How to dress well in the winter
Finds and tips for Swaddle Season
Welcome to Concorde, a bimonthly edition of Blackbird Spyplane where Erin takes the lead. You could call it a women’s vertical, but the insights, intel and “cute swag information” transcend gender. The full Concorde archive is here.
Blackbird Spyplane’s guide to the Pants of the Year is here.
Our brand-new G.I.F.T.S. list is here.
If you’re one of our Northern Hemispheric Spyfriends, there’s a good chance that you are currently in the process of BUNDLING UP against the winter chill.
But how to stay warm amid all that bundling … saucefully and with style??
Today we’re tackling a Personal Concorde question about how to build un-boring winter outfits:
I’d love a Concorde about building your winter uniform, or something like that. Suddenly, fall is behind me, and I’m just wearing jeans and sweaters everyday. I feel like my fits are giving unseasoned chicken breast and I don’t know what pieces or accessories to buy and / or integrate into my existing wardrobe to bring the winter charm — Sam
Luckily for Sam, the foci of my (Erin’s) PhD in the Unbeatable Recon Sciences were accessories and layering: the two biggest areas you need to focus on when thinking about dressing for winter.
I’m going to throw out a slew of tips, moving through an outfit top → down (more or less)… I have decided to up the degree of difficulty for myself and the degree of utility for YOU by skipping coats entirely, and focusing on other, more nuanced and powerful strategies for winter-weather sauce. A caveat: Spyplane HQ is in Northern California, not North Dakota. My blanket tip for dealing with that kind of chill is to build up your insulation game from the “inside out” and work in some base layers in merino or capilene.
And by the way I’m calling out a ton of small makers — some of them especially small & under-the-radar, and some of them brand new, like just a few weeks old. All these makers are denoted by a ⛷️.
❤️⚠️☃️ Today’s Concorde is free, holiday spirit style, but normally it isn’t. As always, there are zero aff*liate links below. If something’s here it’s because it’s great, and because we are subscriber-supported. If you haven’t yet, join our Classified Tier to enjoy the full Spyplane experience. ☃️⚠️❤️
— Erin & Jonah
1. HEADPIECES
Like shoes, hats can make an outfit feel properly punctuated and, what’s more, they insulate the d*mn dome. We’re still in a serious balaclava period (even The Row showed them for Fall 2023), though there are a ton of variations on the style, alternately called helmets, hoods and bonnets.
Amsterdam-based ⛷️Pien Studios has mohair / merino / silk-blend bonnets, pictured below bottom left, whose long ties can double as a scarf, here.
There’s also a baby alpaca balaclava by Cordera and a great knitted Paloma Wool bonnet.
Those who have voluminous hair or don’t like to muss it under a tight hat might want a looser bonnet, like this plaid fleece ⛷️Clyde piece. Or, you could tie a scarf on as a hood1 as seen with this colorblocked mohair scarf from Rachel Comey (pictured above right).
If you’re feeling rambunctious, or simply desire extra warmth, you could double-bag your headwear and put a hat on over a hood!! Jonah explored this method last year — peep his post about it, which includes Miranda from SATC in the bucket hat over a hoodie. Maybe you feel like topping a cashmere ⛷️Babaco balaclava with Cawley’s rad sheepskin beret (above bottom right)??
If you ask me, and in this case you literally did, beanies should reach for the high heavens and look as if a pillowy cloud has alighted on your head. Possibly the cloudiest of them all is from the Finnish line ⛷️Lena Rewell, whose mohair beanies (above middle left) are brushed with thistles to fuzz them out. ⛷️Atelier Delphine’s 100% baby alpaca one (above top left) is another beauty.
2. SWADDLE YOUR SHOULDERS
I explored the idea of inventive layering — using sweaters as scarves and capes, for example — back in January, and now I’m really seeing people on the street embrace it. What am I talking about? Peep the styling photos from ⛷️Maria McManus and the Copenhagen-based ⛷️Birrot, below. Both get it right by playing with monochromatic layers — like same-colored sweaters on top of one another — buttoned “incorrectly,” or knotted around the neck.
If you’re in the market for an exceptionally beautiful, soft and luxurious scarf, check out ⛷️Norlha, a small Tibetan line. Their specialty is yak khullu — which is not yak wool but rather “the ultra-fine, downy undercoat that keeps yak insulated during harsh Tibetan winters” — which they weave into all sorts of things, including oversize scarves that can be wrapped and worn a bunch of different ways, here.
Similarly versatile is Lauren Manoogian’s button stole — a wool / alpaca knit with buttons running down its sides, which lend it a PLETHORA of styling options. And up in Toronto, where they know a thing or two about the cold, artist Anni Araújo Spadafora is handweaving some beautiful scarves, like the goth-tartan one pictured above right, under the name ⛷️Mezza Mezza.
3. DOUBLE-BAG THE BOD
Layering a vest over a knit, turtleneck, button-down or sweater dress is a simple way to trap body heat without adding a lot of bulk. There are so many good vests this season, like: ⛷️Emma Rothkopf’s roll-neck2 knit vest pictured above left (available in cream here). For something slightly chunkier: Nest Robe, out of Japan, has a cable stitch tie-on gilet here, pictured above center. L.A.’s ⛷️Mijeong Park makes good layering pieces including this “neck warmer,” above right, which is like a tie-on dickey, here.
Natural-material-focused ⛷️Wol Hide — who have collaborated with the goated Sally Fox of Fox Fibre — make this open-sided vest (above bottom right) in a delicate lacy knit using wool and alpaca, here. And, ⛷️Album di Famiglia’s knit vest (above bottom left) has a looser body, so you could easily layer it over a sweater for some K.O.K.A. (KNIT-ON-KNIT ACTION).
Other ideas besides sweater vests: This bolero from Zero + Maria Cornejo’s fall collection, ⛷️Cecilie Telle’s felted lambswool ponchos / shrugs that I put in the very first Concorde, or even a ballet wrap sweater. I have a cashmere one I bought from Beklina last season but you can go straight to a dance company like Repetto or Capezio.
4a. BELT YOUR COAT
Real quick — you gotta belt your coat! Not only does it rein in volume, it traps heat. You can approximate Proenza Schouler’s fall runway belted looks — which Chloë Sevigny wore to open the show — using the leather cord belt from ⛷️Are Studio, here. It’s pictured below top center in red, as part of the slapping new collection of L.A.-based ⛷️Return to Sender, who I wrote about back in January, and who you should keep on your radar.
4b. GLOVES
Out of Chicago, ⛷️Brontë Charlotte launched their first-ever collection mere weeks ago, and I haven’t seen anything like this… Everything is handmade-to-order using deadstock silk dupioni.
Friends. The luster on this sh*t?? It would make John Singer Sargent weep. They only have a few styles at the moment — mockneck tunic, drawstring pants, a mid-length dress with pockets and padded balaclavas, and, pictured above, French-seamed mittens that look like something an effete lobsterer might wear. They’re ~$100 for a pair, DM to order.
How many times do you think ⛷️Lauren Perrin has seen Party Girl? Because Parker Posey as Mary would eat this up! Lauren’s based in London and she’s “keen on” bold patterns that she splashes all over gloves in various lengths and tights. I pulled out some relatively tame stripe shorties and hand-dye red opera length gloves, above bottom right, but a lot of her work is more in the Space Age / Op Art vein. She also makes cute clothing. All here.
5. FINALLY — EMBRACE BIG BOOTS… AND WINTER SHORTS & SKIRTS !!
A lot of people stop wearing skirts, dresses, and even shorts in winter because they think pants are warmer. But I might actually wear those pieces more during the fall / winter than any other time of year. The key is to cover all your nooks and crannies…
Go for a full or pleated skirt in a heavy material, like Maryam Nassir Zadeh and Tibi above right. BTW, with those 2 looks, see how good a slouchy sweater, rugby or sweatshirt can look with a skirt? There is nothing “unseasoned” here. Shout-out to the goat Miuccia Prada, who basically copyrighted this look.
If you want to feel like you’re walking around in a light duvet — who doesn’t? — check out Black Crane’s quilted skirt, above top left, here. They have matching quilted vests, tops and pants, along with a collection of thick cotton velveteen.
Shorts-wise, I’m talking about long ones or bermudas, like these pictured from Lemaire’s fall collection, top right above. Or, take a look at ⛷️Nomia’s faux leather shorts, on sale now here, and Our Legacy’s over-dyed jorts, here.
And as far as covering the nooks and crannies… Layering tights with knee-high boots is, for my money, warmer than any pair of pants.
For boots, look at MNZ (the ones pictured above are here), Margiela, Dear Frances, ⛷️Hopp, Rachel Comey (above) or LoQ. If you really want to ~GO THERE~, Y Project’s thigh-high denim scrunch boots almost do the job of pants all on their own.
For tights, I go for wool, cashmere, silk or blends of those materials in the winter. Wolford is the best, with a price to match, ⛷️Hansel from Basel has less costly cashmere tights here and Calzedonia has wool / cashmere ones currently at a steep discount. ⛷️Modus Vivendi makes beautiful handmade merino-wool knit leggings that look chic under long dresses pooling on the top of pumps, e.g. here.
And there you have it. See you next time!
P🕯️E🕯️A🕯️C🕯️E🕯️ — E&J
I was already a fan before you namechecked Parker Posey's fit in Party Girl, now I'm over the moon!
Kopka Accessories from Germany does great knit hats. No bonnets unfortunately!