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Cold weather doesn’t leave a lot of room for creative liberties. Stroll the streets of New York, though, and you’ll see that headgear has taken a new direction. Cottagecore has come for winter weather with knit bonnets and cashmere headscarves creeping into the cranial real estate long reserved for a classic beanie.
In reality, “these styles have been worn by women for centuries,” explains designer Lisa Yang. “They are iconic silhouettes interpreted for a modern-day context.” Yang’s take is more athleisure than it is pulled from Little House on the Prairie. “I am a hoodie person, I always have been,” Yang says. “Exploring the hood silhouette in our headwear made a lot of sense to me.”
The colors and styling chosen by Yang for her all-cashmere pieces also lend themselves to a quiet-luxury set, opting for neutral tonal knits layered together. “It makes the look more streamlined and Scandinavian,” she says. Her one concession: “The tie straps give it a more feminine sensibility.”
While the balaclava has bounced around the fashion world for a few seasons now (Miu Miu’s mountaintop fall 2021 show made a particularly big splash), the current iterations, which instead of being pulled over the head are neatly tied or buttoned under the chin, are inherently more wearable — coded less for the ski slopes and more for everyday styling.
This wide range of options, from Yang’s minimalist neutrals to the multicolor design of British label Hades, makes for a universally adoptable trend. Luxury-knitwear labels also find themselves situated alongside a wellspring of indie designers and Etsy crafters putting their own unique spin on the bonnet and balaclava.
For Hannah McKenna, a social and marketing consultant for small brands, inspiration first came from dressing her son in a similar bonnet style. After seeing a pink headscarf from the brand Mille pop up on social media, she reached out to the designer. “She let me have their sample since it wasn’t in production yet,” she says.
As with so many trends that first bubble up through TikTok or Instagram, there’s no success for a winter accessory that doesn’t actually do its job. “It’s actually a very useful style since it’s so warm,” McKenna says. “It’s basically a hat and scarf combo.”
Below, we’ve rounded up a few of our favorite iterations.
The Best Bandannas
The Best Bonnets
The Best Headscarves
