Winter Wardrobe Essentials for Women

Do you look forward to winter all year long, or do you dread it? If you're the kind of person who likes to have fun with their clothes, then you probably anticipate the colder months for the chance to add new fabrics and layers to your style mix. If, on the other hand, you'd rather have grab-and-go outfits, the upcoming winter months could be somewhat stressful

Regardless, this following guide that reveals the items every great winter wardrobe requires should be very helpful. Just keep in mind that when these winter wardrobe essentials for women are combined, you'll be fully prepared to handle everything the cold season throws at you and look great while you do it.

Start at the Top: A Selection of Hats

Winter hats are a must-have for many reasons: They help to keep you warm; they allow you to highlight the fashion statement you're making, and they can easily help you hide your bad-hair-day moment.

Winter hats tend to come in styles that are sporty, such as a fleece headband (believe it or not, that counts as a hat!). These can be ultra-feminine and romantic, and come in sweet shapes like a cloche. Or they can just be cozy and adorable when you pick options like thick knits with insulating features and even earflaps. The choice is all yours.

A Solid Foundation: A Choice Of Boots

There are so many ways that women's boots can work with your wardrobe every winter. First up, there's functionality—if there's snow, the right pair of winter snow boots will keep your feet warm, dry and give you the traction you need to firmly stand on the ground (and the rest of you off of it!).

There are also the style possibilities of boots. A great boots collection should include pairs that are both functional and stylish. Their styles can range from when you need them for shoveling the driveway and making a dramatic, all-eyes-on-me fashion statement to putting a pulled-together look for work.

Loads of Layers: Sweaters in Multiple Weights

Sweaters are the heart of winter-weather layering. The sweaters you need for a super useful winter wardrobe should include warm base layers like turtlenecks in lighter materials for wearing under other items. There are also mid-layer sweaters like thicker turtlenecks and crewnecks that can be worn on their own or layered over or under another top. Lastly, there are top layers, which can be as thick and warm as the weather allows—options include ultra-soft cashmere or super-thick cable knits as they're all great choices for pairing with lighter sweaters underneath.

These different sweater styles can be mixed and matched to fit winter forecasts and whatever events you may have on the calendar.

A Finishing Touch: An Awesome Coat

The style and fabric of the winter coat that you choose should reflect both your style sensibility and your environment.

Once you've found it, you'll see that having a good winter coat will keep you warm and fashionable right up until spring. In fact, when you're running errands, a winter coat can even hide a less-than-perfect outfit underneath—we see you, holey sweats for a grocery run!

Choose a winter coat that matches the style of your winter outfits (dressy options if you're dressed up; casual choices if you're not) and your favorite color schemes so that the coat can feel like part of your daily outfit, and not like an afterthought.

Finally, be sure to look at the "bulk factor" of what you plan to wear underneath it. You definitely don't want to feel constricted when you wear a thick sweater underneath your winter coat or feel chilly breezes slip up your arms when your bottom clothing layer is too lightweight.

The Outfit Makers: Scarves & Wraps

Now only can scarves and women's wraps work as accessories for a finished outfit—whether it's a cocktail dress or a t-shirt, to give it some fashionable oomph—but they can also serve as their own layer of clothing, especially when you wear them with fabrics like wool, which add cold-fighting superpowers to your wardrobe with surprisingly little bulk.

Choose scarves and shawls that can perform both tasks well. Pick warm materials like wool if you face chilly indoor environments during the day, or go with lighter fabrics in colors and patterns that give you plenty of style choices if you just want to give a little burst of color to a regular outfit.

Play with your scarves and wraps to find unexpected outfit combinations. Put colors and patterns together just for fun to see if there isn't any untapped potential in the clothes you already have. Try different knots for tying them or jewelry to accent them and you just might uncover hidden outfits you hadn't considered before!