A frosty temperature is no excuse

Just as a serious job is no excuse to ignore your appearance, neither is a drop in the temperature.

Over the past few weeks, I've received dozens of reader questions that in some way or another touched on the all-important and very timely issue of "how can I stay stylish when I'm freezing my funbags off?"

Before I present to you my own solutions to this fashion/function dilemma, let me first explain why you should trust my judgment on this issue.

Like many women with relatively low body fat, I have a serious circulation problem. The only sets of circumstances when the tip of my nose, my fingers and toes, and those other two aforementioned lady protrusions aren't steely-cold to the touch are when I'm either (1) in the shower (2) in Thailand (3) in the UVA-free tanning bed or (4) as I am right this second, in my apartment in head-to-toe sweats with the windows tightly shut and the thermostat set to 82°.

In short, I get cold quickly and I get cold often.

Despite having spent the better part of my formative years in a state where Summer passes by in the blink of an eye and Spring and Fall are wafer-thin bookends to the fat six months of wretched, biting-cold Winter, I am no more prepared than any of you when the daily high dips below my minimally acceptable 7-0.

So, how do I live with what has been described by those who have shared living quarters with me as a frustrating, selfish, even invented condition?

In addition to replacing those individuals with a four-legged life partner who doesn't have the option of using passive aggressive sarcasm to get his point across that yes, the apartment is too hot and yes, I do realize the curiousness of it being July and I'm wearing wool socks to bed, I have four basic rules that keep me toasty - as toasty as I'm able to get, anyway - during those Fall/Winter walks to and from work and even more important, that allow me to maintain the fashion-over-function lifestyle I so strongly advocate.

Rule #1:

Wear clothing that is high-necked and fitted, fitted, fitted. Not tight, but fitted.

Rule #2:

Wear thick, footless tights under all your trousers and jeans.

Rule #3:

Keep a neutral-colored scarf in every daybag. And no, silly Sally, I don't mean this sort of scarf.

Rule #4:

Only wear topcoats that have deep, lined, front pockets.

More thorough explanations and recommendations for each coming later in the day...