Post
by biscayne » Wed Nov 25, 2009 7:39 pm
mmm, well, without knowing your style, taste and budget it's a bit tricky. What I would say however, is that the climate in the Helsinki region seems to have really changed since the late 80's when I first lived in Finland. It used to be pretty much a case of cold (-5 to - 15 c) from mid November to end of February or even mid-March, and plenty of snow. Women wore furs, and basically needed them. I always used down jackets, which you can buy cheaply or wildly expensively depending on the brand. They are great against the dry cold and wind. However, the climate is more damp and cold, but not always minus centigrade these days. Less of the sunshine and snow and more of the greyness, dampness and slush. What I have been finding really handy lately is a Barbour waxed jacket, with layers underneath, like a thin t-shirt with a zip-up wool pullover. That is keeping me warm enough and is good for the damp and rain. In autumn and spring, wax jackets are good too, just less layers underneath. They run about 350-500 euro, but they last forever. I have a nice collection of long wool coats mainly from MaxMara, who do the best coats, (bought in Italy on sale), and while they are lovely, they are pretty useless at the moment in Finland other than for "good wear", because with all the damp and slushy stuff, the back of a long coat just gets sprayed with gulch from the street. By the way, MaxMara in Helsinki does 50% sales after Christmas, and it is worth investing in a good coat from them. My "tip" for Finland would be: 1 down jacket, 1 waxed or gortex jacket and one wool coat for good wear. I'm a trousers girl, but, in Finland in the winter, tights, skirts and boots are great, 'cos the backs of your trousers get wrecked with stuff splashing up onto them from the street, so don't wear any good ones, or dry clean only ones on damp, slushy days. If you are the outdoors type, stock up on North Face stuff before you leave Oz, - it's half the price!!!! I bought the Sydney shop out.................
I will really need a warm coat!
