This occurred to me recently. With the cold weather spreading over North America and other places, I wondered how people found warm clothing. Have you ladies--and guys so inclined--ever used insulated skirts? I was introduced to them by coworkers when I worked and bought my wife one as a gift. It allows her to wear dresses and skirts in the winter when the weather is horrible. Women also wear them with pants underneath as an additional layer of insulation than can easily be removed. We have found they work well for football games and other outdoor spectator sports where you might find yourself sitting on cold--especially metal--bleachers. They make mini versions of such things, but other than the football thing, I can see no application for them. Everyone knows about coats, gloves and boots, but are you familiar with neck gaiters? They are a bit like scarves, but can be pulled up over the face to provide protection in windy conditions or that -30 F. stuff I referred to when breathing can become difficult. Real ruffs are a good thing as well if you can find them. You will see them in the Eskimo pictures often seen, especially of the women. Although beautiful in their own right, they are very functional as well, especially if they are real fur. Synthetics don't serve well no matter what you have been told. If properly used, they can be pulled forward and form a little tunnel in front of your face that is heated by your breath and make it easier to breath, especially for those with breathing conditions.
I cannot imagine wearing any skirt in cold weather. They may insulate what they [sort of] cover, while the rest is exposed. (Do not imply any degree of self-disclosure in that statement.) Regarding neck gaiters...I've seen lots of thin ones around here when "face coverings" were required in stores. Even in the summer, guys would just leave them on their necks so they were ready when they walked into stores. I've never worn them, but I do have a full-head covering that only has eye holes for the real cold weather. I have yet to mess with creating a rig so I can wear that catheter bag with long underwear (my favorite set is the one piece I bought at the Army surplus store.) I brought another load of firewood to my front porch when the weather turned chilly, so wore some baggy insulated camo hunting pants & jacket I have. After I was done, I took a trip to the store, and a guy asked if I had been out running the dogs that morning (it's a common thing around here.) I fessed up and told him it was just for warmth. It's interesting that turtlenecks have fallen out of fashion. I had a couple of flannel shirts that had the turtleneck sewn into them. Back in the day we called the turtleneck things dickies, but I suspect that was a brand and not a real common noun.
I wore dickies as a young man when turtlenecks were okay. The gaiters I use and have around are much more heavy duty. Here is the type of thing I was referring to when I spoke of insulated skirts; They should be removable and allow whatever you wish to be worn underneath.
I'll bet those skirts do keep you (in the generic sense) warm. The gaiters I've seen here are made of scarf material. I think they make some that are meant to keep you cool.
I have a thin 100% nylon windbreaker. It works much better to keep you warm in the cold weather if it's underneath another jacket (say flannel) than on top of it. Could be it's not a very good quality windbreaker.
Layering always helps to keep you warm anyway. I don't understand why a windbreaker would work better UNDERNEATH another layer, though. I always use them over other clothing.
I went for a walk today, temp was about +15, a little wind. I had a full face covering hat-thingy, although I didn't need it after a while. Well-insulated winter coat with storm flap up and hood, long johns and jeans, ice cleats on my boots. The worst part this time of year is not the cold, it is getting all garbed up to handle it. There is no cold weather, there is only inadequate clothing. One thing better this year than previous years is that I have bluetooth earbuds. I always walk with some type of "right-wing" podcast playing (lol) and previously I had wired ear buds in which the wires had to be fished throughout all the clothes. With all the clothing necessary now during winter, the wireless earbuds are much easier to use.
We usually get about 4 days of cold weather annually, and I try to stay in the house during them. If we have to go out it's just a dash to the heated car and then into a heated building, so most of the time we never bother with coats. I'd never wear that skirt (or any skirt) in extreme cold; pants just make more sense.
First thing, when Beth mention about "going to her warm car", I read that letting a vehicle warm up in the winter isn't at all good for the engine. However, my step-dad did it on our farm, before he went to work and on Sunday before we went to church. We never do that, but have notice a resident here that does. He will start his fairly loud truck at 5:30AM and finally leave at 6AM. That means his truck runs for 1/2 hour while he is in his apartment. As far as winter clothing goes, up until yesterday (Sunday), both of us wore our winter parkas to go to breakfast both Friday and Saturday morning. There are those young folks here that think they are invincible to sickness and will wear a very thin coat and, believe it or not, shorts in below zero weather.
One of my cars was a 1975 Vega station wagon...banana yellow, if you must know. It had a manual transmission. My driveway was on an incline. (You can see where this is going.) On cold mornings I would start my car to warm up as I got finished dressing for work. One winter day I followed that routine, and when I went to get in my car to drive to work, my car was gone!! The first thing I thought was someone had stolen it. Then I looked down the driveway and saw my Vega sitting in the front yard across the street. Oops. I got in, *bumped* it back down the curb, and drove into work. So you are correct. Warming a vehicle up in the winter is not good for it...or for your relationship with your neighbors.
I don't have much in the way of specialized winter clothing. I have a layered winter jacket that includes, I think, three different layers of fabric. I've had it for a few years now, and some of the layers are detaching, and there has always been a problem with the sleeves, in that I might inset my arm into two of the layers of the sleeve, yet miss the third. It is effective in very cold weather, however. Now, I might still wear that on occasion since it's still usable and hung up near the front door, but my wife bought me a nice Carhartt winter jacket that is pretty warm by itself, so that's what I usually use. I do have a pair of rubber snow boots, which are pretty much a necessity after a snowstorm. By the time I get up, I usually have very little time to get the walk, at least, shoveled or we won't get any mail that day, so I'll often slip my bare feet into the snow boots (which isn't the best choice) or maybe with a pair of socks. I think they're intended to be worn with shoes but I have never tried that as an adult. We always did when we were kids. Worn without socks, however, my feet tend to stick to the rubber and it's a pain to get them off, particularly if I have used the full length of the snow boots (I usually fold them over). This year, I bought a pair of, I don't know what they're actually called, but they are sort of a hybrid between rubber snow boots and a regular boot so that the inside and the soles are more like a regular boot. These are not as high as the rubber snow boots, and therefore not as effective in really deep snow. Also, the legs of my pants will go over these boots, which eliminates the advantage of staying dry in snow boots. On the positive side, they zip up on the side so they are easier to get on and off. Of course, the negative will probably turn out to be that the zippers will be the first to go. I have a pair of gloves with some elasticity that fit fairly tightly to my hands, which are good if I'm trying to actually do something with my hands outdoors, but they are not nearly as warm in the winter, so I usually opt for the more conventional gloves that keep my hands warm while greatly reducing the dexterity. Of course, I have winter wool caps that I think are called beanies by normal people, although they are known as chooks in the UP of Michigan. I also have a ski mask that I rarely wear because they fog my glasses up. Most often, I do what everyone says not to do and opt to go out bareheaded. Hats invariably fall off, and I find myself spending too much of my time trying to put them back on while wearing gloves which makes that a difficult process. It hasn't been too many years since I have done winter camping, so I do have all of the winter camping stuff, including 100% wool blankets, which will keep you warm even when they are wet. Yeah, they itch, but it's not as if I'll strip naked before going to sleep outdoors on a Maine February night. With the combination of two wool blankets and a fairly light sleeping bag, I have slept outdoors in a hammock in February. In a hammock, you need something to keep the cold from coming up from beneath, and a wool blanket works very well for that. I have found that winter camping in cold weather country using a sleeping bag that is rated for below-zero temperatures is not as bearable as you might think because winter brings snow, snow turns to water, and water freezes, so you end up inside an expensive sleeping bag that has ice or cold water inside. However, the combination of a sleeping bag rated for below-zero temperatures and a wool blanket can actually make you feel too warm, and this is a huge problem when it comes to getting up during the night, or even in the morning. This is an example of how to turn one paragraph into several.
Many women wear these skirts over pants as an extra windbreak. It works like a coat for the legs and is more convenient than heavy pants.
I have always lived in the south, so no need for such. I usually wear shorts year round and add a long-sleeve t-shirt on "cold" days.
I don't know how we girls made it through winters in the old days. We had to wear skirts to school; even when I was in college, we never wore slacks to class. Even with thick tights and long boots, that cold wind whistled up my skirts. No more, thank goodness.