How To Transition Your Wardrobe From Winter to Spring
I know I’m not the only one who is affected by too many cloudy days. In winter we have less sunlight than ever, and then you add the rain and the snow and it can really affect your mood. Seasonal affective disorder is a very real thing. A few months ago I shared about my struggle with anxiety and depression and how I got help very quickly through a telehealth company. I did it from the comfort of my own home and within a few days I felt an improvement.
If you’re struggling with seasonal affective disorder, please reach out to your healthcare provider, or a telehealth provider. The one that I used is called GetCerebral and it’s only available in the US, but hopefully there are options where you live because you don’t have to suffer. I have tried to be vocal about this because I feel so passionately about this, and I didn’t know how bad it was for me until I had a screening and got help.If you’re interested, GetCerebral has a referral program and if you sign up with my link you can receive your first month of GetCerebral mental health care for $25, and I get up to $200 in credits with them. I’m only sharing this link to help others get the discount, and to make this as easy and accessible as possible to everyone who needs it.
This article and the video below are taken from the Stunning Style Weekly Style Snack! Join us Wednesdays at 1pm ET on the Stunning Style Facebook page or the FREE Capsule Wardrobes for Classic Style Facebook Group.
Tip #2: Brighten Your Days With Color
The calendar says spring is not due for…a while. But I’m ready to shed the winter blues, so what am I supposed to do? Growl like a hibernating bear who came out too early? Nope.
Sometimes we just have to stay in those heavy thick sweaters, boots and coats. There’s just no way around it, but we can use color to feel like spring is coming…eventually. You can’t fast-forward time, but you can transition the feel of your outfits to spring with your color palette and keep the weight and warmth of the clothes you need.
In this series I’m sharing a tip each week to help you transition your outfits from winter to spring-feeling, even when spring feels like it could never come. Last week I shared about how you can use pattern to bring more spring into your winter wardrobe, and today we will have a spring fling with color.
When we want to shed winter, we can get that vibe with color.
Step Away From Black
Black is my soul color. I love black but this is the time of year that I really stop wearing black and I transition to navy. It’s like the ever so slightly nicer and lighter sister to black and it lightens your outfits just a little bit. Let me show you.
I have this coat in two identical colors, black and navy. Just by switching to navy it lightens up my outfits just enough. Even though it’s snowing in the first pictures, it doesn’t feel as heavy and dark as the black coat would have.Â
Here are a few more navy outfits. The sky is the darkest in the winter, the sun sits lower and the shadows are darker. As we head towards spring, the sky lightens and the shadows become navy instead of black. It lessens the heaviness, so try it out and let me know if you notice a difference.Â
I switch from my black booties to my navy booties, I switch from my black bags to my navy bag. Switching to Navy changes the mood and season of an outfit, so that’s an easy tip. If you’re anything like me, if you own it in black you own it in navy as well.
Lighten Up the Rest of Your Neutrals
Most neutrals come in a spectrum of saturation from the very lightest to the very darkest. By choosing the lighter version of your favorite neutrals, you can lighten your whole outfit.Â
Instead of charcoal, espresso and camel, try the lighter versions. Even adding a metallic neutral can lighten things up really fast. All of these outfits are perfectly winter appropriate, but they’re lighter.Â
Wear More White
Wearing white jeans, a white sweater, white scarf, white coat, white anything paired with the other spring colors instantly lightens up an outfit.
Just add more white to your outfit. Wear some white earrings, wear more white in your patterns. White lightens things and it will instantly visually lighten your outfit.Â
If white feels too stark, especially on bottom, you can try a winter white or a stone khaki, light gray and other light neutrals.
Change Your Color Palette
I don’t mean that if you’re a winter color palette to start wearing autumn or spring or summer colors. Always wear the general color palette versions that flatter your skin tone. I’m talking about which colors from your color palette you choose. Basically I want you to think about Easter egg colors. Can you buy peeps in that color? Then it’s a yes. Include those brighter Easter egg colors like pink, yellow, green, blue, and purple in your outfits and pair them with navy and white and then mix them together, even in small doses, and suddenly it feels like spring. It doesn’t have to all be pastels either. Whatever your version is, choose those colors.
Especially when you pair these colors with lighter neutrals, thats where you can really see a difference.
Color Combinations
Another trick you can do with color is change up the color combinations you’re wearing. There are certain color combinations that bring things to mind, and you just can’t help it. If you’re in the United States, red white and blue brings out any patriotic holiday. Red and green automatically make you think of Christmas. Color combinations have meanings to us, so when you choose these combinations of what you would see in a spring bouquet or an easter basket, you’re going to subconsciously trigger thoughts of spring.Â
Some color combinations that you can try are pink and blue, pink and yellow, blue and yellow, pink and purple, purple yellow pink and green all of these color combinations say that spring is nearly here.
Wear More Color
In the winter I tend to wear less color overall. My clothes get darker with the days and sometimes my mood does too. In the spring we naturally start bringing out more color. When the days get longer and flowers start to come up we feel permission to wear more color and more colors together because thats what mother nature is doing. Think about all of the gardens and the flowers popping up around you. When we see that happening around us it gives us permission to do that with our outfits. I’m here to give you permission to get a head start on mother nature. You can start now. It doesn’t have to be in big giant doses, even adding a little more color can help and lift your mood. It doesn’t have to be head to toe, whatever you feel comfortable wearing is plenty.
I hope this gave you some ideas on how you can use color to influence your mood, to channel what you wish for, and what is coming. Spring will come, I promise. It happens every year. If you’re over winter, now is the time to use the colors of spring to fake it until we make it.
I would love to know how you use color to brighten and lift your mood. How would you brighter days with your wardrobe? Share it with us in the comments!
4 thoughts on “How To Beat The Winter Blahs With Your Wardrobe: Tip #2”
I love your clothes/wardrobe. The ensembles you put together are always very nice.
Thanks a lot. You give me very good ideas. Let us try to do so.
Thank you for all the suggestions. I think many of us will be wearing the same coat and boots, the ones that are adequate for the temperatures and precipitation we face. But perhaps we could change the gloves, headwear, and umbrella to more colorful versions. And as far as lighter colors and white, on the lower half of my body, darker colors will remain on any days I face melting snow and mud. Perhaps on a bright, sunny winter day lighter neutrals might be wearable, if I have them in a warmer, thicker fabric such as corduroy. I will add the lighter neutrals and brighter colors up top to bring some spring to my outfits.
Wonderful advice! I have dragged out my brighter sweaters to wear on dreary days! And I have a winter white wool coat that I wear to church on Sundays in place of my usual black one. I have even dragged out a bright colored purse to carry on overcast days to brighten my mood!