My very first girlcrush is still my ultimate winter style icon. Miss Bianca, star of the 1977 film The Rescuers, is Disney’s most underrated princess. As the Hungarian delegate to the Rescue Aid Society, an international humanitarian organisation run by mice with a secret headquarters in the walls of the UN building in New York City, Miss Bianca travels the world rescuing children in peril, and never allows being a mouse to stop her either from feats of bravery – commanding meetings of international delegates, rescuing children from flooded caves – or from rocking a look. She has a nice line in shawl-collar trapeze-line coats (think mid-century Balenciaga), but her real style signature is her glamorous scarves and hats. In a violet pillbox hat with a matching scarf tied in a bow, or dashing shades of mustard, Bianca makes cosy winter dressing look delicious. She might be a mouse, but she is never, ever mousey.
A cartoon mouse is an unusual place to begin an article about winter accessories. It is also an unusual point from which to draw a line to a former first lady of the US, but while pairing a tiny animated rodent with Michelle Obama as co-style icons is a mismatch on paper, it is not so in spirit. At the 2009 inauguration, Obama wore a lemongrass coat and dress by Isabel Toledo, offset by olive-green leather gloves. Her daughters, Malia and Sasha, were chicly bundled in scarf-and-glove sets chosen to contrast with their coats. Their clothes were elegant, but it was the accessories that made the look memorable. The family looked comfortable, relatable, and quietly joyful: no small feat on a freezing day dense with symbolism and expectation.
Winter dressing is shaped by logistics. It’s safety first, and function-led. You choose your coat for warmth, your shoes for traction. What with finding unladdered tights in the dark and piling on the layers, just prepping to leave the house is a lot, and it can feel as if you have precious little bandwidth for flair. But getting dressed should never be pure drudgery, because that mindset will follow you out of the door into the rest of your day. Scarves and gloves, hats and umbrellas work just as well in unexpected colours as they do in basic black, so embrace them as glimmers of winter sunlight.
Miss Bianca’s scarves are a masterclass in this philosophy. They are never neutral. Tied in bows, looped with flair, coordinated unapologetically with her hats, they announce her as a personality to be reckoned with. The coat may be sensible (after all, she is often dangling from a crocodile’s back or navigating flood waters), but the accessories speak to her hinterlands as a woman of grace and taste, rodent DNA notwithstanding. Without the extras, the outfit would still function. With them, it has character.
Start with a personality scarf. It could be oversized and generously fluffy, or it might be rakishly whip-thin. It could be triangle shaped. It could even be a colourful sweater, looped around your shoulders on top of your coat as a makeshift scarf that doubles as an emergency extra layer if the office is chilly. All that matters is that it feels intentional. It should be a cherry on top of your outfit, not just neck insulation.
Do not overlook the power of a gorgeous pair of gloves. There is something charming and intimate about gloves, involved as they are in gestures, handshakes and waves. A pair in an unexpected colour – oxblood, violet, soft green – can lend a dull coat a point of view.
Coats are repetitive, boots are unavoidable, so lean into the bits of your wardrobe that allow for choice. Tie your scarf in a bow, or fasten it with a brooch. Loop your sweater around your shoulders instead of stuffing it in your tote bag. If a mouse can command an international rescue agency in a pillbox hat, you can up your style game for the morning commute.
Model: Daria at Milk. Stylist’s assistant: Charlotte Gornall. Hair and makeup: Sophie Higginson using Hair by Sam McKnight and Dr Sams. Coat, £85, Marks and Spencer. Scarf, £69, TBCo. Gloves, £45, Oliver Bonas