How to Style a Shawl or Scarf With a Hoodie

How to Style a Shawl or Scarf With a Hoodie

Knowing how to style a shawl or scarf with a hoodie is an art form, and, like most art forms, there’s rarely only one way to get where you’re going. Whether with a hoodie, dress, tee or suit (perhaps, birthday suit), the best ways to wear a scarf or shawl will depend on several variables. From the occasion or season to simply who you are and what you’re feeling or hoping to feel, these variables work in tandem, bouncing and balancing their energies for what you will eventually put out into the world, the very same energy that may back around to you. So, choose wisely.

  Colors, textures, distinctive or classic patterns, the way a piece lies against the canvas that is your chosen outfit or feels against your skin. Maybe a vintage piece that has already lived several lives or perhaps brand new starting fresh with you. Your scarf, when it’s rightly aligned, can make you feel more like you than ever, a quiet frequency you feel that can reverberate off others.

  Eckhart Tolle once wrote: 

  All things are vibrating energy fields in ceaseless motion.

  Much like the art of styling a scarf or neck tie, knowing your style could mean pushing past comfort levels, trying something new or even taking a bold chance. And a neck tie or scarf is the perfect accent to pull it off. In the conversation of shawls, scarves and hoodies, let’s break it down to know which style is the right one for you. From choosing the right scarf to finding the right tying technique before finally balancing style and comfort for a finished product that feels, as we said, uniquely “you.”

The right scarf has no face. It could be long or short, thick and bundled or thin and unraveled. Late Sunday offers a number of neck ties and full handmade scarves, from vibrant colors like

to neutral earth tones like

, from short summer ascots like Amalfi Evening and dressy tie alternatives like

to long, thickly woven ones or even the most delicate knit scarves to add the finishing touch to an outfit in need. 

  When buying a scarf, you can choose to fit it to your regular rotation of outfits, a dress for a special occasion you have coming up or that one piece of wild flair you sometimes need on rare occasion to get you out of yourself momentarily for a quick emotional reset.

Material Consideration

Material selection might best be made based on the weather. Light fabrics in the summer, something knit in the winter, perhaps. You’re already going to be snuggled in nice and cozy with your hoodie so your scarf might be more of an accent at this point. As a rule of thumb, we recommend to avoid wearing thick scarves with hoodies, which can result in a style faux pas known as a "scarf goiter." 

Color Coordination

Since our Apollo hoodies come in classic colors of Vintage Black, Airforce Navy, Army Green, Sedona Rust and Raw Natural, scarves with patterns and textures might be the move. When wearing black or white, the door is open for a splash of color or a blend of similar colors, whereas the green and blue sweatshirt might best be accessorized with a matching color. 

  For instance, the army green hoodie could be paired with the returning light scarf favorite, Valley Bloom, while the navy blue hoodie could be matched with another blue, such as our knit favorite, Windy City.

Pattern Pairing

Stripes, polka dots, flowers or even the solid, pattern-less approach are all pairing possibilities when matching with a simple backdrop of the hoodie sweatshirt.

  Stripes, for example, pose a number of possibilities. They can be playful and laidback but also double nicely for more formal occasions. Neutral stripes might pair best with solid colors for a more classic look. Thinner stripes may be more professional and flattering on petite individuals, while larger stripes can work well on taller people and appear more casual. See, who says rocking a hoodie has to look slummy? We're all about disrupting and redefining the norms here.

  You can play around with what feels more "you," but sometimes you have to take a chance on your instincts. Luckily for you, there's a wide array of scarves and neck ties for your instincts to choose from in our shop oasis, all available online here.

  Just remember, confidence is key and style is subjective. Mixing patterns is mostly a game of finding the right balance, but everyone loves to break a rule once in awhile, right? So play around with possibility.

  Note: You're welcome to blame us if your free-thinking style gets you in hot water with your mother at a midwestern funeral. We're proud of you for trying.

Styling a Shawl With a Hoodie

A shawl asks something different of a hoodie than a scarf does. Where a scarf works in close — knotted at the throat, tucked under the collar, a small accent doing quiet work — a shawl is the bigger gesture. It drapes. It has an opinion about your whole silhouette. And a hoodie, bless it, already brought its own volume to the conversation. The good news is that the two get along better than you’d think, so long as you let each one do its job.

Layer over, never under

The hood needs somewhere to live. Pull your shawl on over the hoodie and let it fall open across the shoulders, so the hood sits clean against your back instead of vanishing into a lump between the layers. If a shawl and a hoodie have ever looked faintly “off” in the mirror and you couldn’t say why, this is almost always the reason.

Let one piece carry the volume

Same principle as the scarf goiter, just at a larger scale. Your hoodie is already soft and already generous, so reach for drape rather than heft — something like our Silver Sands Shawl, a lightweight slitted knit that moves instead of stacking. Save the dense sweater knits for the days a hoodie isn’t already doing that work.

Slitted pieces sit flat

If an open drape feels fussy over a hood, a slitted piece solves it — you pull it on and it stays where you left it, no re-tossing it over the shoulder every ten minutes. Our Blush Seasons Slitted Poncho, a cable knit in mauve, is the low-maintenance way in.

Color, same rules as above

The Apollo comes in Vintage Black, Airforce Navy, Army Green, Sedona Rust and Raw Natural — all patient backdrops. The neutrals give a patterned or saturated shawl room to speak, while with Army Green or Airforce Navy, echoing the tone rather than fighting it tends to read more intentional. The full range lives in our Ponchos & Shawls collection — cotton, vintage denim, sweater knit, striped and special occasion.

Hoodie Options

For the uninitiated, the Apollo Hoodie is our most popular item, with good reason. As much as fashionable ascots and soft, cozy scarves are our bread and butter, the hoodies are a multi-faceted unisex staple for any member of the Snuggle Tribe, made with French Terry cotton and doubling as the perfect travel companion. They're right up there with fellow local Venice apparel brand, Aviator Nation, in terms of comfort and recognizability.

Boasting a built-in eye mask, along with extra arm and ear padding, to aid in the battle for sleep, comfort and sensory deprivation while traveling, the Apollo is truly one of a kind. And your phone doesn’t have to bobble around and fall onto a condemnable airplane floor, thanks to the added phone holster inside its central pocket. 

To love, happiness, adventure and mystery.

That's the Late Sunday way.

Big love.