'Wearing the clothes from the bottom of your wardrobe food chain will make the days feel even more blah than they need to'
Here's something I don't get about modern life: this self-flagellating urge to make January, which is always going to be a bit rubbish, even worse than it has to be. The mania for competitive new year detoxing exiles this month into social Siberia. No one will go to the pub because they're not drinking. They won't go for pizza because they're no-carbing and they won't go to the cinema because it clashes with Pilates. Yes, we over-ate for a month and some of us are now carrying a few extra pounds in iced stollen as a result, but to leap straight from a regime of boxsets and Baileys to one of spirulina and spinning? That's harsh.
And wearing a hair shirt never helped anyone's mood. January is the low-tide mark of our interest in fashion for perfectly sensible reasons. Party dressing is over and new collection fever has yet to kick in, we're broke and it's way too cold and dark to be standing around in underwear at 7am pondering monochrome versus solid primaries. But wearing the clothes from the absolute bottom of your wardrobe food chain – the ones that bump along the bottom of presentable in a twilight existence, kept out of sight of any fun or glamorous occasion – will make the days feel even more blah than they need to.
Let's bring it back to food. Think of it like this: just because you're no longer in the zone where you make pudding at lunchtime and two sauces to go with dinner doesn't mean it has to be all tinned soup. What you need right now is one of those store cupboard weeknight supper recipes Nigel Slater always seems to have up his sleeve. Something featuring leftovers or lentils (ingredients to make you feel virtuous) but with a kick of chilli or spice to bring a little cheer and colour to your day.
The same formula works on your January wardrobe. Take something simple and virtuous – a collared shirt is good, being fashionable, practical and a store cupboard staple you already own. Then you can add fancy trousers or a skirt, which won't make you feel overly dressy but will put a spring in your step. Your only problem now? Finding anyone to go for a drink with.
• Jess wears beaded collar shirt, £165, by Gerard Darel. Skirt, £473, by Bora Aksu. Leopard heels, £119, by Kurt Geiger.
Styling: Melanie Wilkinson.