What's That About? Snoods

Fashion's tastemakers, with blithe certitude,
Declared '09 to be the year of the Snood,
So you won't be caught napping
About this snuggly head wrapping
They mean a scarf you can wear like a hood.

Something about the word "snood" brings out the Dr. Suess in me. It's such a fun word to say. Go on. Snoooooooood.

Anyway, the tastemakers are inaccurate in calling a hoody scarf--or any sort of neckwrap--a snood, because this it ain't. The covering made trendy by Missoni (top) and others right on down to Gap is, properly speaking, a cowl.

Meanwhile, a snood, properly speaking, is some sort of ribbonlike or crocheted or cloth catchment for the hair, worn at the back of the head. Wiki tells us that the word comes from the Old English. In olde tymes in the northern regions of the British Isles, snoods were worn in ribbon form by women to indicate that they were unmarried.

Throughout their span of popularity, traditional snoods kept long hair tidily contained--either for social propriety or for professional safety. Here, a how-to posted by 16 Sparrows at the ever-informative Fedora Lounge. You have got to read this, it's hilarious.



Crocheting snoods became a popular pasttime in WWII, and patterns are easily found on eBay. I think they look especially great under hats, as a more formal alternative to a ponytail. And if anyone can tell me from which film this wonderful shot of Bette Davis originates, I'll write a bad poem in your honor.




(photo top of Missoni '09 show by AP, in the daily Telegraph; photo Bette Davis posted by Mean Jean on J-Walk Blog, thank you!)

Duncan Do-Nots

Here's the great thing about this photograph, for Missoni, in this month's British Harper's Bazaar. Even though model's sitting shotgun in a moving vehicle, scarves all aflutter around her, that right shoe with its glamorous golden stiletto heel is in perfect focus. So bravo for that.

Otherwise, the picture makes me want to give Angela Missoni a good talking-to.

HAVE YOU NEVER HEARD OF ISADORA DUNCAN?!!

Of course you've heard of Isadora Duncan, the American interpretive dancer who resettled in Europe in the early days of the last century, lived the ultimate bohemian lifestyle (complete with gut-wrenching personal tragedy), and died on the way to a tryst with her toyboy chauffeur. Died horribly. Thanks to her overlong SCARVES, which were hanging out the back of the open-top Bugatti.

OK, so let's pretend that the vehicle above isn't actually moving, and take a better look at the fashion. It is striking, in a free-spirited, 70s kind of way, what with its cable knit and woolly leggings and armwarmers and crocheted skirt and sweater-hoodie-fringed-scarf-wrap all in one. It would be a superb look for a romantic walk the Scottish Moors, except for the stiletto heel part. So this is the country version.

Meanwhile, over on eBay, the citified version is up on offer. Granted, it has more of an 80s vibe with its resplendent pink plaidness, but it does offer a mummy's worth of wrap, plus the wholly improbable bonus of woolly Bermuda shorts. In its own way, it's as brilliantly bonkers as the outfit above.

(but please no trailing ends in moving vehicles!! thank you).