What to Wear in New Orleans in December

Dress for the evening you chose. NOAA's figures for the airport put December at 18.2°C by day and 9°C / 48°F at night, with rain on about 9 days against November's 7 and sunset at about 5pm all month. What fills those dark hours is the calendar. Celebration in the Oaks lights City Park from 27 November, dozens of restaurants serve four- to six-course Réveillon menus, the Festival of the Bonfires runs in Lutcher from 11 to 13 December, and on Christmas Eve the fires on the St. James Parish levee are lit at 7pm. So the jacket stops being optional. The city's December answer is tartan and suede over silk: a tartan blazer, an olive cami, cream trousers, and a cable cardigan for the wait on the levee.

The capsule

1. 
   01

   Red, green and navy tartan blazer, velvet collar, patch pockets

   Nine degrees at night means the jacket goes on at five and stays on. A red, green and navy tartan blazer handles 9°C / 48°F under the lit oaks in City Park, then sits at a Réveillon table without looking like outerwear. The velvet collar is the December detail, and the patch pockets take a phone and a ticket so the tote stays shut.

2. 
   02

   Olive-green silk camisole

   Wear it under the tartan and keep it on when the blazer comes off. A Réveillon menu runs four to six courses, and a full dining room over that many plates is a different climate from the 9°C / 48°F street you walked in from. Olive picks up the green in the check and the suede of the loafers, so the look reads as one colour story.

3. 
   03

   High-waisted cream straight trousers

   Cream is the light note under a dark tartan, and on an 18.2°C afternoon on Magazine Street it keeps the look out of winter-coat territory. A high waist takes the cami tucked in without a belt. The straight leg stops at the loafer instead of pooling over it, which matters on Christmas Eve, when you park on LA 641 and walk 3 to 4 blocks to the levee in the dark.

4. 
   04

   Dark olive suede horsebit loafers

   Flat and closed is the brief for a month you spend walking after dark. French Quarter flagstone is broken and pitched toward the street, and the levee on Christmas Eve means a walk in from the road and an hour standing before the fires are lit. Suede survives December here as long as the umbrella travels with it on the 9 wet days.

5. 
   05

   Olive-green leather bucket tote, drawstring and top handles

   One bag carries the cardigan at noon and the umbrella all day. A drawstring closes the top against a shower, which an open tote cannot do in a month with rain on about 9 days, and top handles leave the blazer's shoulder line alone. Olive leather matches the loafers and the cami, so the bag sits inside the look instead of competing with the tartan.

6. 
   06

   Light oatmeal cable cardigan, floral embroidery

   Pack this one for the levee. The Christmas Eve organisers want you in the area before six and light the fires at seven, which is an hour of standing in the dark with the night heading for 9°C / 48°F. A cable knit under the tartan blazer holds that hour, and oatmeal sits between the cream trousers and the red of the check instead of fighting either.

7. 
   07

   Black silk slip dress, midi, side slit

   New Orleans & Company traces Réveillon to "A Creole custom that began as intimate family feasts following midnight mass on Christmas morning", and dozens of restaurants now serve it as a four- to six-course prix-fixe through December. A black silk midi with the tartan blazer over it is the whole outfit. Carry the cardigan in the tote for the 9°C / 48°F walk home.

8. 
   08

   Olive compact folding umbrella

   December is wetter than November: NOAA counts rain on about 9 days against 7, and about 6 of them bring more than a tenth of an inch. A rain shell over a tartan blazer at a Réveillon table reads as a hiking plan, so this month the rain plan folds into the tote. Olive, because it matches the bag it lives in.

A suggested look — Structured double-panel blazer in warm red, Fitted dark olive spaghetti-strap camisole with scoop neck, High-waisted straight-leg cream trousers with clean tailored front and tapered ankle, Horsebit-detail suede loafers in dark olive green.

What to avoid

• A heavy winter coat — an 18.2°C afternoon turns it into luggage by lunch
• Summer linen for the evening — you spend the 9°C / 48°F dark outdoors
• Heels on Christmas Eve — 3 to 4 blocks from LA 641 to the levee, then an hour standing
• A rain shell over the tartan — a compact umbrella keeps the dinner look intact
• City Park on 7, 14, 24 or 31 December — Celebration in the Oaks is closed