It's All Good In The Hood

Other than my parka's, I own very little items which have hoods. I think it's because my head looks unusually small when I wear a hood up, even on my coats (I much prefer a trusty hat), but I'm rethinking them for autumn.

Hooded dresses, tops and jackets are all appearing in many A/W shows. And snoods. Those old enough will remember snoods when they appeared in the early 80's. A scarf/hood hybrid. If you dabbled in cheap, woolly high street snoods, like I did, you ended up looking more like a gay IRA terrorist than a thoroughly modern teenager.

As is the case with many things relating to fashion, I'm more often than not usually willing to dabble and I might even dabble in snood once more, especially since I've learned my lessons about the super cheap variety nearly 20 years ago. I can only thank God I never asked my gran to knit me one since I'd have ended up with the damn thing stuck on my head (my gran knitted everything super tight as is the case with Queen Marie's gran too - who once knitted her younger brother a balaclava which he put on and couldn't get off again).

Of course the hood/snood has come a long way since the 80's and is actually a very practical thing indeed. And for A/W it comes in many variants; whether it's a hat that looks like a hood which just isn't attached to anything, or a scarf which sits over the head.

YSL have taken the idea and ran with it, creating lots of different variants:

Vivienne Westwood did it:

As did Chalayan:

And Chanel too;

For some it'll be the return of an exceptionally practical item, or a dreaded flashback to itchy rashes and suspicious looks from shopkeepers (who thought you were hiding your face because you were going to rob the shop).

For me, it's all good in the hood!

Queen Michelle

Comments

[Blue Floppy Hat]

I love hoods! Not balaclavas/headscarves, though.. there's something about the way a big hood looks when it's down that makes things look really dramatic and all like you've blown in from a long journey with a huge storm en route.

[Daniella]

Vivienne Westwood rocked the hood. It's all good, it's all good ..something something down in my hood. LoL, sorry, just thought of that song. =D

Anyway, just wanted to say awesome blog, love it.

xoxo

[Queen Michelle]

It's cool Daniella (Daniella used to be favourite name as there was this girl at school I used to be friends with and she was called Daniella and I thought she was amazing, so I too wanted to be called Daniella in the vague hope that some of her personality would rub off on me...it never did), I was thinking about an Ice Cube song when I wrote the title. Oh and welcome to the Kingdom xx

[Mrs Fashion]

Still grinning at the thought of a gay 'Ra terrorist. (Not that there's anything funny about terrorism, mind you, but it might have put the troubles to rest a bit quicker if they spent more time on their outfits than bombing and kidnapping).

Anyway, might you be able to find something snood-like in your Saturday charity shop searches and maybe show us how to customise a jumper sleeve into fetching and fashionable headgear? (I'm particularly loving Snejana's bobbly bonnet - that's my Winter hood inspiration).

Mrs F x

[Queen Michelle]

Mmm yes, it could be some sort of conversion in the future - heaven knows I could easily fit my "pin heid" in a jumper sleeve!

[sopchan]

i hate it when my nose gets cold in winter - because once it does, it is impossible to warm up again, so last year found me investing in the genius that is 'the buff'
http://www.buff.es/ now they might look a bit practical, but i LOVE it - and it's so versatile and i wore mine over my nose (which, depending on how you looked at it, could be assassin-ish - not always the best look on the tube...but great for tough ldn streets) and as a hood/snood/scarf - so versatile, and actually quite sleek and chic if you played around with it. and crucially, warm nose city.

love the chalayan hoods.

[sopchan]

p.s. before that, i had been toying around with the idea of an earmuff type thing for the nose but luckily that idea didn't go far before i found the buff. i like how you don't have to constantly wind and tighten as you do with scarves. the effect is not unlike some of those tighter ysl hoods.

whenever i do wear a proper hoodie (usu from dance class etc) i am followed around by store detectives.. i make a point of going straight for them and ask, 'excuse me sir, could you tell me where to find the sticking plasters / milk / changing room' which throws them a bit...

[sopchan]

don't be put off by the extreme garishness of the buff demonstrated! i have one in black and one in black/grey print...

[Fabi]

the white chalayan one is a dream. I live in a place where it's sunny pretty much all year round, but I like hoods anyway, they protect my hair from the sun. ;)

[PrettyInBlack]

I really like Westwood and Chalayan's takes on the hood. I own many jacket and sweater but only two with hoods. A black faux motorcycle jacket from H&M and a grey cotton one by B.B. Dakota. I wore my mothers snoods when I was little...but hats are definitly cooler.