What to Wear in Paris in February

Dress for drizzle, not rain. Météo-France's Paris-Montsouris figures give February 8.8°C by day and 3.3°C at night, January's night with a degree more at noon. What changes is the rain: 41.8mm, the smallest total of any month, falls across 9.1 wet days, and only 2.7 of them bring 5mm or more. The sun climbs from 59 hours in January to 83.7, and the day stretches from about 9h 25m on the 1st to 10h 55m on the 28th. So keep January's warmth and drop its weight. A dense wool coat that sheds a drizzle, lambswool and flannel under it, boots that seal. The calendar fills the gap between the shows: couture ends on 28 January and womenswear opens on 1 March, and in between come the Chandeleur on the 2nd, Lunar New Year, France v Wales and the school holidays on Saturday the 6th, and the Salon de l'Agriculture from the 27th.

The capsule

1. 
   01

   Navy double-faced wool coat, single-breasted, mid-calf

   Nine days of drizzle and frost on about five mornings ask for wool, not a raincoat. Double-faced wool is two layers woven together with no lining, dense enough to bead a fine drizzle on the walk from the Métro and warm enough for a 3°C / 37°F queue. Mid-calf covers your legs outside the Louvre in the school holidays, and navy reads as dressed at a Sunday Valentine's dinner on the 14th.

2. 
   02

   Burgundy lambswool crew knit

   Your warm layer, and the first to come off in a heated gallery. Lambswool holds heat under the coat on a 9°C / 48°F afternoon and pulls over a turtleneck without crushing its roll. Burgundy covers two dates in one colour: Lunar New Year on Saturday 6 February, a holiday dressed in red, and Valentine's on Sunday the 14th.

3. 
   03

   Cream fine-rib wool turtleneck

   A turtleneck instead of a scarf. At the Stade de France you sit still for two hours on a 3°C / 37°F evening, and a scarf ends up under the seat in front; a fine rib keeps your neck covered and still slides under the burgundy crew. Cream at the collar lifts the navy coat, and it is the top you keep on when the knit comes off indoors.

4. 
   04

   Charcoal straight wool-flannel trousers

   Flannel is brushed wool, warm on the frost mornings Météo-France counts at about five a month, and it does not cling cold and damp after a drizzle the way denim does. A straight leg clears the top of a Chelsea boot. Charcoal hides a splash from a wet kerb and carries both a Wednesday evening at the Louvre, open until 9pm, and the Valentine's table.

5. 
   05

   Black sealed leather Chelsea boots, rubber sole

   Sealed leather and a rubber sole for nine wet days on Paris cobbles, with elastic sides and no laces to soak. They earn their place at the Salon de l'Agriculture, open 9am to 7pm from 27 February, where you walk the Porte de Versailles halls past the livestock all day and wipe the leather clean at the hotel.

6. 
   06

   Stone ribbed wool beanie, deep cuff

   France v Wales kicks off at 5:40pm on Saturday 6 February and France v Scotland at 4:10pm on Sunday the 21st, both at the Stade de France, and the Saturday match ends long after sunset. A deep-cuffed rib covers your ears for two hours in the stand, and stone sits with navy and cream where a team-colour bobble hat would fight them.

7. 
   07

   Black lined leather gloves, ribbed knit cuff

   Lined leather stays dry through a drizzle where knitted gloves soak, and you need them on the five frost mornings and for every minute in the stand. The ribbed cuff tucks under the coat sleeve, so no wrist shows when you clap a try. Black disappears against navy wool.

8. 
   08

   Small black zip-top crossbody

   Worn in front and zipped, through the Métro, the Lunar New Year crowds in the 13th and the halls of the Salon de l'Agriculture. It holds a phone, a Navigo card and a folded compact umbrella for the 2.7 days that bring real rain, and nothing else, which is the point when you stand in a crowd.

A suggested look — navy long wool coat, burgundy lambswool crew, cream turtleneck, charcoal flannel trousers, black chelsea boots.

What to avoid

• A raincoat — 41.8mm, the year's lowest, and only 2.7 days bring 5mm or more
• The Louvre on a Tuesday — closed; Wednesdays and Fridays run to 9pm
• A Fashion Week trip — couture ends 28 January, womenswear opens 1 March
• Museum mornings in the school holidays — Paris schools are off from 6 to 21 February
• A loose scarf in the stand — it slips under the seat in front