My bandwidth for focusing on style — let alone posting about it — has been somewhat limited this year but I cannot resist the allure of the year-end wrap-up/look ahead so here goes.

Best thing about 2025 style-wise was my adoption of seasonal style personae — Urban Snow Queen in deep winter and Fisherwoman of Northern Seas in cold spring. Lots of fun, and provided some useful focus in terms of both shopping and dressing. I look forward to the return of the USQ in a few days! I have ideas about personae for other seasons, and hopefully will be able to realize them a bit more fully in 2026.

A somewhat unexpected style struggle, aside from the lack of bandwidth, turned out to be quest (though “quest” is probably overstating it which is maybe part of the problem) to expand my outerwear and bag capsules. These are not areas of my wardrobe I have focused much on in the past so while I did make a few purchases in each category I find myself still defaulting to the ole blue gear puffer and teal nylon crossbody. I think I am still on the steep end of the learning curve!

For 2026 I am not making any major changes. Just trying to be more consistent and intentional about getting dressed, and more thoughtful (as ever) about shopping. I am embracing having a relatively sizable thrifted wardrobe. It works for me, by which I mean that much like democracy it is the worst possible strategy except for all the others that I have tried.

I do feel that I still have a hard time prioritizing purchases — especially around buying one more expensive thing that will really move my wardrobe forward vs. like 3 cheaper things that are not as transformative. And buying what’s easy and satisfying (knitwear) vs. what’s harder and more needed (pants). 2026 should probably be a year of bottoms for me!

I’m not making any hard and fast rules though or issuing any strict challenges. For now anyway. I reserve the right to change my mind, January 1 is not the only day of the year when you can start fresh!

I’m including with this post some outfit pics from various holiday events. After a *very* scattered fall we had family in town and lots of outings over the holidays which gave me opportunities to plan outfits and dress up, and I had fun with it:

• Photo 1: black cotton-silk bias-cut skirt, Nordic mock-neck pullover, black patent stompy boots, bonkers earrings made from a recycled biscuit tin. Here is the Etsy seller. (To pre-holiday meetup with my writing group.)
• Photo 2: black cotton-silk bias-cut skirt, fuchsia pullover, burgundy patent ankle boots. Not in the picture but I wore the reindeer earrings again with this ensemble. (To solstice party at a friend’s house.)
• Photos 3-6: vintage wool black watch skirt, fuchsia pullover, burgundy ankle boots. In the past I have been reluctant to pair black watch plaid with reddish tones but suddenly for some reason I love it now? Possibly inspired by Suz’s recent red/plaids outfit which I don’t think I managed to comment on directly. (To an all-day poetry reading.)
• Photos 7-9: jeans, black watch plaid buttonup, burgundy cable-knit cardigan. See, more black watch + red. Black watch plaid emerged as a signature this holiday season and I enjoyed carrying that through. (To host casual soup dinner on Christmas Eve.)
• Photos 10-13: black watch skirt, vintage fair isle cardigan worn as a top, black patent stompy boots. (To Christmas Day brunch at my BIL/SIL’s place.)
• Photos 14-16: black cashmere pencil skirt, polar bear tee (did you all miss him? I did!), ivory waffle-knit zip cardi, stone stompy boots, more recycled tin earrings (gift from my SIL). (To Volunteer Park Conservatory to visit the largest species of bromeliad in the world [Photo 17], and host family for a yankee swap book exchange.)
• Photos 18-19: sweatpants and my new hoodie sweatshirt! (To laze about the house for a much-needed day of rest.)
• Photos 20-22: plaid silk skirt, velvet burnout top, black jacket-y cardigan, black tall boots. You can see I am kind of on the Ralph Lauren train too (none of these pieces are actually RL but it’s the vibe). (To a holiday-themed theater performance followed by dinner out with the whole fam.)
• Photos 23-24: jeans, slip-on clogs, sequined cashmere hoodie that I got for a screaming deal (To my BIL/SIL’s for a casual dinner to cap off the holiday season.)

I ended up with a fun little unintentional capsule here. I can see more possibilities for remixing these items too — I would kind of like to try the black watch skirt with the black watch buttonup, and the ivory cardigan over top. So I am already looking forward to next holiday season!

Thanks for looking and onwards to 2026!