What to Wear in London in January
London in January: 8°C / 46°F afternoons, 3°C / 37°F nights, rain on about 12 days, and department-store sales that run to mid-January.
- Forest-green quilted jacket — it folds over an arm in a heated shop and sheds drizzle outside
- Grey zip-front knit — unzip it on the shop floor instead of taking a layer off
- Navy striped button-down — what you are left in when the store runs warm
- Oxblood patent loafers on a lug sole — they slip off in a fitting room and shed rain on the pavement
- Black double-zip crossbody — both hands free for the rails, and shut in a crowd
- Olive zip-top nylon tote — every retailer in England must charge at least 10p for a bag
- A heavy wool overcoat — 8.4°C afternoons, and it spends the day over your arm
- Lace-up boots on a sales day — every fitting room turns into a wait
- A full-size umbrella in a department store — it drips on the rails
- Saving the sales for late January — most end in mid-January
Dress for the doorway, not the street. The Met Office's Heathrow record puts January at 8.4°C by day and 2.7°C / 37°F at night, the coldest month of the London year by afternoon temperature, with 59mm of rain and less than two hours of sun a day. That is mild for northern Europe. What January adds is the sales. Visit London says most department stores start them on 26 or 27 December and set provisional end dates in mid-January, so a shopping day runs from a wet pavement into a heated store and back out, again and again. A heavy coat becomes something you hold. Pack a quilted jacket that folds over an arm, a knit that unzips, shoes that slip off in a fitting room, a crossbody for your hands and a tote for the bags you would otherwise pay for.
London's January is too mild to dress for the street. Dress for the doorway between a wet pavement and a heated shop floor, because the sales take you through it all day.
The capsule
01Forest-green diamond-quilted jacket, corduroy collarCarried is the normal state of a coat on a sales day, so choose one that folds. A diamond-quilted jacket weighs a fraction of a wool overcoat, lies flat over an arm or in the tote, and sheds the fine drizzle that makes up most of January's wet days: NOAA's daily record for Heathrow counts about 12 days of 1mm or more and only about 7 above 2.5mm. Turn the corduroy collar up against the wind on Regent Street.
02Heather-grey ribbed zip-front knit, baseball collarUnzip rather than undress. A ribbed knit with a full-length zip opens on a warm shop floor in one movement and closes again at the door, where the air is 8°C / 46°F and damp. That beats a crew neck you have to pull over your head in a crowded aisle. Grey goes under forest green and over a navy stripe without competing with either.
03Navy cotton button-down with a fine white stripeThis is what you are left wearing when a store runs warm, so it has to look finished on its own. A navy button-down with a fine white stripe is smart enough for tea at Fortnum & Mason, lies flat under a zip knit, and its collar stays put under the scarf. Navy also hides a coffee splash from a crowded café counter better than white.
04Dark indigo straight-leg jeansLondon wears jeans to everything short of a formal dinner, and dark indigo hides the grey spray a wet pavement throws up the back of a hem. A straight leg that stops at the ankle clears the loafers and the water pooled at every kerb. Denim also takes a day of standing in queues and fitting rooms better than pressed wool.
05Oxblood patent loafers on a lug soleA fitting room with a queue is no place for laces. Loafers slip off and on in seconds, patent leather sheds rain that would soak into suede, and a chunky lug sole grips wet paving and painted crossings between Oxford Circus and Bond Street. Oxblood is the colour in an outfit of forest green, grey and indigo.
06Black pebbled-leather double-zip crossbodyBoth hands belong on the rails. A black pebbled-leather camera bag with two zipped compartments sits at your hip with a card, a phone and the receipts, and stays shut in the press at a store entrance. Worn across the body, it stays put when you pull a knit over your head in a fitting room.
07Olive nylon tote with a zip topRetailers of any size in England must charge at least 10p for a single-use carrier bag, and a paper bag goes soft in the first shower. An olive technical-nylon tote that zips shut keeps purchases dry between shops, takes the quilted jacket when a store is warm, and folds into the suitcase for the flight home.
08Red-and-black buffalo-check wool scarfOne loud piece, and the cheapest warmth in the bag for a 2.7°C / 37°F walk back from the West End after dark. Wound once, it closes the jacket's open collar; unwound, it goes into the tote at the shop door, which is where most of the day's temperature changes happen. Red picks up the oxblood of the loafers.
Day to night
Navy striped shirt · grey zip knit · forest-green quilted jacket · dark indigo jeans · oxblood loafers · black crossbody, tote folded inside. Liberty when the doors open, Regent Street and Carnaby by eleven, lunch before the Oxford Street crowds thicken.
Same shirt and knit, zipped to the collar · quilted jacket closed · buffalo-check scarf wound once · tote carrying the day's bags. The walk back through Soho after a sunset at about 4:20pm in mid-January, then a pub table where the knit stays on.
A suggested look — forest green quilted jacket, grey ribbed zip-front knit, navy striped button-down shirt, dark indigo straight jeans, oxblood patent lug-sole loafers.
What to avoid
- A heavy wool overcoat — 8.4°C afternoons, and it spends the day over your arm
- Lace-up boots — every fitting room turns into a wait
- Suede — about 12 wet days on NOAA's Heathrow record
- A full-size umbrella in a department store — it drips on the rails
- The last week of January for the sales — most end in mid-January
Frequently asked questions
Mild, damp and short on light. The Met Office's historic record for Heathrow averages 30 Januaries at 8.4°C by day and 2.7°C / 37°F at night, which makes January the coldest month of the London year by afternoon temperature, with air frost on about 7 nights. Rain totals about 59mm, and NOAA's daily record for the same station counts about 12 days of 1mm or more, only about 7 of them above 2.5mm, so most wet days are drizzle. The sun shines less than two hours a day. Daylight grows from 7h 55m on 1 January to 9h 05m on the 31st.
A forest-green quilted jacket, a grey zip-front knit, a navy striped button-down, dark indigo straight jeans, oxblood patent loafers on a lug sole, a black double-zip crossbody, an olive zip-top nylon tote and a red-and-black check wool scarf. That covers a 3°C / 37°F morning queue outside a department store and an afternoon inside heated shops. Leave the heavy overcoat, the suede and the lace-up boots at home, and add a second knit if you plan long evenings outdoors.
Visit London says most department stores start their post-Christmas sales on 26 or 27 December and set provisional end dates in mid-January, with further price cuts in the final few days. It names Fenwick, Fortnum & Mason, Harrods, Harvey Nichols, John Lewis, Liberty and Selfridges among the stores that usually hold them. Dress for heated shop floors rather than the street: a quilted jacket you can carry, a knit that unzips, shoes that slip off for fitting rooms, a zipped crossbody and your own tote, since shops in England must charge at least 10p for a carrier bag.
Early January for the sales, late January for more light and quieter streets. The sales usually end in mid-January, and Visit London says the last few days bring extra cuts. New Year's Day has the London New Year's Day Parade, which Visit London says usually starts around 1pm outside The Ritz near Piccadilly Circus and runs 2.2 miles to Westminster, finishing around 4:30pm; public transport is limited that day, so wear shoes you can stand in for three hours. By late January sunset has moved from about 4pm to about 4:45pm, and daylight has grown by more than an hour since the 1st.
Much the same temperature, more light, and a different reason to be out. Our December guide, on Met Office figures, gives 8.8°C by day and 3.1°C / 38°F at night; January runs 8.4°C and 2.7°C / 37°F, with about one more wet day. The change you feel is daylight: December's sunsets come before four, while January's move from about 4pm to about 4:45pm. December's evenings are spent standing at markets and theatres, which is why that guide argues for a waterproof wool coat. January's days are spent in and out of shops, so a quilted jacket you can carry takes its place.
A quilted or waxed jacket over a knit, dark jeans or wool trousers, and leather shoes that can take a wet pavement, plus two old London habits. Lock & Co. Hatters, founded in 1676, still trades from No. 6 St James's Street, and in 1849 it designed the Coke hat, the bowler, for Edward Coke's gamekeepers, made by Thomas Bowler & Son. James Smith & Sons has made umbrellas since 1830, when the business opened at Foubert's Place off Regent Street; its shop at 53 New Oxford Street, a short walk east of Oxford Street, keeps a Victorian shopfront the firm calls largely unaltered.
Sources
- UK Met Office — 1991–2020 climate normals, Heathrow stationcomputed from the Met Office's historic monthly station data for Heathrow; the count of days with 1mm or more is NOAA NCEI's, from its 03772099999 global-summary-of-the-day record, because the Met Office file has no rain-day column. Recorded per month because London's May–October pages read Greenwich Park.
- Visit London — Winter sales in London 2026/2027 (department-store sales from 26 or 27 December to mid-January) — accessed 2026-09-27
- Visit London — Things to do on New Year's Day in London 2027 (New Year's Day Parade route and timings) — accessed 2026-09-27
- Met Office — historic station data, Heathrow (monthly tmax, tmin, air frost, rain, sun) — accessed 2026-09-27
- NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information — Climate Data Online — accessed 2026-04-23
- GOV.UK — Carrier bag charges: retailers' responsibilities (minimum 10p in England) — accessed 2026-09-27
- Lock & Co. Hatters — heritage: founded 1676, No. 6 St James's Street; the Coke (bowler) hat, 1849 — accessed 2026-09-27
- James Smith & Sons Umbrellas — history: founded 1830 at Foubert's Place; 53 New Oxford Street — accessed 2026-09-27
