What to Wear in Toronto in December

Dress for the doors. NOAA's 30-year record for Toronto Pearson puts December at 2.0°C by day and −4.8°C at night, with about 24cm of snow, frost on about 25 nights and about 10 days that never get above freezing. Outdoors that is long-coat weather. But December in Toronto is spent going in and out. The Distillery Winter Village is open-air, the rink at Nathan Phillips Square is lit for the Cavalcade of Lights, which the City says has "brought holiday cheer to Torontonians since 1967", and under downtown the PATH "spans more than 30 kilometres of restaurants, shopping, services and entertainment". Step between them and you go from below freezing to room temperature in a few strides. So pack a coat that unzips from top to bottom, one warm knit you can take off rather than three thin ones, lined jeans, warm boots that can stand on ice and in salt, and something for your ears.

The capsule

1. 
   01

   Tobacco-brown hooded long down coat, below the knee

   At −5°C / 23°F on a rink or in a market lane, long down is the warmest thing you can wear, and length covers the thighs a hip-length jacket leaves cold. A full-length zip matters as much as the fill: when you drop into the PATH or a store on Queen Street you can open it top to bottom in one move instead of overheating. Tobacco brown hides salt spray better than black.

2. 
   02

   Cream wool sweater with a navy-and-red Fair Isle yoke

   One warm knit beats three thin layers when you keep going indoors: it comes off in a single pull at a restaurant, and the coat goes back on over a shirt for the walk home. Wool stays warm when snow melts on it. A Fair Isle yoke is the festive note for the Distillery Winter Village without anything that looks like a costume.

3. 
   03

   Tan-brown leather winter boots, shearling cuff, deep lug sole

   NOAA's Pearson record has frost on about 25 December nights and snow most weeks, and the sidewalks are salted. Waterproof leather with a deep lug sole holds on packed snow and stays dry in slush, and a shearling cuff keeps snow out of the top. Wipe them each evening: the City notes that salt is damaging to shoes.

4. 
   04

   Ivory faux-shearling earmuffs

   Ears go first on an outdoor rink, and earmuffs keep them warm without flattening your hair the way a toque does, which matters when you are going straight into a restaurant. They fold into the crossbody in the PATH. Ivory matches the cream sweater.

5. 
   05

   Tan insulated leather gloves, navy knit cuffs

   On the ice at Nathan Phillips Square, where the City ran free skate rentals on Saturday evenings last winter, you want insulated gloves that also cushion a fall. Leather sheds wet snow, and the knit cuffs tuck under the coat sleeve so no wrist shows. Tan matches the boots.

6. 
   06

   Dark indigo fleece-lined straight jeans

   Regular denim at −5°C / 23°F is cold against the skin after an hour outside, and a fleece lining fixes that without thermals you would have to remove indoors. A straight leg sits over the boot shaft. Dark indigo hides the white tide line road salt leaves on a hem.

7. 
   07

   Loden-and-charcoal patterned wool scarf

   Wound high outside, hanging loose inside: a long wool scarf is the most adjustable layer you own, which is what a day of doors needs. It closes the gap at the coat's collar when the wind comes off the lake and goes into the coat pocket on the subway.

8. 
   08

   Dark brown leather flap crossbody

   Both hands go on a skate rail or a mug of cider at the Winter Village, so the bag goes across the body. A flap closure keeps snow out, and dark brown leather wears salt and slush without showing it. Keep tickets in it: the Winter Village sells them online only, with no box office on site.

A suggested look — tobacco long down coat, cream fair isle sweater, loden patterned wool scarf, ivory faux-shearling earmuffs, tan leather gloves.

What to avoid

• Three thin layers — one warm knit comes off in one pull
• Paying for the Winter Village before 4pm — free until then
• Suede and thin sneakers — salt and about 10 days below freezing
• Nathan Phillips Square for New Year's fireworks — they are fired from the inner harbour
• Hudson's Bay as a shopping stop — the stores have closed