What to Wear in Taipei in February

Pack for standing still outdoors on a damp evening. NOAA NCEI's record for the Central Weather Administration (CWA) station puts February at 19.4°C by day and 14.8°C / 59°F at night, with rain on about 11 days, and CWA's winter summary counts about 4 February days touched by a cold surge. That is January's weather, under a degree warmer. The calendar is what moves. The Lunar New Year holiday runs Thursday 4 to Wednesday 10 February, and the Lantern Festival falls on Saturday 20 February, the provisional opening night of the national lantern show in Miaoli. So bring a wool coat that closes over a thick knit, boots that shed drizzle, and one red thing for New Year visits.

The capsule

1. 
   01

   Charcoal knee-length wool coat, notch lapel

   Button it for the evenings you spend outside. A lantern show means an hour standing still at 15°C / 59°F, and CWA counts about 4 February days when a cold surge pushes the night lower; a knee-length charcoal wool coat covers both, and the wool sheds light drizzle between the MRT exit and the lanterns. Open, it carries a 19°C / 66°F lunch without trapping heat.

2. 
   02

   Mustard chunky cable-knit crew

   Pull this on for the cold-surge days and the lantern nights, the two times February asks for real insulation. Deep cables trap air under the coat in a way a fine knit does not, which matters once you have stood still for an hour. Mustard also shows up under lantern light and in a grey photograph, where a charcoal knit under a charcoal coat disappears.

3. 
   03

   Wine fine-gauge merino crew

   Wear it alone on the mild afternoons. Fine merino covers a 19°C / 66°F walk through Da'an, stays warm when the cuffs catch drizzle, and slides under the cable crew without bulk once the evening cools toward 15°C / 59°F. Wine sits between the oxblood boots and the red scarf, so the capsule reads as one red family plus mustard.

4. 
   04

   Charcoal pleated wide-leg trousers, pressed crease

   One pair for the month. Front pleats and a wide leg fall cleanly over the Chelsea boots and move air on a 19°C / 66°F afternoon, and charcoal hides the splash from a wet kerb across about 11 rainy days. A pressed crease turns them into dinner trousers for New Year's Eve, Friday 5 February, with nothing else changed.

5. 
   05

   Oxblood leather Chelsea boots

   Elastic sides, so they come off and go back on in seconds at the door of a Taipei home on a New Year visit, where shoes stay at the entrance. Polished leather wipes dry after drizzle, which suede never does, and a low stacked heel grips wet MRT stairs better than a flat sole. Oxblood carries the New Year red down to your feet without a second bright colour.

6. 
   06

   Oxblood glossy leather flap crossbody, gold clasp

   Across the body, flap facing in, in the New Year crowds and on a lantern night. Glossy leather wipes clean after a wet evening, and the boxy shape keeps its form on a packed Tamsui–Xinyi line carriage. It holds an EasyCard, a phone and a folded red envelope, which is all a family visit asks you to carry.

7. 
   07

   Clear compact folding umbrella, black trim

   About 11 days bring rain, and CWA's winter summary puts northern Taiwan's rain close to 5mm a day in January and February, so this stays in the bag all month. Clear on purpose: under a lantern display you see the lanterns through it, and in a packed street you see the person in front. Folding, since a long umbrella has nowhere to go on a crowded platform.

8. 
   08

   Red fringed scarf

   One red piece, and in New Year week it does two jobs. The Community Services Center Taipei's guides tell newcomers that red is worn for luck and that black and white, the mourning colours, are avoided; a red scarf over a charcoal coat answers that at a family's door. On the cold-surge days it also closes the gap at your throat that an open coat leaves.

A suggested look — charcoal wool coat, wine merino crew, red fringed scarf, charcoal pleated wide-leg trousers, oxblood leather chelsea boots.

What to avoid

• Head-to-toe black or white at a New Year visit — both read as mourning colours
• A down parka — 19.4°C afternoons and about one night a month at 10°C or below
• Suede — about 11 wet days, and it darkens on the first
• Canvas shoes or bare ankles — 15°C / 59°F nights in drizzle
• A full-length umbrella in a lantern crowd — it blocks the view and the aisle