Make sure it has pockets

A coat without pockets is even worse than Friday without fun… You might not buy this tip now, but no coat, no matter how perfect, without pockets isn’t going to make you rue the day you bought. Especially when you’re struggling your way across a snowy and icy road in the winter, with no pockets to tuck your cold hands into…

Tip #1: Practicality trumps fashion

You can probably survive through December in an on-trend coat that’s only “officially” warm. You can probably convince yourself that January is not that cold either if you can just get through it. But by the time February hits you with the snow and blizzards and it’s still below zero, no fashion on earth is going to keep you warm as you’re outside. The idea is to find something stylish that’s also insanely warm.

So, practicality wins this time.

All in all, you can see a wide sel

As early as December (yep) I at last ventured to start my winter coat search. This one being my fifth winter spent in Des Moines, Iowa, which means it’s finally time to nail it. For my first cold season, I had no idea how cold a blizzards-blast this state and the city could actually be.  So being low on the cash at the moment, I ended up just wearing everything I owned at once. Unfortunately, that list included piling 3 lighter coats on top of one another. My second winter was much less of a winter (my fellow New Yorkers, people in the city I’ve moved from and who came to visit me, remember the lovely, mild thing that was winter 2011-2012, right? The third time was not a charm, as the weather has gotten so cold that I gave up entirely and bought one of those delightfully warm head to ankle Uniqlo numbers. These ones, which turn you into looking like you’re rolled up in a sleeping bag with the face and feet cut out of it. To be true, it was effective, but it was ugly as all get out. And the perfect winter coat should keep you warm AND look good. Because I have to believe that we live in a world where we CAN have it all. I have to.