How do "we" feel about cowl neck sweaters, infinity scarves, neck snoods and loops?
I explain:
I like the look of certain cowl neck sweaters on me due to both my long neck and to the effect of the cowl being sort of, something extra. An almost HEWI is a cowl that doesn't open too low with a lot of exposure and require a cami, because then it sort of no longer looks like a cowl neck, but has the cami thing going on as the center of attention.
This fall I found not one but 3 cowl-neck sweaters that come up high (not choking high on neck, but just how it falls at the neckline)--mauvy blush, burgundy, and a marled charcoal. Yay. Added to an existing gray one.
Later I read a snooty (my bias) blog about "cowls are out--who needs droopy chest". Bucking up, I say, no, they're one of the classic necklines.
But here's the rub: Cowl necks to me are seasonal and more for cool weather. So it's not good to have too many on the go. I like my assortment, in different knits, so can be early fall to late spring.
But by buying a cowl neck sweater I have to tick so many boxes, neckline plus am limited to the properties of the sweater (length, fit, boxiness, as well as warmth factor, etc) as to what I wear it with. Yet I don't want lots of them, such as, long gray cowl neck, short boxy gray, long burgundy, etc.
Enter the scarf, of course. With a scarf, you can wear some neutral round-neck knitwear underneath, but wear "face color" or coordinating accent color in scarf. Except, a typical long rectangular scarf is a lot of scarf even looped inventively, and looks different from the amount of drape of a cowl neck. Or the corners have to be pinned together, or something.
Enter the snood (for neck, not head), or the dreaded infinity scarf. They sometimes "behave" as less bulky and lie higher up.
To a large extent, a shorter, smaller "loop" works best for workwear because it is an accessory, like a necklace, but not too fussy or fly-away the way a scarf can sometimes be.
I have already "collected" scarves that are smaller, or narrower, and in soft fabrications (tissue wool, for example) to be less overwhelming.
But I was wondering if I have been fashion-shamed into avoiding infinity scarves or loops as "fake scarves" when in fact I could possibly have an assortment in selected colors (and carefully chosen fabrications--still aiming for certain woolen woven or knit and other natural fibers, and not poly types) that extend my "cowl wardrobe" by combining them with different tops that have already been proved out for proportions with specific bottoms and get more wear out of tops.
Wherefore then lies the Fabber poison eye and sugar eye for such neckwear? For me I think it would still be very item-specific as I would have a "poison eye" for certain ones, but others appeal. That is already true for "real scarves", though.