As a disclaimer, this post is not about how to be fashionable-only how to stay warm. Moving back East from California three years ago was a hard transition. The three years I lived in San Diego were sun-filled and made me forget about Northeast winters. I wasn't so much shocked by the cold weather, because Philadelphia is much warmer than my Massachusetts childhood, but the city life threw me for a loop. In Western Mass, I always had a car to jump in, and never needed to walk outside for long periods of time. In the city you are stuck outside no matter the weather, and I realized quickly I would need lots of gear to make my commute less miserable. Five items above will save your life if you have a cold winter in the city ahead.
1. I look terrible in hats and have yet to find one that looks good on me. The above headband was purchased when I first made the move to Philly, and it has carried me through each winter. I find that as long as my ears are warm, I'm happy.
2. This jacket is anything but fashionable, but I'm so warm when I wear it I couldn't care less. My sister recommended I get this jacket after wearing it for 10 winters in NYC, and I'm glad I took her advice. It looks like a sleeping bag, but once you zip in it's impenetrable.
3. I'm not great at tying scarfs, and before I found circle scarfs I would always halfhazhardly toss the ends around my neck and hope they didn't drag in a puddle somewhere. Circle scarfs are easy to wear and extremely cozy.
4. Convertible gloves are my #1 necessity for the commute. When I wear mittens it makes it impossible to grab my Metro pass or check my phone or really do anything with my fingers. Ultimately I was taking my mittens on and off so much, that I ended up losing too many single mittens to count.
5. Knee socks under my jeans keep me so much warmer, and I love how soft JCrew's are. Of course if money were no object, I would probably just stick to cashmere socks. Could you imagine an entire outfit of cashmere? I would take that over George Costanza's fantasy of head to toe velvet any day.
