After an unusually warm and practically snow-free Fall semester, we have arrived back at Colgate to find the standard foot of white snow that covers campus during the long winter sea­son. Naturally, snow can present some difficulties for the Colgate fashionista: flats and leather boots must go back in the closet as we dedicate the next few months to Sorels and Bean Boots. On the brighter side, one of the best parts of the winter season is the opportunity to don a variety of fun winter accessories that both keep us warm and spice up our outfits. We’d like to offer our humble opinions on some of today’s trendiest winter accessories: scarves, snoods, fingerless gloves, earmuffs and hats.

The Scarf: Scarves are great to add both visual interest and functionality to an outfit. Scarves come in a wide array of colors and patterns that you can choose from to high­light your best features. Recently, designers have even been putting additional details on scarves, such as pockets. You know, just in case you need a place to put some gum. And, of course, they will keep your neck warm during our frigid Colgate winters.

The Snood: If you’re willing to take things up a notch, let’s get it poppin’ with the snood, also known as the infinity scarf or the circle scarf. A snood is essentially the cooler, hotter older sister of a scarf. His­torically, snoods have been worn on the head to keep hair in place, but nowadays they are usually worn around the neck as a circular scarf. However, you must be care­ful about your particular choice of snood (size and fabric are important factors to keep in mind). In some cases, you may end up looking like you are wearing a weird piece of cloth around your neck, in which case you should probably rethink the snood immediately.

Fingerless Gloves: If you’re thinking about sporting a pair of fingerless gloves this winter season, we would like to kindly advise you against them. For starters, nothing about the fingerless glove is practical. I don’t know if everyone knows this, but fingers are one of the least well-circulated parts of our bodies; in our sub-freezing temperatures, they will get cold. Nobody wants cold fingers. While impracticality can’t always be avoided at Colgate (sometimes a girl just needs to wear a skirt in the winter), the fingerless glove is simply not worth it.

The Earmuff: We’re not going to lie: earmuffs are a bold move, but we are definitely willing to embrace it if you think you can pull it off. The major caveat is that you need to be confident with the rest of your look and your general fashion sense, as things can and will go terribly awry if you are not.

The Hat: In terms of accessorizing options, hats can be a bit questionable. Obviously they are great when the temperature gets so low that you face the risk of having your ears fall off your body, but there are some very real downsides to hat-wearing that we think everyone should consider. First, hat-hair is never chic. Second, you are presumably going to be taking your hat off upon reaching your destination, and there is just no way to ensure that you will still have it when it is time to venture back out into the cold (this issue mainly applies to night­time hat-wearing). Better options include a warm hood attached to your coat, or even a snood that can be worn on your head outdoors and around your neck indoors.

Contact Carly Reed and Greer Stichnoth at [email protected] and [email protected].