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The sleeveless turtleneck is a fantastical garment. It always looks great and the concept sounds stellar. No more bulky sleeves! And guess what? The wearer gets an elegant, long neck whether or not they had one to begin with.
But the whole idea behind a proper turtleneck is to keep warm, and a turtleneck without sleeves negates that purpose. In a way, it’s one of those garments that can only be worn in the perfect setting that is neither hot nor cold. Good luck finding that utopian mix.
Maybe, though, it is precisely the impracticality of the sleeveless turtleneck that makes it such an aspirational, somewhat impossible-to-wear piece of clothing. My colleague Vogue.com Fashion News Editor Monica Kim shared a good theory. “I used to feel about sleeveless turtlenecks the way I feel about wedge boots. They made me angry because they’re so unnecessary and feel like a weird cop-out between things — like you can’t make a choice,” Kim says. “It doesn’t make any logical sense but, at the same time, there’s something kind of great about how impractical it is.”
