How to Wear a Dress in the Winter

Get ready to rock a dress year-round! While the colder seasons may be about to kick in, that doesn’t mean your entire summer wardrobe needs to go bye bye! Having separate wardrobes for the summer and winter months can be excessive and also limiting at times. How many of us take our favorite summer dresses and rotate them to the back of our closet the moment temperatures begin to drop? Learning how to style a dress in the colder months can help expand your options of what to wear (because let’s be honest, wearing just pants and a coat during winter can get tiring after a while.) We’re here to share our hottest tips on how to wear a dress in the winter.

Transitioning your wardrobe from season to season shouldn’t mean throwing out the old and buying new items each year. A main component in practicing sustainable fashion is learning how to reuse and recycle items in our closet. Sometimes this means finding new ways to wear things we already own and styling them in a way that makes them feel and look completely new. Styling a dress in the winter is a great way to rework an item in your closet and give it new life! While this may require some additional thought and planning, once you’ve figured out what items pair well in your closet, your style and options exponentially expands!

In this blog we are going to introduce ideas and tactics to keep in mind when you are looking to wear your favorite dresses in the winter. We’ll start with talking about the numerous ways to layer dresses with other items in your closet. Then we’ll take an in-depth look at other things to keep in mind such as prints and fabrics that pair well with each other. Trust me, once you’ve mastered the art of styling dresses in the winter, you’ll be thanking us.

In case you’ve missed it, layering clothes in fashion is VERY in. Learning how to layer your clothes is the key to not only coming off incredibly fashionable, but also the key in rocking your summer dresses in the cooler times of the year. We may or may not be familiar with the idea of a capsule wardrobe, so if we are not, a capsule wardrobe is essentially a collection of basic items in our closet that are interchangeable to help us maximize the number of outfits we can create. Let’s take a look at the numerous ways we can pull from our wardrobe and layer dresses to create new looks!

Rather than layering under a dress with a long sleeve, we can also layer over with a coat, sweater, or blazer! If we live in an area that gets particularly cold in the winter, it is SO important to invest in a good quality coat. We recommend sticking to coats in basic or neutral colors (black, gray, white, or cream). This way we can maximize the items we pair with it. If we work in an office or more professional setting, then layering with blazers or sweaters can also be a great way to dress up our dresses in a warm and appropriate way.

Tights are another great way to stay warm in a dress in winter, but rather than just wearing sheer tights (which let’s be honest, don’t really do much to help keep you warm) have you heard of fleece lined tights? One fantastic hack to stay warm while wearing tights in winter, is to invest in fleece lined tights/leggings that are skin colored OR are faux translucent fleece tights. These babies are a GAME CHANGER! They create the illusion of wearing sheer black tights, when in reality you are staying nice and warm in fuzzy cozy leggings.

Wearing scarfs in the winter helps protect both your neck and face from getting too cold! Another really fantastic thing about scarfs is that they can be styled and worn numerous different ways. Whether it’s tightly wrapped or loosely draped around your neck, worn as a wrap, or even just tied around your arm, styling a dress with a scarf can help you stay warm and looking fab.

Boots are another fabulous way to style up a dress in the winter. Whether it’s a cute ankle, calf, or over the knee length boots, wearing boots is a great way to style a dress in the cooler months. Hot Tip: If you are wearing longer books you can sneakily wear long socks underneath your boots for added warmth!

Don’t let the print of a dress dictate whether or not it can be worn exclusively during certain times of the year. For example: yes, traditionally florals prints are typically worn during the spring (Insert sarcastic quote from Devil Wears Prada “florals in spring… groundbreaking.”) Well actually there are ways to style floral outside of the spring and summer months! Try pairing a floral dress with a leather or denim jacket along with a scarf or fleece-lined tights. Don’t be afraid to take risks when it comes to fashion!

Sweater or Knit dresses are also a great investment for fall and winter fashion. They provide the cute silhouette of a dress while also the functionality of a warm textile. Sweater dresses also pair incredibly well with scarfs, hats, and tights!