The sales season is already on and it’s a good moment to update your wardrobe. Before recommending a shortlist of four pieces worth buying this period, I would like to give you two tips which help me during my personal shopping sessions.

#1 Invest in long-lasting items, even if not trending

These pieces will not change your life nor your style, but they will be easy to wear from January to March, and then from November to March 2019. When trying on or choosing a clothing item, think whether it can match some shoes, knee-high boots, if you can wear it with a denim jacket, but also with a heavy cardigan.

This means you should also avoid items that are very season-specific. Colored faux fur, fringe sweaters, dresses that have two or three side prints, red knee-high boots have been this winter’s top choices, but in a year, they will look old-fashioned. This matters especially if you want to get inspired from what’s trending when putting together your outfit.

#2 If you don’t set yourself a budget, make a list of what you wish to buy

The shopping list will play the role of a compass: it will guide you and you will manage to be time- efficient when shopping and in the fitting rooms, but especially to fill the gaps in your wardrobe. You have four choices:

– You can take a quick look in your closet and notice what is missing (but realistically, depending on the daily activities and the outfits you usually wear)
– You recall outfits from this cold season (or even last winter) and you said to yourself: “how good it would have been to have (insert item here) now…”, or “this outfit looks better combined with…”;
– You can read blogs or magazines that recommend top clothing pieces for a winter wardrobe and select whatever suits you;
– You can remember the last shopping sessions, when you were tempted to buy items exceeding your budget, but which you can now find at a different price.

And because shops now have fantastic offers and those are still in stock, here is what you should buy without looking back.

A quality quilted jacket or a coat with an impeccable cut

You will find in shops a variety of colors, cuts and lengths. Mid-length quilted jackets, with or without hood, have three A-list qualities: they will hug you completely, almost like a blanket, which means supreme comfort in the very cold days, can have some details that combine casual style with usefulness (an elastic belt, the pockets, the faux fur collar, in some cases the color or the metallic finish of the material) and last but not least, they are as light as a snowflake.

If you already own a quilted jacket for casual and sport outfits, focus on a mid-length coat, with a beautiful cut. This way every day outfit will look elegant and chic. You can also wear it over a cocktail dress (January and February are eventful months!) and, if chosen carefully, you could wear it for years without looking out of fashion.

Mango quilted jacket: 199 lei | Massimo Dutti quilted jacket: 899 lei |  long quilted coat: 399 lei; Stefanel quilted coat: 899 lei |  Zara quilted jacket: 279 lei |  Boss Orange, Collective quilted jacket: 1.329,99 lei

Massimo Dutti camel beige coat: 1.199 lei |  Nissa red coat: 699 lei |  H&M oversized red coat: 479 lei | Marks and Spencer’s plaid coat: 699 lei

A new office bag

If any other article from this list makes you wonder how often you will wear it, a new bag is definitely worth the investment. Your objective is to find a quality bag, which you can match with as many outfits as possible (from Monday to Friday, sometimes even during weekends), that has an easy to combine color (no, black is not the most versatile color and I imagine you already have one in your wardrobe!), that can last at least until the end of the year. If the price seems excessively high, calculate this: divide the price with roughly how many days you’ll wear them. If you think specifically about the cold season (November to March), this means approximately 150 days. You will discover, that, in fact, the daily cost of the bag is lower than your favorite coffee’s.

My recommendation is to choose a color, shape or different size from the rest of the bags that you have in your wardrobe. Otherwise, how can you say that you’re doing a wardrobe update?

If you are used to wear black, navy blue, or brown, look for strapped leather with snake print, burgundy, olive green, matt bronze or grey.

Tilda Bag Musette (metallic dark bronze or dark silver): 679 lei | Mango suede olive green bag: 299 lei | Anna Cori burgundy backpack: 496 lei | Il Passo Bag: 599,20 lei

A blazer or a “statement jacket”

Because surely you own some heavy pullovers, as well as office shirts, casual T-shirts, sports hoodies and comfy cardigans, I recommend you should add a very elegant blazer or another model of a special coat to the list. It is the piece that rapidly transforms even the most ordinary outfit (jeans& white t-shirt). You can choose either a velvet coat, a brocart kimono, a sequinned jacket, or an embroidered satin bomber.

Sequinned bolero jacket, Mango: 299,90 lei | velvet black blazer with belt, Zara: 149,90 lei | green velvet blazer, Zara: 229, 90 lei |  Massimo Dutti white jacket: 319,00 lei | navy blue velvet blazer, Nissa: 599 lei

A pleated skirt

You can wear it all winter long with thick tights, pullovers and cardigans, boots and ankle boots, and in the warm season with t-shirts, light pullovers, denim shirts, sandals, cut out ankle boots, high heels and even canvas sneakers. To distinguish it from the other skirts in the closet, choose either a particular color, or an unexpected kind of material (velvet, lace, metallic finish).

Zara pleated skirt with metallic stripes: 79,90 lei | Zara grey plaid pleated skirt: 129,90 lei | Mango golden pleated skirt: 119,90 lei