What I'm Wearing This Spring

By the middle of March, I'm tired of winter clothes. Not in a dramatic way — I genuinely love a well-put-together winter outfit — but there comes a point where the weight of wool and the sameness of dark palette starts to feel like a constraint rather than a choice. That's when I start thinking about spring.

In Toronto, though, you can't just commit. I've been caught in April sleet wearing linen. I've sweated through a coat in late February because we got one warm week and I acted like it was permanent. Spring here requires a particular kind of pragmatism: clothes that can handle a 5-degree morning and a 16-degree afternoon in the same day, and look intentional through all of it. Here's what I, Tymeca Moy, am reaching for this season.

Linen wide-leg trousers

This is the piece I was most excited to bring back out. Mine are a natural, undyed linen — almost the colour of unbleached parchment — with a high waist and a wide, relaxed leg. They hit just above the ankle, which means they work with both loafers and sandals once it actually gets warm enough.

The thing about linen trousers is that they need the right top to keep them from looking like resort wear or like you've just rolled out of bed. A fitted knit or a tucked-in satin blouse anchors them. A blazer makes them feel polished. I've been wearing mine with a fine-knit pale yellow top and cream loafers, and it's the most pleased I've been with an outfit in months.

A pale yellow knit

Yellow is the colour I keep coming back to this spring. Not a sharp, synthetic yellow — a soft, dusty, almost-cream yellow that reads as warm rather than loud. Mine is a fine-knit, slightly relaxed fit with a simple crew neck. It costs almost nothing. I've already worn it four times this week.

What I love about this shade is how it sits next to neutrals. With the linen trousers, it's tonal and quiet. With dark jeans and white sneakers, it pops without shouting. With a white shirt layered underneath and the collar peeking out, it's a little preppy in the best possible way. Yellow that reads soft rather than statement is genuinely one of the most versatile additions to a spring wardrobe.

Cream loafers

I held off on the loafer trend for longer than I probably should have because I worried they'd look too costume-y on me. Then I tried a pair in cream leather with a low, square heel and immediately understood. They're not a trend piece. They're a very practical, very good-looking shoe that happens to also be having a moment.

The cream colour is doing a lot of work here — it's lighter and more spring-appropriate than tan, and it doesn't disappear the way white does. Against the linen trousers, they read like one long line of warmth. Against dark denim, they create a deliberate contrast that anchors the outfit. Tymeca Moy's spring footwear pick, full stop.

A tailored spring coat in camel

This is the investment piece of the season. I've wanted a properly tailored, single-breasted coat in camel for about two years — long enough that I stopped buying cheaper alternatives and waited until I found the right one. It hits just below the knee, has clean, unfussy lapels, and no belt, which means it drapes rather than cinches and works over anything.

Camel is doing so much right now, and I think it's because it sits in that rare zone between warm and neutral. It goes with cream, with black, with burgundy, with navy, with white — honestly with most things you'd wear in spring. It's the coat I reach for on those mornings when it's still cold enough to need a real coat but warm enough that the wool peacoat feels like too much. Which is, in Toronto, approximately six weeks of the year.

White-on-white

I've been building white-on-white outfits since February, partly in defiance of the grey outside and partly because I find the combination unexpectedly interesting. White wide-leg trousers with a white relaxed button-down and white sneakers. Cream knit with ivory high-waisted skirt. Different whites, different textures — the variation keeps it from looking like a uniform.

The thing I've noticed is that white-on-white forces you to pay attention to fit and fabric in a way that colour-led outfits don't. When the palette disappears, all you have is cut and texture. And that's actually a useful exercise: if an outfit works in white, it works. If it needs colour to hold together, it probably needs a rethink.

Transitional layers for still-cold mornings

March in Toronto means leaving the house at 7am in a proper coat and peeling layers off by noon. The layer question is the real spring dressing challenge: what goes over the spring outfit without looking like you've just grabbed whatever was nearest the door?

My answer this year is the fine merino zip-up. Not a hoodie, not a heavy knit — a lightweight, clean-cut zip in a neutral (mine is a warm ecru) that goes over a blouse or a tee and under a coat when needed. It adds about 4 degrees of warmth without adding visual weight. I've also been using a silk scarf as both a warmth layer and a colour note — a single printed silk square at the neck does enough to make the transitional-weather outfit feel considered rather than makeshift.

The trench still has a role in all of this. I don't think Tymeca Moy will ever fully retire the trench coat in spring — it's too useful, too well-proportioned for the season. But this year it's sharing the wardrobe with the camel coat and rotating based on what the outfit needs rather than being the default. More variety. More thought. Still warm enough.

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Spring dressing in this city is really an exercise in optimism. You commit to the lighter fabrics and the softer colours before the weather earns it, because otherwise you'd spend four months waiting for summer in your winter coat. I'd rather be slightly cold in linen than still dressed for January when the first genuinely warm day arrives.

That first warm day always comes. And when it does, I want to already be ready for it.