Crafting Your NOLA Winter Wardrobe

Nothing beats NOLA’s year-round warmth and sunshine and being able to wear jean shorts in December, but sometimes I feel a void in my fashion heart for cozy, cute sweaters and fun fur coats. It can be difficult to dress for the winter season without the usual winter weather, but here are a few tips on how to spice up your wardrobe this month and bring the cold to the warm!!

CHOOSING ONE STATEMENT WINTER PIECE

Shopping Zara’s winter collection was extremely hard for a NOLA girl; seeing all the amazing heavy jackets and faux fur accessories made me want to bundle up and go to cold weather. Even though it may seem that these types of pieces are impractical for school, you can make a lot of them work in your wardrobe. When dressing for winter, you can incorporate these seasonal items by choosing one statement piece that fits the season and then pairing it with clothing that fits the warmer weather.

For example, in this first look, I pair a leather jacket with fur (totally wintery especially with the blue accent), with a denim skirt, a t-shirt and funky booties. The trick is to be careful when picking your statement pieces. This jacket is absolutely perfect because it screams winter, but it is thinner, so it doesn’t feel so heavy in the southern humidity. The skirt and tee help the outfit fit the climate, and the booties are the ideal accessory to bring the two seasons together.

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JACKET: Target, T-SHIRT: Gap, JEAN SKIRT: Zara, BOOTIES: Zara

In this next outfit, I chose the fuzzy pink sweater top as my statement winter piece. The cozy fabric mixed with the t shirt cut makes it the perfect item for NOLA. Pairing it with the black and white hounds-tooth pants makes the look becomes more seasonally appropriate and comfortable for a chillier day. The sneakers keep it casual and funky to fit the typical Tulane style.

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SHIRT: Zara, PANTS: Zara, SHOES: Adidas

These are just a couple ways to incorporate that one statement piece. There are so many other ways to get creative; like wearing a winter hat with a cute dress and jean jacket, pairing a turtleneck sweater with jean shorts, and so much more. But this idea of choosing one winter item helps to incorporate all the fun of changing your wardrobe each season, while still dressing for NOLA weather.

WEARING WINTER COLORS AND PATTERNS

Nola winter weather can be very unpredictable. Yes, on some rare 50 degree days we actually have to break out the North Face and Patagonia jackets, but other days, it still feels like summer. On the days where you still feel like you have to wear more warm weather clothes, wear summer styles that have more wintery patterns/colors. For example, switch out your white and light denim jean shorts with black ones. Switch out your gingham patterns with plaid and cheetah print. Wear darker based florals. Wear a velvet bodysuit instead of a cotton one. All of these tiny adjustments not only make your wardrobe more appropriate for winter, but help you to change it up a bit and branch out from the same outfits you’ve been wearing all year up until this point.

I know this is especially true for going out at night. I feel that I still wear the same exact outfits that I wore in August; some sort of bodysuit or crop top with jean shorts or jeans. Make this basic look wintery by wearing black jeans instead of regular and wearing a new texture of a top. I absolutely love the top in the look below because it is sleeveless (keeping cool for those sweaty Boot nights ;) ), but the black and silver metallic fabric make it look seasonal for the holidays and creates an amazing Winter sparkle. Pairing it with a light leather coat if it gets colder will look fabulous! Other looks I like for going out in the winter are long sleeve mesh tops, velvet bodysuits, and pieces in colors like burgundy, navy, blush pink, and dark grey.

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JACKET: Zara, TOP: Zara, JEANS: Zara, BOOTIES: Nordstrom Rack

SWITCHING OUT YOUR WARDROBE

Packing for breaks can be difficult; trying to figure out what clothes you still need at school and what you want to bring home. I never know if I should bring back my shorts and Summer dresses because based on the warm weather, we can still wear them. Here are some helpful guidelines on what to bring home and what to bring back to school:

Bring Home:

-Summer dresses and tops

-white jeans/jean shorts

-sandals and espadrilles

-flowy shorts and skirts

Bring to School:

-light winter coats (leather, jackets with accents of fur, bomber jackets, etc.)

-black/dark jeans

-long sleeve tops/light sweaters

-booties and sneakers

Switching out a few things from your wardrobe every time you go home can help to make Tulane feel more like a seasonal school and get you more excited about getting dressed in the morning! Even if you are just switching out a flowy summer dress with another dress like this (that is more wintery because of the dark background and funky print), you are transitioning the simple item of a dress from summer to winter!!

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JACKET: Target, DRESS: Zara, BACKPACK: Marc Jacobs, SUNGLASSES: Ray Ban

Stay cool AND warm this holiday with these fun fashion tips. Choose your winter pieces wisely, have fun with new colors and prints, and recycle and reinvent your wardrobe to keep your style current and seasonally appropriate!!

xoxo, SOCO <3