaray for £220 which looks more likely. 

Elsewhere I have eyes peeled on Sezane’s Nico sheepskin coat (I realise this is also not cheap, but man, that’s a forever buy). Shorter peacoats are a short girl solution (I have the James coat, also from Sézane which hits me at high thigh but still covers my bum) and Boden have a good looking camel style while & Other Stories have this great tweed (I’d love to wear with a matching mini and knee length boots).

Checked coats through the years

If I did have shoulders, I would be heading to Mango for their very good selection of The Row-ish neutrals or back to & Other Stories for their Scandi take on the same minimalism. I also do really have time for a puffer and while plenty of good value ones abound, to find something with a bit more personality for under £500 is trickier (although if money is no object, Balenciaga have this major look for four and a half grand…!) Have a look at Norma Kamali, Ganni and Alex Eagle Sporting Club. If you are looking for something which says ‘fashion’ but not ‘victim’  the Frankie Shop’s quilted coat or Toteme’s wool scarf style continue to have mileage outside of true fashion-snob circles (there both are too ‘overdone’). I won’t be going there personally because so many other people have them you’d never know it was me from behind. But they both remain great options if you’re happy to be misidentified.

While I roll my eyes at the infantilisation of ‘girl math’ (the new TikTok ‘thing’ to justify expensive purchases, because ‘tomato girl summer’ apparently wasn’t reductive enough), I do get an extreme level of satisfaction from impressive cost per wear ratios, especially when I have made a purchase which hurt. You know the physical friction created by gritted teeth and screwing your forehead up as you hand over your card? However badly you have coveted your trophy, it can also feel like an exercise in masochism. It definitely felt like that with my ‘Monolith’ Prada boots which I finally gave in to after circa 918 online targeted ads (this season’s version here, inflation is doing its work). They will be rolled out for their third winter and will continue to elevate every single other thing that I wear. A true ‘modern classic’, I expect they will be my flat winter boots in 2032. Yes they were painful on the wallet and soul, but I always think of my nan who told me that a pair of boots cost two full weeks of post tax wage when she was young in the late 1940s. Proper things which last for a proper amount of time are often very expensive at the moment of acquisition but become very cheap through wear over time. I have no plans to buy any flat boots this year. However, I don’t have a good heeled black ankle boot. It’s a gaping gap which hasn’t been filled for a couple of years and I’ve decided now is the moment, so this is where the top dollar is going to go. I am a long time Dear Frances fan and have been keeping tabs on the Spirit boot from the core collection, but am also tempted by the new season Imani. Pain-incoming.

Back to school kilts and boots

Keeping with the back to school theme, I am also a collector of kilts, which work beautifully with roll necks, ankle boots and coats (and yes I am aware that this is basically a school uniform for a forty year old woman). I think every year of going in hard and putting it all on black back at Prada, but that is not the life I am living. In consideration for 2023 is this micro mini from Le Kilt and I already have a couple of colourways of these from Superdry, and am thinking of adding this navy style. In a similar vein, I also stan hard-wearing wide-leg trousers in corduroy or patterned wool, below (past season) from Gant, Sezane and Baukjen, but you’ll have to wait a couple of weeks for them to come into stock.

Wide-leg hard-wearing trousers as an alternative to the kilt

Then for the rest—God this is where I go to pot. Hats, gloves and scarves were apparently conceptually conceived to undermine my self esteem. Add umbrellas in there too. I have a few which have survived more than one winter season, but they are always the B-team accessories. Whether I go cheap or pricey, I leave them on the tube, in an Uber, drop them while walking or deposit at Gail’s never to be seen again. I just cannot keep hold of them and I honestly cannot understand how anyone else does. The worst thing is when people buy me expensive gloves, because I know I am going to lose at least one of them within a week unless I literally attach them to a string and thread them through my (Raey leopard? 🤣) coat. So I will not be recommending any to you outside of the one place I go to get replacement cashmere gloves without daggering myself in the heart (John Lewis, £35). I wear cheap berets and scarves and definitely do not nick my boyfriend’s Acne ones behind his back (he is well within his rights to berate me, I do not deserve nice things).

I hope this little diversion has been useful even though a heatwave is heading our way. Actually, that provides an opportunity to get in there with your coat-buying while everyone else is distracted by the last rosé fling of summer. Either way, if you spot a leopard coat and the clack clack clack of shiny brand new heels in the distance… at least you’ll know it’s me sprinting after a bus and the pair of gloves motoring off into the distance.