I had my mask pushed down beneath my chin as I did housework today, moving between the shared* stairwell and the privacy of my bedroom.

Startling myself as I passed a mirror on the wall, I realized something amazing: COVID-19 has brought the wimple back!

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wimple

Unless, like me and myriad members of the SCA, you’ve dabbled in the study of medieval clothing construction, you may not think you are familiar with the garment known as a wimple. If you can visualize a nun in an old school habit, however, you may be more familiar with the wimple than you think.

Here’s me wearing a wool tunic with a white linen wimple and veil that I made many years ago. Because I was interested in how these garments went together during the Middle Ages, this head gear is pinned in place with simple straight pins. Confession: I feel fearful every moment I’m wearing straight pins upon my body! Thankfully, my modern mask requires no such piercing fasteners.

Orthodox Jewish women today still generally elect to wear only garments that obscure their collarbones, but most of us no longer feel the neck is a private part demanding coverage for modesty’s sake. The wimple is perhaps the last article of clothing I thought I’d see making a comeback in my lifetime.

Then again, it does do wonders to camouflage an aging neck. Perhaps Nora Ephron should have tried one?

Given the pandemic’s decimation of the trouser market, maybe fashion designers should explore exotic swaddlings for the head and neck in search of more robust sales. Designer sweatpants are a real thing now; why not wimples?

♦

* Because two of us are going out into the world daily for in person schooling, we are keeping social distance and wearing face coverings in most rooms in our multi-generational, “single family” home, having effectively split into two “bubbles.”