What to Wear in San Francisco in December

Pack for rain and cold on the same morning. NOAA's figures for SFO put December at 14.6°C by afternoon and 7.0°C / 44.6°F at dawn, with 4.14 inches of rain on about 11 days, which makes it the wettest month of the year there, ahead of January and February. November got half that water, on 7 days. So the mackintosh now needs cashmere under it, the loafers need a lug sole and sealed leather, and the umbrella finally earns its place: 6.9 of those days clear a tenth of an inch. Sunset sits at about 4:50pm all month, and the city's plans move indoors to match. The Dickens Fair fills the Cow Palace on three December weekends, and San Francisco Ballet's Nutcracker runs from 4 to 27 December.

The capsule

1. 
   01

   Stone cotton mackintosh, single-breasted, knee length

   Start with the coat, because this is the month the rain and the cold arrive together: about 11 wet days and a 7°C / 45°F morning. A knee-length cotton mackintosh sheds a shower on the walk to the Muni stop and closes over a cashmere crew at eight. Single-breasted, so it wears open once the afternoon reaches 14.6°C. Cotton also dries overnight on a hotel hook; soaked wool is still damp at breakfast.

2. 
   02

   Grey herringbone Harris tweed jacket, two buttons

   Wear this to the Dickens Fair. The fair's own line is "Costumes are Admired, but Never Required!", and grey herringbone Harris tweed reads Victorian at the Cow Palace without a bonnet or a frock coat. It is also the middle layer between the cashmere and the mackintosh, and on a Nutcracker night it is the jacket that walks over to the War Memorial Opera House.

3. 
   03

   Heather-oat cashmere crew

   Two degrees colder at dawn than November, 7°C / 45°F against 9°C / 48°F, and that gap is why this capsule carries cashmere instead of cotton. A heather-oat crew goes under the mackintosh on the walk to breakfast, under the tweed at the fair, and on its own indoors, where it is light enough not to overheat you. Oat against the stone coat keeps the day look pale on a grey street.

4. 
   04

   Pale blue cotton button-down

   Collar out over the cashmere, cuffs showing at the wrist. A pale blue cotton button-down is what makes the crew look dressed at the Nutcracker, and it lets you strip to one layer inside the Cow Palace. Pale blue because everything else here is stone, oat, grey, navy or black, and one clear colour near the face keeps the look from reading as a raincoat and nothing else.

5. 
   05

   Navy wide-leg tailored trousers, pleated

   Navy hides what 4.14 inches of rain throws up off the sidewalk, and it carries both the tweed and the stone mackintosh without either looking borrowed. Pleats give you room to sit through a ballet at the War Memorial Opera House and to take the Filbert Steps up to Coit Tower at full stride. One pair covers the fair, the ballet and a Mission dinner, so the bag stays a carry-on.

6. 
   06

   Black water-resistant leather penny loafers, lug sole

   A wet Muni step is where a smooth sole fails first, and in December you meet one on about 11 days. These penny loafers are black water-resistant leather on a lug sole, which grips the Filbert and Greenwich step-streets and still passes at the Opera House. A loafer rather than November's laced derby, because a wide pleated trouser falls cleaner over a low vamp.

7. 
   07

   Black crossbody with a rain flap

   Across the body, under the open mackintosh. A black crossbody with a rain flap keeps the phone and the ballet tickets dry on the walk from Hayes Valley, and it leaves both hands free for the umbrella and a railing on the Filbert Steps. Black matches the loafers and the umbrella, so the only colours left in the look are the pale blue collar and the oat knit.

8. 
   08

   Black compact umbrella

   Our October guide said skip the umbrella, and November's trusted a cotton trench. December is different: NOAA counts 6.9 days at SFO that clear a tenth of an inch, and that is rain you stand under at a bus stop rather than walk through. A compact black one folds away between showers and opens again outside the Cow Palace when the fair closes at six.

A suggested look — stone mackintosh, heather oat cashmere crew over a pale blue shirt, navy wide-leg trousers, black lug-sole loafers.

What to avoid

• Suede shoes or bags — 11 wet days, and the first one marks them
• A down parka — a 14.6°C afternoon puts it over your arm by lunch
• Leaving the umbrella at the hotel — 6.9 days clear a tenth of an inch
• Star Wars, superhero or full-head-mask costumes at the Dickens Fair — the fair bans them
• Late-afternoon viewpoints — sunset is about 4:50pm all month