I had a noble aim to do an Autumn Edit post on my clothes, but this was a very weird autumn. In Brussels, it was so warm until the end of October that I was still wearing my summer clothes. Then I went to Lebanon where it was +27 degrees and when I returned, it was almost mid-November and an autumn post no longer felt appropriate. As some of you have also requested that I show my overall wardrobe situation, I have in the end written something that is a bit of both with some general ranting thrown in.

By-and-large, I keep my clothes in three places: in the big bedroom cupboard (most of my work wardrobe), on the hangers in the guest room (all my dresses) and in a chest of drawers (casual tops and knits, jeans, socks, underwear). My coats and other outerwear are downstairs in the hall, in a dedicated space.

I try to keep the cupboard rather tightly edited these days, at least by my standards. Everything in there should be seasonally appropriate, clean and ready to wear (this also means it needs to be something I want to wear). As December is horrible work-wise, I organised it a while back by outfits, so that I have ready-made options for at least 3 weeks. This has worked very well for me previously and it’s still working, but I have discovered that once it turns cold, this method is no longer fool-proof (of which more later). My everyday staples are (pleated) midi skirts, pencil skirts, cropped trousers, culottes, silk shirts, cashmere sweaters and blazers.

I keep my dresses on display for two reasons: 1) they don’t fit into the cupboard and 2) they look rather nice. As you can see from the pictures, I have one rail for my mid-length dresses and dress-coats and another for the long ones. The latter are all occasion dresses (I have some more casual ones too, but they are summery and therefore stored away) and I must admit my collection is in reality about twice the size, but quite a few of my gowns are in Tallinn. The shorter dresses cover both office and cocktail styles and I frequently wear the second category to work as well.

There is nothing noteworthy about my drawers (hence no pictures), they are from IKEA and mostly contain very mundane items. Unlike most style bloggers these days, I don’t own many pairs of jeans, although I am very much on a lookout for a blue straight-leg pair. I still think that Wolford is great for opaque tights and I make sure I have a pair of cashmere socks available at all times. While doing this piece, I realised that instead of that sequin skirt, I actually need to buy some new bras, as I’ve worn most of my current ones to death.

Opaque tights bring me to the rant element of this post. I am generally happy with my clothes and have to make an effort to fully understand people for whom dressing is not a joy and who haven’t figured out what they like or want to wear (I very much sympathise, I just need to consciously put myself in their shoes, as I don’t usually feel the same way). But there are times when I’m not happy with my clothes either and this is where I am now.

Winter is not a good time for me, stylistically speaking. On one hand, I am always cold; on the other, I like a streamlined silhouette – two things that are difficult to reconcile. I also don’t like to be very disciplined in my colour, pattern and shape choices, which is fine for the warmer times (I can always find a top, a bottom and shoes that work together, even if they are rather crazy), but gets pretty challenging in winter, as you also need a coat and a hat and a scarf and gloves. To create a coherent outfit in this situation is much easier to do when you stick to a limited palette and silhouette. On top of this, in winter one needs to wear most dresses and skirts with black tights, which severely limits the ways one can style them. This could be remedied with some cool tall boots, but these days I’m really not keen on sacrificing the comfort, especially as I’m still trying (and mostly failing lately) to get my 10 000 steps in every day. As a result, I end up looking much messier than I’d like on many days, especially on my way to work.

So here you go, an honest confession: I have been pretty frustrated with my clothes and how I look. Not deeply unhappy or anything, just unsatisfied. I feel that a bit more focus and clear thinking is needed in how I shop, to make sure that I have all the relevant bits to make my outfits work. If that means buying more hats and gloves and bags for the time being and less evening dresses and brocade skirts, so be it.

How is your winter dressing game? Any lessons or troubles? Anything else you’d like to know about my clothes and closets?