A Skull Cap Beanie Is the Better Way to Protect Your Aura
ShoppingThe cuffed watch caps endemic to third-wave coffee shops are cringe, one writer maintains. Buy a noggin-hugging skully instead.By Gerald OrtizJanuary 30, 2025Images: Getty; Collage by Sarah CassutoSave this storySaveSave this storySaveAll products are independently selected by our editors. If you buy something, we may earn an affiliate commission.Despite the think pieces, take-downs, and skewering memes, the itty-bitty cuffed beanie persists. You know the one I’m talking about—it is, after all, an otherwise regular beanie, save for the fact that the end of it has been rolled upward, leaving its wearer’s ears uncovered. Don’t get me wrong: a cuffed beanie can look cool when done right (we see you, Keanu Reeves, and we salute your efforts). At its most cringe, though, it can also reduce your entire outfit to cursed starter-pack fodder.We haven’t quite reached the point where cuffed beanies feel as stale as cuffed jeans, but we’re getting close. Luckily, the remedy is simple: unfurl your beanies, bros of the world, and opt for a cuffless toque or a skull cap beanie instead.The North FaceJim Beanie$28 AmazonArc'TeryxRho Lightweight Beanie$45 REISkull caps, for example, feature a slimmer profile than the chunky watch caps ubiquitous in third-wave cafes and on stubbly workwear buffs. They’re also more malleable, and easier to shape, crush, and obsessively mold to your will—and noggin. Unlike cuffed beanies, they lean and slump with more attitude than a teenager. Sure, skimpier skull caps are prone to shape shift throughout the day, but shorter skullies hug your dome without demanding afternoon zhuzhing.You can, of course, wear a skull cap beanie over your ears, as nature intended. But you can also cock it jauntily to the side, or perch it high upon your head for maximum artful collapse. Pair it with a bomber jacket and big jeans or with a preppy blazer and a button-up. Style it with sporty shades and a waterproof ski jacket or your rattiest band tee and a vintage thermal.Homme Plissé Issey MiyakeBlooming Beanie$295 $168 SSENSERick OwensMedium Beanie$225 $203 SSENSELady White Co.Wool Cap$120 Lady White Co.AlludeRibbed Cashmere Beanie$115 Mr PorterBecause as physically malleable as the cuffless beanie is, its appeal is just as chameleonic. It conjures everything from ‘90s-era rappers to Aspen ski bums; 2000s boybanders to unwittingly swaggy method actors; anti-authoritarian skate rats to velour-clad pop girlies in bug-eye shades and booties. Good luck getting reduced to a starter pack (for now, at least).The fashion crowd has been on the skull cap beanie tip for a second, and the idea, or a similar variation of it, has been cropping up in the womenswear space in the form of scarves and bonnets. Are the head headwear honchos trying to tell us something? Hell if I know. But we sure seem to be on the cusp of a seismic shift in beanie culture on par with the forces that finally propelled the zip-up hoodie to overtake its pullover counterpart.Heck, you don’t even have to buy a new beanie—just uncuff the one you already own.ColumbiaBugaboo Beanie$25 BackcountryAlex MillCashmere Beanie$98 Alex Mill
All products are independently selected by our editors. If you buy something, we may earn an affiliate commission.
Despite the think pieces, take-downs, and skewering memes, the itty-bitty cuffed beanie persists. You know the one I’m talking about—it is, after all, an otherwise regular beanie, save for the fact that the end of it has been rolled upward, leaving its wearer’s ears uncovered. Don’t get me wrong: a cuffed beanie can look cool when done right (we see you, Keanu Reeves, and we salute your efforts). At its most cringe, though, it can also reduce your entire outfit to cursed starter-pack fodder.
We haven’t quite reached the point where cuffed beanies feel as stale as cuffed jeans, but we’re getting close. Luckily, the remedy is simple: unfurl your beanies, bros of the world, and opt for a cuffless toque or a skull cap beanie instead.
Skull caps, for example, feature a slimmer profile than the chunky watch caps ubiquitous in third-wave cafes and on stubbly workwear buffs. They’re also more malleable, and easier to shape, crush, and obsessively mold to your will—and noggin. Unlike cuffed beanies, they lean and slump with more attitude than a teenager. Sure, skimpier skull caps are prone to shape shift throughout the day, but shorter skullies hug your dome without demanding afternoon zhuzhing.
You can, of course, wear a skull cap beanie over your ears, as nature intended. But you can also cock it jauntily to the side, or perch it high upon your head for maximum artful collapse. Pair it with a bomber jacket and big jeans or with a preppy blazer and a button-up. Style it with sporty shades and a waterproof ski jacket or your rattiest band tee and a vintage thermal.
Because as physically malleable as the cuffless beanie is, its appeal is just as chameleonic. It conjures everything from ‘90s-era rappers to Aspen ski bums; 2000s boybanders to unwittingly swaggy method actors; anti-authoritarian skate rats to velour-clad pop girlies in bug-eye shades and booties. Good luck getting reduced to a starter pack (for now, at least).
The fashion crowd has been on the skull cap beanie tip for a second, and the idea, or a similar variation of it, has been cropping up in the womenswear space in the form of scarves and bonnets. Are the head headwear honchos trying to tell us something? Hell if I know. But we sure seem to be on the cusp of a seismic shift in beanie culture on par with the forces that finally propelled the zip-up hoodie to overtake its pullover counterpart.
Heck, you don’t even have to buy a new beanie—just uncuff the one you already own.
