When we envision the trends of yesteryear, we conjure up images of our favorite supermodels clad in low-rise leather trousers, baggy jeans, and cozy packable jackets designed for camping trips. Like with slip dresses and combat boots, lately, we've been looking to the '90s for retro-style inspiration — and this season's newest trend resurgence is further evidence of just that: fleece fashion.
The sporty-snug-style hybrid is no longer exclusive to hikers, rock climbers, or your middle-school self. Considering the lasting effects of Patagonia, L.L Bean, and The North Face, the fleece's nostalgic appeal isn't going to fade off the fashion scene any time soon — especially when cabincore is all the rage. Fall is here with winter following in its footsteps, so we're all about finding cozyloungewear-adjacent pieces to bundle ourselves up in. We hunted down a number of classic to reimagined fleece styles ahead — from buttery iterations to retro jackets lined with the stuff and even a pair of stretch pants (plus a bucket hat) in fleecey form.
At Refinery29, we’re here to help you navigate this overwhelming world of stuff. All of our market picks are independently selected and curated by the editorial team. If you buy something we link to on our site, Refinery29 may earn commission.
Columbia Archer Ridge™ II Full Zip Jacket, $, available at Columbia
The North Face ’95 Retro Denali Jacket, $, available at The North Face
Patagonia Los Gatos Fleece Jacket, $, available at Backcountry
The news that my father had passed came in the form of a phone call on a Monday afternoon in August. While I’d been waiting for the call for months — he was terminally ill — I wasn’t prepared for the feeling of waking up with a father and hanging up the phone without one. Among the many initial feelings I felt, all overwhelmed with a sense of numbness, I had the strong urge to find and put on the only thing I had from him with me: a bucket hat, sitting in my bottom drawer. I sat on my bed for the rest of the day with the hat on my head, confused about what to do next. That night, I slept with it beside me.
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed what it looks like to lose a loved one for many. While my father didn’t die of COVID, the restrictions in his dementia facility made it difficult and, for months, impossible for my family to visit him in his final months. The mandatory quarantine and travel restrictions in New Zealand, where my family is based, meant flying home from the U.S. for the funeral wasn’t an option. Instead, I watched the funeral over FaceTime, his hat in my hand.
During the first month after his death, the only consistent thing about my grieving was the bucket hat. Surrounded by friends that had never met him and unable to hold family, his hat sat on my desk while I attempted to get back to work, went with me on my walks or trips to the beach, and slept next to me in bed. While recording my speech for his funeral, I spoke it to his hat just behind my laptop camera, in an attempt to feel closer to the funeral and, ultimately, to him.
I wasn’t alone in using an article of clothing to help grieve. While on a walk with my friend Zach, who also lost his father during this time, I noticed that he was wearing a hat I’ve never seen before. When he explained that it was also his father’s cap, we shared a moment in laughing at ourselves for wearing our “dead dad hats.”
Dr. Alan Wolfelt, grief counselor and Director of the Center for Loss and Life Transition, calls these “linking objects.” “They help link us to the physical presence of the person who died,” he explains. “They’re sort of temporary stand-ins for the person, and they help us feel closer to them, as well as access and express all of our normal grief emotions.” With hundreds of thousands of people losing loved ones from a distance during this time, and being unable to say goodbye due to the safety protocols or travel restrictions in place, Dr. Wolfelt says these objects have become a common response in the grieving process.
“With COVID, we can’t get together, so we’re struggling. We’re still grieving but can’t lean on all the mourning rituals that help us move through our early grief,” he explains. “Without that structure, we tend to feel lost and adrift. In addition to Zoom calls and phone calls, we’re relying more on linking objects and photos.” He notes that while these physical objects are helpful in the grief process, they can’t replace gathering in person to mourn someone. (For this reason, he suggests planning multiple ceremonies, using at-home rituals, and postponing, rather than canceling, in-person gatherings until it’s safe.)
Anyone that met my dad would not be surprised that the “linking object” I felt naturally drawn to was a hat. A practical and kind man of few words and of few possessions, he would often be seen in it while out in the garden, growing beans and mowing the lawn. In speaking with Zach, I discovered his father’s hat was just one in the pile of items he had put aside, including bowling and work shirts, a stuntman’s hat, and keepsakes from his work in the TV and film, an industry in which Zach works also.
“The day after my dad passed, the first thing my mom wanted to do was clear out his closet and purge everything so that’s what we did the entire first day,” he said. “A couple of weeks later, my sister and my mom were like, ‘Why did we do that?’” Zach said that he was grateful that he’d put aside some of the items his dad wore when he was his age. “He was probably doing the same thing at my age,” he said. “And I think seeing him and myself in the same clothing was a reminder of that.”
Dr. Ajita M. Robinson, grief and trauma expert and author of The Gift of Grief, says searching for reminders through objects is normal, noting that the separation caused by the pandemic might have exacerbated the need for a physical or symbolic connection. “For any of us who are visual and need those cues, it helps ground us in the reality of what we’ve lost,” she says. “Although the physical relationship has ended, the spiritual or personal doesn’t ever end.” Physical objects can also help people through one of the biggest fears that arise during the grieving process — that you’ll forget details about your loved one as time passes.
Personally, wearing the hat helped me to confront the grief head-on, something which Dr. Robinson says is important in the long-term. She says that the pandemic has resulted in a “breeding ground for complex grief and trauma,” with not just the death of loved ones impacting our mental health, but also the number of deaths happening as a result of COVID, combined with the symbolic losses that we’re all feeling, such as loss of routine, loss of safety, and loss of normality. “If we’re not able to name the grief or recognize it, it means that it’s just accumulating without resolve,” she explains. “We’re not moving through the grief process, we’re stuck and frozen.”
In this time of collective grief, both Dr. Wolfelt and Dr. Robinson stress the importance of finding personal rituals and connections with communities in order to move through the grieving process. Like all grief, this will look different for everyone. While Dr. Robinson recommends support groups and creative rituals like journaling, my early grieving involved wearing the bucket hat. More recently, I’ve found writing to be more helpful, compiling a list of things I loved about my dad and noting down stories.
As I continue to come to terms with the immense loss across the other side of the world from my family, the hat, that I no longer wear every day, isn’t going anywhere. Firmly planted on the desk beside my bed, it now serves as a reminder of the goodbye I wish I could have said in person to the man I wish I never had to say goodbye to.
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For those of us who refuse to let go of our skirts and shorts, even in the dead of winter, thick hosiery is the holy grail. And, even if you swear by pants-only during the colder months, popping a pair of tights on underneath is a ten-second lifesaver on those days it's just too chilly to handle.
Since they're our second skin during the months we'd prefer to hibernate, it makes sense that we're constantly in search of the best pair on the market. We need a pair of tights that's durable, thick, hopefully will last more than three wears without getting a run, and most importantly, warm. Thankfully, brands are keeping up and coming out with more heat technology options than we can handle (you're still our OG though, Uniqlo). Ahead are 17 pairs of tights that will get you through the worst weather this year. We recommend stocking up — it's only a matter of time until Snowpocalypse 2020 comes a-blowin'.
Uniqlo Heattech Cable Knitted Tights, $, available at Uniqlo
Smartwool IntraKnit Merino 200 Bottom, $, available at Back Country
lululemon Keep The Heat Thermal Tight, $, available at lululemon
MILAN, ITALY – SEPTEMBER 26: Model walks the runway at the Philosophy fashion show during the Milan Women’s Fashion Week on September 26, 2020 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Jacopo Raule/Getty Images)
By now in the season, you’ve likely started checking off the different boot styles that you may need in your fall and winter wardrobe: black ankle boots, knee-high boots, combat boots, and perhaps one pair that makes a statement be it with a logo or a bold heel. But while style is important, there’s one quality your boots should have this (rainy and cold) time of year that’s even more essential: utility. Which is where Wellington boots come in.
Named after and popularized by the first Duke of Wellington, the rainboot is a staple in every Brit’s wardrobe. While the Duke’s were made of leather and coated in wax to make them waterproof, today’s Wellington boots are made primarily of rubber, range from ankle- to knee-high length, and, more often than not, have a lug sole to make them even more durable against the elements. Despite becoming the wet-weather essential everywhere since then, thanks to fall collections from brands like Ganni, Bottega Veneta, and Prada the traditional rain boots have undergone a fashion makeover this season.
COPENHAGEN, DENMARK – JANUARY 30: A model walks the runway at the GANNI show during the Copenhagen Fashion Week Autumn/Winter 2020 on January 30, 2020 in Copenhagen, Denmark. (Photo by Yuliya Christensen/Getty Images)
MILAN, ITALY – FEBRUARY 22: A model walks the runway during the Bottega Veneta fashion show as part of Milan Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2020-2021 on February 22, 2020 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Victor VIRGILE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)
Arguably the most talked-about shoe at Milan Fashion Week, the Bottega Veneta Puddle Boots, in the mere few months since they became available to shop, have inspired quite the list of mixed reviews online. (In an Instagram poll I conducted, responses were split between “Hell no” and “Yes x100000.”) Available in chartreuse, chocolate brown, bubblegum pink, tan, and black, the boot is 100% biodegradable and bulky in shape, making it stand out no matter how gloomy of a day it is outside. Ganni took a less divisive approach to the boot style, with yellow, black, and red lug-soled boots in ankle- knee-high-length styles.
But Wellington boots aren’t just trending on the runways. With cottagecore, an aesthetic based on a simple way of living and spending time in nature, taking off on Instagram and TikTok, photos of people in Hill House Home Nap dresses, cardigans, and Wellington boots, on hand-knit picnic blankets splayed out in an open field somewhere dominated feeds early on in the pandemic. (A typical cottagecore video will likely also include a spread of farm-fresh foods and the vinyl version of Taylor Swift’s Folklore album playing in the background.) What you won’t find are heels or thigh-high boots. In cottagecore, it’s rain boots year-round. Just ask Hill House Vintage founder Paula Sutton, a Norfolk, England, influencer with an affinity for garden-ready frocks, brogues, and lace-up Wellingtons.
In a marriage of sorts, cottagecore and high fashion came together during Milan Fashion Week in September — when models at Philosophy di Lorenzo Serafini’s garden-themed show graced the grassy runway wearing paint-stained jeans, picnic-print frocks, and green- and navy-colored knee-high rain boots. “I had so much time to reflect on things this year, and I rediscovered simple pleasures,” Serafini told Vogue. “I was moving toward something very easy and simple: painting, gardening, enjoying the open air.” Sound familiar? For the final look, Serafini sent out a model wearing a white, tulle wedding dress. She wore with it a pair of, you guessed it, Wellington boots.
With the weather getting colder and wetter by the day, the need for outdoor footwear that actually fits our needs is becoming increasingly important. It’s a good thing, then, that autumn’s most utilitarian boot is also its most stylish one. Shop our favorite fall ‘20 rain boots below.
At Refinery29, we’re here to help you navigate this overwhelming world of stuff. All of our market picks are independently selected and curated by the editorial team. If you buy something we link to on our site, Refinery29 may earn commission.
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