2025 is a daunting prospect – so wear clothes with spirit that make you feel intrepid | Jess Cartner-Morley on fashion

I’ve been thinking a lot about something the fashion designer Bella Freud said recently, which was that she aims to create clothes that make you feel intrepid. This was such a nice way of expressing what great clothes do, which is not just to give you confidence, but also to connect you to the world. What you wear is the membrane between you and, well, everything else. Good clothes make you feel comfortable within your skin, and they can also make you feel like a player.

Fashion to make you feel intrepid comes in many different forms, and looks different for each of us. A jumpsuit makes me feel so brave that I could jump out of a plane. (I could never, ever jump out of a plane. But it’s a nice fantasy to inhabit, as I zip myself up.) A trouser suit can be brilliant: very armoured, but very civilised. Night-out dressing requires its own kind of bravery: you are, after all, taking a leap into the dark.

The clothes that bolster, that have your back so that you can face your day, can be subtle. Style is always a way of saying something, and putting an outfit together is my way of firing up my brain in the morning before I start writing. If I look in the mirror and feel I haven’t articulated who I want to be that day I know I’m not going to have much luck on the laptop, so even if I’m writing at home alone, I need to feel like my look is coherent. It’s a fake-it-till-you-make-it thing.

It sounds absurd, now I say it aloud, but I genuinely believe that if my outfit isn’t working, I can’t think straight. A clunky combination of clothes undermines me, in some indefinable way. If I take the time to put together an outfit with a point of view first, it helps me to clarify mine.

Why does this feel particularly relevant now? Because we’re embarking on a year when the world feels like a challenging place. Clothes that make us feel courageous, that fill our boots with spirit, are what we need. There is still a place for clothes that swaddle and lull you. Come Sunday morning, for instance, that might be all you want from your wardrobe, but on those mornings when you’ve got to get out there and look 2025 in the eye, clothes that make you feel intrepid are a good place to start.

There are certain key pieces of kit that are building blocks for an intrepid wardrobe. A tailored dress or jacket with a strong shoulder line can have magical properties. Good tailoring will gently but firmly remind you to stand up straight and pull your shoulders back, which in turn will lift your chin and your spirits. A sturdy boot is a winner, too. If you can find one that is comfortable to stride out in but has a chunk of a heel, so it gives you height as well as heft, all the better. There can be something emboldening, also, about school-uniform adjacent details, when added to an otherwise grown-up outfit.

If my outfit features a crisp white collar, or a pleated skirt, I feel as if I’ve raised my game a notch or two before I’ve even logged on to work. But there are ways of being intrepid in the delicious details of your outfit. By which I mean tiny sartorial gestures that feel bold. Look, I love an easy, all-neutral winter capsule wardrobe as much as the next person, but there comes a time to speak up, to stand out, to take a diversion from the path of least resistance, while getting dressed, and do something a little more interesting instead. And that time, I think, is now.

Intrepid dressing could be as simple as a bright pink pair of gloves. Or a fluffy yellow scarf. Or an unexpected pair of patterned or bright socks between your loafers and your jeans. A glimpse of colour in a winter landscape can be a powerful thing. Think of how it feels when you see a robin: that proud pop of red lifts your mood, as if the sun had come out from behind a cloud. (Fat chance of that.) A dash of colour, of spirit, of rebellion against the grey. That sounds doable, right? You are already braver than you know.

Hair and make up: Sophie Higginson using Bumble & Bumble and Victoria Beckham beauty. Model: Lily Fofana at Milk. Jumpsuit: £160, Seventy + Mochi. Socks: £10, Pairs Scotland. Loafers: £180, G.H.Bass