Get Your Purge On
Fashion stylist Shea Hurley feels that right now is the time to clean out your closet. It doesn’t have to be a complete overhaul: that is just too tiring a thought. The key here is to start small and manageable, if you are feeling overwhelmed by seasonal sadness. “I encourage a purge by donating or selling six to eight items specifically that do not fit and have been taking up space in hopes of resurrection,” says Hurley. That’s right, those pieces you are waiting to “fit into” again are weighing you down. Let it go, as Elsa would say. “Give these pieces a new life with someone else who will appreciate them,” she says, “and make space for you to see what you have and love.” Try and hit pause when you find yourself trend-shopping. Hurley has a great tip for this: pop items in your online shopping basket or ask them to hold them for a day at the store. Then, before pulling the trigger, check to see if your personal wardrobe has something similar that could be ‘reinvented’ to fit the part.
If not, do your research! “Look into fabrication and source of item,” Hurley says, “and try to find something better quality and/or more ethically produced that will last.” Buy things you can feel good about to replace the pieces in your closet that were just causing guilt and bad feelings. “Remember,” she adds, “quality not quantity.”
Add Some Colour
It’s grey outside – don’t add to that with a drab palette, says stylist Talia Brown Thall. Her prescription is simple, but powerful: “Find clothes that make you feel good.” She tells me about the bright yellow floral Canada Goose coat she has been wearing this winter. “It makes everybody happy,” she says, “I can’t tell you how many people stop me in the street to talk about the coat. Interaction is another thing that makes us happy as humans, and clothing can help make connections.”
Her other advice: “It’s going to be a long winter, get some fun socks. Puppies or rainbows, they are going to lift your mood!” A pop of colour on a turtleneck peeking out from under a suit helps make layering for the weather a bit more amusing. Throw on some stripes for variety. And when you just can’t do anything else, for heaven’s sake, she says, at least throw on a bright lipstick.
Have More Fun
Stylist Julianne Costigan is known for her outfit formulas, which she creates together with her clients. Her vow this winter is “trying to break some of the rules I’ve given myself over the years. I’m using style as a tool for self-discovery in 2025.” Her own personal working Mom uniform is: jeans, white shirt and blazer. “But instead of always doing the classic version of my ‘uniform’ I want to reinvent it with a bold-coloured blazer, a skirt instead of the denim I always go to and an embellished white shirt.” The frilly collared Chlo from Sezane, as seen on stylish women in New York and London, is just the ticket.
She explains her “wrong shoe theory” by saying that the best way to inject new life and energy into your outfit is to deliberately and fearlessly wear “the wrong,” or not the obvious, shoe choice: say a surprise pair of oxfords with ankle socks below a business skirt. (Plus tights, of course, it is Canada in winter.) “I’m also applying that unexpected touch to my whole look beyond ‘just my shoes,’” she says. “The most powerful outfits for me are the ones when I put two unlikely things together and it works.” Think: dresses over pants, that fabulous early-2000s mashup. This is also a practical look in this snow!
Shake Up Your Attitude
Speaking to stylist Peter Papapetrou always includes a healthy dose of empowerment about aging and the style possibilities you can find waiting around the corner. His mantra is “Never let age limit your style.” Wording matters, even in self-talk. “Replace the term ‘looking younger’” he says, “with ‘staying current’ – when you are current, you look modern, which translates to you feeling (younger).” Pay attention to current silhouettes, and strike the right balance on the body. Wider pants need a slimmer top half or a tuck to define the waist; oversized blazers need less volume on the bottom. Most importantly, he says, everything has to fit you correctly.
Getting clothing altered properly is a clear and concrete tip, but transforming your attitude is a harder overhaul. The only way to achieve this? “Stop giving a s*** what people say,” says Papapetrou, “and spend time on yourself, I mean really spend time on yourself.” If you can muster the energy, that means doing a rigorous and honest review of what you have in your closet, and then build a wardrobe, a functional one that works for your current body type. Try it all on, mix things together in front of the mirror, he says: make sure everything you reach for in the morning works on you. “Trust me,” he says, “your days will get better when getting dressed goes smoothly.
Lighten Up Your Makeup
It is counterintuitive: it’s cold, you want to cover everything up. But the fastest way to feel refreshed is to remember less is more in the makeup department. Makeup artist Tana D’amico says that lighter and more natural makeup has made a comeback. “The days of heavy contour and highlighting on a daily basis needs to be left in the past.” Sure, there is a time and place to amp-up the glam, and this is not to say that we shouldn’t contour or highlight altogether, but it feels like there’s a quiet revolution happening with the introduction of so many new products that are designed to use with your fingers. “At the top of that list are cream and balms, blushes that invite you to take the product from the container straight to your face and blend out with fingers. Easy-peasy,” says D’amico. Merit is a perfect example of this, with dome-shaped flush-balms designed to be dabbed straight onto cheeks, and creamy complexion sticks.Plus, besides the ease of application, many of their products can do double duty. In terms of foundations and concealers, beauty brands are seriously leaning into sheerer formulations that have a skin-care element to them, so they handle two, if not three, steps in one. I believe this is a reaction, and a rejection, of the mask-like skin coverage we were sold on by early influencers. “As we move beyond the pandemic years, it feels like people want things to simplify their lives and not to unnecessarily complicate them,” she says.
When we are at our lowest ebb, the simple act of looking after ourselves and focusing on our outward presentation can be astoundingly effective in lifting our spirits and turns around the impulse to lie in a heap in bed, doom-scrolling. The message from our experts is that a couple steps toward a fresh start will get us charged up to power through the end of winter. As they say in pro sports, “Look good, feel good, play good.”
Always asking questions,
—Leanne Delap
