Feel Like You've Lost Your Style? Here Are Six Winter Uniforms

The cheat sheet to *always* having something to wear

The beginning of the season usually comes hand in hand with some wardrobe melancholy. Even if we’re excited at the thought of what’s to come, we’re out of practice. We need to start training that layering muscle again, get reacquainted with how we tweak our look when the coat is the whole outfit and dust off those thermal pieces that have been gathering dust. We’re rusty, and we need reoiling.

So, seeing as winter is just around the corner, I thought I’d get in early and tick off my most important seasonal wardrobe exercise - creating my uniforms for the three months ahead. Liza first coined the ‘Seven Uniforms’ approach, and it’s become a practice that I rely on daily. It’s a cheat sheet stored on my phone, so easy to access anytime, which means that I *always* have something to wear - or at least riff off of. The idea is that you think about what occasions crop up most in your diary, and you create a uniform for each one. Maybe you need more than seven, maybe you need less? This time round, I’m doing six as I’ve removed my ‘Evening Work Event’ category because I don’t go to all that many: 1) I like to go to sleep at 9 pm, and 2) I still have seven seasons of Real Housewives of Atlanta to watch. So have a think, and feel free to tweak and create the scenarios that fit best for you. Here are my six:

• Childcare drop-off

• Errands

• Working from home

• Working from home - filming day

• Daytime work meetings & events

• Weekend

I’d suggest taking a full hour when you’re not in a rush and when most of your wardrobe is clean, washed, ironed and hung back up. Watch your favourite show, put on music or a podcast - have fun with it! Try to hone in on the practicalities of every outfit, so if you put on something and it doesn’t feel right, try again. Don’t snap the final uniform until it’s something you’re genuinely excited to wear - your future self will thank you for that one. Take a picture and save it in a separate folder on your phone so it’s easy to find when you need inspiration.

If you’re a Southern Hemisphere babe, I didn’t do an official ‘seven uniforms’ post in the summer, but there are plenty of summer outfit ideas here.

CHILDCARE DROP-OFF

Earrings* (ad - gifted) / jumper (similar*) / coat* / jeans (similar*) / loafers* (ad - gifted)

JUMPER + JEANS + BIG COAT + LOAFERS. I feel like this outfit remains the same throughout the year, just with more layers added if required. Drop-off and pick-up happen first thing or last thing, so I just want something that I can pull on in one minute without thinking about it. The polish gets added here with my earrings, which I rarely ever forget and my loafers (although I’d pull on a pair of leather boots if it’s wet). When it gets really, really cold, I’d layer up like this…

I’d add my hat* and scarf* when things get chilly.

ERRANDS

Earrings* / jumper* / vintage jacket / trousers* / bag* (ad - gifted) / loafers* (ad - gifted)

WARM JUMPER + SUEDE JACKET + COMFY TROUSERS + LOAFER + TOTE BAG. This is a genre of outfit that I gravitate towards a lot. Something to wear to pop to the supermarket, drop something around a friend’s house or pick up parcels. You know the drill. Although we’re talking winter uniforms here, I don’t like to be too hot and seeing as my errands mostly consist of being inside or in the car, I’ve gone for a lighter jacket here as I don’t like to be too bundled up when driving. But there’s still enough warmth from the jumper when you’re down the freezing supermarket chilled aisles. I thought this one through!

WORKING FROM HOME

Earrings* / jumper* / trousers* / slippers* (ad - gifted)

KNITTED JUMPER + KNITTED TROUSERS + HOUSE SHOES. I won’t go on too much about this outfit because I did a full matching set deep dive a few weeks back, but it’s the one I’ll wear most over the coming months. The set itself feels classic and undone, and the earrings add a bit of polish. I love the slippers, giving a touch of animal print interest, too. I’ve found having a pair of ‘house shoes’ has made the differentiation between a WFH outfit and my pyjamas stronger - it just elevates the whole thing. When I need to leave the house, I’ll layer it up like this…

To leave the house, I’d add this coat*, shoes*, scarf* and a more structured bag*.

WORKING FROM HOME - FILMING DAY

Earrings* / jumper* / belt* (ad - gifted) / jeans* / slippers* (ad - gifted)

CHUNKY KNIT + COMFY JEANS + INTERESTING BELT + HOUSE SHOES. Whenever I’m having a day of filming at home, I tend to wear jeans. It just mixes up my wardrobe a bit and makes me feel pulled together more on a day when I’m creating content that other people have eyes on. Two things - I do try to wear something lighter toned on my top half; it just helps me to look a little less grey on camera, and I like to wear something that has a bit of interest, albeit a chunky knit or a belt with a funky buckle, just so my outfit doesn’t look so flat on camera. If I needed to leave the house, I’d bundle up with this massive coat…

I’d wear it with my big oversized RAEY coat (😭!), Dragon Diffusion bag* and preloved Celine loafers.

DAYTIME WORK MEETINGS & EVENTS

L: Earrings* / jumper* / trousers* / coat* (ad - gifted) / boots* / bag* | R: Jumper* / jeans* / jacket* (ad - gifted) / bag* (ad - gifted) / shoes*

PRINTED COAT + JUMPER + WIDE LEG JEANS + BOOTS + SUEDE BAG or SHEARLING JACKET + JUMPER + JEANS + LEOPARD PRINT SHOES + WOVEN BAG. Usually once a week I head up to London for events and meetings and it’s almost like I have two vibes. Sometimes I want to feel more dressy and formal - lean into the ‘polished’ side of my three words more. After all, it’s often my only real chance of the week to dress up a bit. Or I want something on the other end of the spectrum - a little more ‘undone’. More ‘cool girl in London’ - who am I kidding? - where I’ll reach for my jeans and fun coat. So I gave myself two options here - both still comfortable and practical for a full day of travel, but for two different moods.

WEEKEND

Earrings* / T-shirt* / jumper* (ad - gifted) / vintage trousers (similar*) / shoes*/ coat* / bag* (ad - gifted)

T-SHIRT + OVERSIZED JUMPER + KNITTED TROUSERS + LEOPARD PRINT SHOES + SCARF JACKET. My weekends look a little different this winter as I’m less likely to be lugging a pram around in the cold, and more likely to be inside on my hands and knees building gravity-defying train tracks. So my uniform for the weekends these days don’t need to be so hardy. I still want to be comfy though, hence the elasticated waistband and oversized jumper. I don’t love to lug a load of stuff around and I can fit all our essentials in this bag, so it’s one I reach for a lot. In terms of a wet weekend day, then I’d tweak the uniform a little…

For a rainy day, I’d switch to a pair of jeans and my lace-up boots (the Dear Frances Park Boots, which are now sadly discontinued, although you can always find them preloved*).

One hour, six or seven selfies and there you have your very own personal lookbook for the season ahead. And you haven’t even had to buy a thing. Look at you - so organised!

Anna x