The Closet Coach

First Lady Michelle Obama shows how to sparkle for the holidays with large drop earrings

Whether you’re making the rounds of office Christmas parties, looking forward to New Year’s Eve, or simply celebrating the arrival of the winter solstice (yay longer days!), chances are you’ve got at least one occasion to dress up this holiday season.

And what holiday outfit doesn’t look better with a little glitter and shine?

Here are 3 quick (and inexpensive) ways to add a little sparkle to your holiday outfit:

1. Put on a cocktail ring. Leave your regular rings home for the evening and slip something bright and chunky on. Big flashy fun rings often look good on the first finger instead of the ring finger. One is plenty, though; two or more can be a bit too Henry VIII.
2. Go big with your earrings. The beauty of costume jewelry is that more doesn’t cost more. Now’s a great opportunity to break out the chandelier earrings; the First Lady was recently seen rocking a pair at a White House Christmas concert. Why not you?
3. Try an ornamented hair accessory. If you have long hair, twist it up and slip a rhinestoned pin into the chignon. Short hair? Try a decorated headband; just be sure to leave some hair in front of the ears so the whole headband isn’t visible. You want to look Hot Girl, not schoolgirl.

Normally I’d argue for restraint and point out that it’s probably best to wear just one of these at a time. But if you’re feeling especially festive, what the heck, give 2 or 3 a try. Just be sure to check the resulting look in the mirror before you sally forth lest you appear to be competing with the Christmas tree for ornamentation.

Your Turn

• Those are my tips. What are yours?

Whew! I’m back from my 10-day, 3,000-mile winter trip which means I’ve road-tested my packing list in the real world. So how did my recommendations of what to pack for a 10-day winter trip hold up?

Quite well, I’m pleased to say.

What worked well

I had more than enough options to create different outfits every day without feeling like I was repeating myself too much. And I had enough layers to be comfortable in weather that ranged from cooler-than-expected but still mild for late November to downright freezing.

Best of all, everything really did fit in one Samsonite four-wheeled pilot case. (Which I love love love! I’ve gotten my money’s worth on this trip alone.)

What I’ll change next time

The next time I take a winter trip of this duration, I’ll make a few small changes:

• More neutral long-sleeved shirts. I took one grey, one white and one red. I wore the grey one several times, but the other ones just once apiece.
• Fewer cardigans. I brought a grey hoodie plus two different cardigans. I really only needed the hoodie and one other cardigan.
• More short-sleeved T-shirts. I wound up wearing the short-sleeved T-shirt I brought as a layering piece more often than I expected; next time I’ll bring at least one more.

Your turn

• When you take a winter trip, what do you pack in your carry-on?
• And what’s your favorite bring-aboard piece of luggage?

Behold as I try to fit 10 days' worth of outfits in a suitcase this size!

Packing for a trip is a very special breed of wardrobe planning. It requires shopping from your closet for the fewest number of garments that will give you the greatest amount of wear.

This is especially true the longer your trip, and the greater the number of locations you will visit.

Throw in a couple of different climates–and try to fit it all in a carry-on to avoid baggage fees–and you’ve reached a difficulty rating of 10 out of 10.

Watch, my friends, as I attempt to perform this triple-somersault-with-a-twist of packing: 10 days, 3 cities, 2 different climate types and 1 carry-on.

Can she do it? Behold! (And ask me again after I get back … :))

What to pack for a 10-day winter trip

Note: I’m only focusing on wearable items here; I could write a whole other post about accessories, toiletries and the like. (And maybe in the future I will.)

• 2 pair jeans
• 1 pair pants, neutral color
• 2 tissue-weight turtlenecks (great for layering and less bulky to pack)
• 1 set long underwear (to take my layered outfits from Texas deserts to North Carolina mountains)
• 4 long-sleeved T-shirts
• 3 short-sleeved T-shirts
• 2 cardigans
• 1 medium weight sweater
• 1 button-down shirt
• 1 sweater vest
• 1 pair pajamas
• 1 leather jacket
• 1 down vest

So how does this work? In warmer climates (60s during the day and 40s at night), I can layer up with two T-shirts plus a cardigan in the day, and add the leather jacket or even just the down vest at night. In the mountains, where the temperatures will be 20 to 30 degrees colder, I can add my long underwear as a base layer underneath everything and wear both leather jacket and down vest. If I’m really feeling cold, I can even add the sweater vest as well.

Because everything is a knit fabric, I can fit more in my suitcase by rolling items up and stacking them. I’ll wear my leather jacket to the airport to save packing space and to stay warm on over-cooled airplanes.

Now pardon me while I go pack my suitcase to make sure everything fits!

Your Turn

• What are your packing tips and tricks?
• What would you bring on a trip like this?

Warm clothes can save you from deep snow, freezing cold

Usually I think about clothes for their form, not their function. How can they make me look? How can they make me feel? Who do they make me?

But as I write this from my home in the DC area, we are under an actual National Weather Service blizzard warning. It’s our fourth snowstorm in less than 2 weeks.

Two of them were pretty dustings. The third, dubbed “Snowmageddon” or “Snowpocalypse” buried us but was mostly inconvenient.

But this one is actually a little bit scary. The wind is howling and snow is blowing. Travel is not inconvenient; it’s impossible.

My husband and I ventured out into it this morning to clear some snow off our roof, fearful of possible collapse. We had to put on layers of long underwear, snow pants, turtlenecks, gloves, down jackets, hats and even goggles.

It made me realize that in this case, the difference between windburn or frostbite was our clothes. They needed to be functional. It didn’t matter what they looked like.

If we lose power in this storm, it could be hours or days if it’s restored. Power crews can’t go out in this. Again, what we wear may become vitally important. Standing between us and freezing temperatures will be our clothes.

If you’re also in the mid-Atlantic, I hope you’re safe and warm.

Tell me:

• Have you ever counted on your clothes to keep you safe?
• To save your life?