How to Shift Your Wardrobe: Late Winter to Early Spring
Growing up I had one set of clothes. Maybe that was just a product of the times (80s & 90s), or my locale (rural PA), or my family’s socio-economic status (I tease we were dangling from the bottom rung of middle class). Regardless, that imprint has taken a very long time for me to leave behind. In fact, it is only recently that I realized there are at least two very distinct versions of how I dress.
Fall/Winter Brenn loves layers and rich colors: burgandy, navy, charcoal, olive, and, rarely, black, as well as thick fabrics like corduroy, moleskin, denim, suede, wool. And, of course, all the boots.
Spring/Summer Brenn is all about flamboyant bright pastels: pinks, blues, purples, and buttery yellow. Short shorts and tank tops. Slide sandals or blucher mocs or classic sneakers.
The realization that my wardrobe felt “off” a lot of the time because of this difference was eye-opening. No wonder I felt such a dissonance. I never let myself be these two very different versions. Little surprise that shoulder seasons were the hardest to navigate. This year I’ve got a new experiment in the works to bridge the distance.
Late Winter through early Spring is the perfect time to begin testing this approach. The days are full of bright, but patchy, sun. The air is still cold. The gusting wind is still biting, but the first flowers are pushing their way up through the earth and the birds are singing. I want my bright colors, damnit, but it is too fricking cold to toss my sweaters in the storage bin for the season. Enter the brightly colored (but still cozy) warm layers.
Here’s where I’ve had to struggle past the obstacle of my upbringing. It feels odd to buy an item that I know will have a sort of short useful period. Ok, wait. That is never true in the summer or winter. I have no problem buying shorts or a swimsuit even though I only use those a couple of months out of the year. Same with a new coat. BUT, the shoulder season items feel different, perhaps because their season is really two seasons that are separated by summer. Instead of a consecutive 2-3 months of wear, these items might have 2 months early in the year and another at the end of summer. I’m pushing past that old resistance this year. What I know is that I want to be both bright and warm for the next couple of months.
I’ve talked before about how clothing is actually a reflection of what’s on the inside. This is another instance the choice of what to wear is more meaningful than what the end result looks like. (Yes, of course, I’m going to talk about feelings now.) Stuffing myself into clothes that don’t feel good just because I happen to have a closet full of those clothes is a small choice to ignore my authenticity. Sure, I know. That’s awfully deep for a post about clothes. But, for me, it’s true. Every day that I get up and pick an outfit and then shrug my shoulders and go, “Meh, it’s fine” is a day that I’m ignoring an inner need. A day that I’m settling for “fine” instead of feeling that flood of confidence and joy that comes with feeling good in my outfit all day. You can see a literal difference in my whole stance on these days: head up, shoulder squared, eyes ahead and ready to take on the world. That is the woman I want to try and find every morning when I’m picking an outfit.
So, what does this experiment look like? I live in the Midwest where Spring means cold and windy days and the overnight temperature still drops below freezing into the first weeks of May. This weather is very different from Raleigh, NC where I spent 15 years and Spring came early and stuck around. Here, Spring is more of a dial than a switch. One day will be very warm and the next sunny but cold.
Since there will be a healthy portion of reliably cold days, I’m starting off with sweaters that are still thick enough to be warm, but in the bright colors that Spring/Summer me craves. I’ll shift from navy to lighter blues. Burgundy and maroon will give way to purple and mauve and light pink and coral. Charcoal fades to light gray. And butter yellow will show up but in warm fabrics like cotton sweaters and thick long sleeve polo shirts. Maybe olive softens into mint green. Another subtle change can be swapping out plaids with more nautical themed stripes. A navy sweater with white stripes hints towards summer while staying firmly on neutral ground. Likewise, thinner or lighter sweaters can replace thick wool or heavy cotton. Lighter wash jeans in thinner weight fabric can step in for the stiff dark denim that works so well in Winter. Perhaps even a solid lighter colored flannel shirt will join the party.
I think one of the keys here will be keeping the majority of each outfit neutral using the same navy, khaki, olive, tan, and even (rarely) black. I don’t want to look like an Easter egg, so the injection of brighter colors needs to be limited. Sometimes, maybe it’s just a bright and cheery ballcap. Other days, a warm coral-colored sweater matched with navy pants or a cornflower blue sweater layered under a neutral light jacket. I want to slowly merge my two high season preferences into a new middle ground look.
The underlying principle for all of this is a shift in intention. It’s deliberate choices driven by the desire to pull from two very different parts of my closet. Maybe choosing a sweater in a different fabric is a subtle change, but it evidences the internal drive to express the hopefulness and brighter outlook of Spring over the quieter and more cozy inflections that make Fall feel so comfy. It comes from the need to intertwine the usually opposing aspects of my wardrobe and make them a cohesive and comfortable way to express my style.
Bright and warm. That’s the aspiration for my Late Winter/Early Spring wardrobe. I’m excited to see where this path winds. And I will certainly be stopping to appreciate the blossoms along the way.
