Photos Of Celebrities In Turtlenecks Are All The Style Inspo You Need

If these photos don't convince you turtlenecks are the best, nothing will.
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Turtlenecks are the most versatile piece you can have in your wardrobe. Yeah, we said it. 

If you disagree (and lots of people do), just hear us out. Turtlenecks, the high-neck tops beloved by the beatniks, poets and jazz musicians of the 1950s, are the perfect cold weather closet staple. They can be chunky or thin, bulky and loose or tight-fitted. Not only do they look great on their own, paired with some simple blue jeans, sleek trousers or a skirt, they can also make great layering pieces. Got a spaghetti strap dress you’re not quite ready to store away for the winter? Add a fitted turtleneck underneath and you’ve got a whole new outfit. Same goes for jumpsuits and even button up shirts that aren’t quite warm enough to wear on their own when the temperature drops.

To put it plainly, turtlenecks wrap your neck in a warm, cozy embrace in a way a simple scarf just never can. 

And despite what you might think, turtlenecks are both cool ― as proven by plenty of famous men and women ― and sexy. As Troy Patterson once wrote in The New York Times, when a woman wears one, there’s “a certain sophistication in the overwhelming rejection of décolletage; this sweater [says] that her eyes are up here.” 

If all that isn’t enough to convince you that turtlenecks are the best, perhaps the photos below of an array of celebrities wearing them through the years will do the trick: 

Helen Hunt and Paul Reiser
NBC via Getty Images
The actors in a promo image from the '90s sitcom "Mad About You."
Elizabeth Taylor
John Springer Collection via Getty Images
The actress offers a big smile on a stairway in a red turtleneck, sometime in the '50s.
Mick Jagger
George Wilkes Archive via Getty Images
The rock 'n roll star during a rehearsal in 1965.
Rita Hayworth
Archive Photos via Getty Images
The actress wears a yellow turtleneck, circa 1950.
Sarah Jessica Parker
NBC via Getty Images
The actress seen on set of the 1987 miniseries "A Year In The Life."
Mary Tyler Moore
CBS Photo Archive via Getty Images
The actress smiles in a scene from "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" in 1970.
Princess Diana
Tim Graham via Getty Images
The British royal out in London in the mid-'90s.
Elvis Presley
Bettmann via Getty Images
The iconic singer wears a turtleneck in this 1968 photo.
Candice Bergen
Oliver Morris via Getty Images
Bergen was photographed in front of a window overlooking New York's Central Park in the mid-'80s.
David Duchovny
Aaron Rapoport via Getty Images
The actor poses for a photo, circa 2000.
Nick Carter
Mario Magnani via Getty Images
The singer during a performance on "The Early Show" in New York in November 2000.
Demi Moore
Erik Hein via Getty Images
Moore posing for a 1981 publicity photo for "General Hospital."
Penelope Cruz
Scott Gries via Getty Images
The actress sports a turtleneck at the premiere of "All The Pretty Horses" in New York in December 2000.
Patricia Arquette
J. Vespa via Getty Images
The actresses poses for a portrait at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival.
Britney Spears
Tony Barson Archive via Getty Images
The actress at a photo call for "Crossroads," 2002.
Benjamin Bratt
Evan Agostini via Getty Images
The actor wears a turtleneck for the premiere of the film "Thumbsucker" in January 2005.
Julia Roberts
Jacques Malignon via Getty Images
The actress poses in a green turtleneck for a studio portrait session in 1989.
George Clooney
Tim Rue via Getty Images
A shot of Cloney from the mid '90s.
Diane Keaton
Paramount Pictures via Getty Images
The actress in a scene from the 1974 movie "The Godfather Part II."
Audrey Hepburn
Pictorial Parade via Getty Images
The actress, photographed with her first husband, Mel Ferrer, wears a turtleneck while riding a horse near Rome, 1955.
Marilyn Monroe
Alfred Eisenstaedt via Getty Images
The actress poses in a black turtleneck at her home in 1953.
Rita Moreno
Loomis Dean via Getty Images
The actress wears a white turtleneck sweater in a photo, circa 1954.
Halle Berry
Time Life Pictures via Getty Images
The actress photographed sometime in the '90s.
Lisa Kudrow
NBC via Getty Images
The actress in a turtleneck on the set of a 1995 episode of "Friends" with Chrissie Hynde.
Gwyneth Paltrow
Ron Galella, Ltd. via Getty Images
The actress on location for the film "A Perfect Murder" in 1997.
Robert Redford
Herbert Dorfman via Getty Images
The actor smiling in a turtleneck, circa 1960.
Sammy Davis Jr.
NBC via Getty Images
The performer during an appearance on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" in 1985.
Natalie Wood
Ernst Haas via Getty Images
The actress wears a black turtleneck in this photo from the early '60s.
Steve McQueen
Getty Images via Getty Images
The actor in a still from the 1968 film "Bullitt."
J.C.Chasez, Lance Bass and Chris Kirkpatrick
Ron Galella via Getty Images
The three, seen here with their fellow *Nsync bandmates Justin Timberlake and Joey Fatone, wear turtlenecks at the annual American Music Awards in 1999. (Timberlake's mockneck almost counts.)
Art Garfunkel
Michael Ochs Archives via Getty Images
Garfunkel, with Paul Simon in an almost-turtleneck, in a Columbia Records publicity still, circa 1967.
Victoria and David Beckham
John Giles - PA Images via Getty Images
The couple in matching black turtlenecks as they announce their engagement in 1998.
Diana Ross
NBC via Getty Images
Ross wears a light turquoise turtleneck in this undated photo.
Christina Aguilera
Jim Smeal via Getty Images
The singer poses following Grammy nomination announcements in January 2000.
Twiggy
George Wilkes Archive via Getty Images
The model poses in London in 1967.
Jane Fonda
Sunset Boulevard via Getty Images
The actress poses in a turtleneck in this undated photo.

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Before You Go

Old Hollywood Fall Fashion Inspiration
Ingrid Bergman(01 of23)
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Bergman wears a suede coat in a photo from sometime in 1945. (credit:Archive Photos via Getty Images)
Gene Tierney(02 of23)
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Tierney wears a classic ensemble of black pants and a white shirt as she tends to the coals in a fireplace in an undated photo. (credit:Bettmann via Getty Images)
Lucille Ball(03 of23)
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A photo of Ball taken in Hollywood, California, in 1949. (credit:AFP via Getty Images)
Lauren Bacall(04 of23)
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Bacall in a red-orange turtleneck in an undated portrait. (credit:Sunset Boulevard via Getty Images)
Audrey Hepburn(05 of23)
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Hepburn leans on an ornate urn in London's Kew Gardens in 1950. (credit:Bert Hardy via Getty Images)
Barbara Stanwyck(06 of23)
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Stanwyck poses in a white shirt and black pants in this photo from 1945. (credit:John Kobal Foundation via Getty Images)
Sophia Loren(07 of23)
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Loren on the set of the 1964 film "Matrimonio all'italiana" ("Marriage Italian Style"). (credit:Sunset Boulevard via Getty Images)
Marilyn Monroe(08 of23)
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Monroe in a casual ensemble at home in 1953. (credit:Alfred Eisenstaedt via Getty Images)
Gene Tierney(09 of23)
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The actress wears a navy blue high-collared coat in this undated photo. (credit:John Rawlings via Getty Images)
Grace Kelly(10 of23)
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A photo of Kelly from 1955. (credit:API via Getty Images)
Rita Hayworth and Marlene Dietrich(11 of23)
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Actors Hayworth and Dietrich wear similar coats as they depart for Hollywood after a visit in New York in 1941. (credit:Bettmann via Getty Images)
Judy Garland(12 of23)
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Garland wears a striped dress in this images from around 1940. (credit:Silver Screen Collection via Getty Images)
Ava Gardner(13 of23)
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Gardner in a trench coat and scarf on the set of the 1959 film "On the Beach." (credit:Sunset Boulevard via Getty Images)
Joan Fontaine(14 of23)
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Fontaine wears casual separates at home in this photo from sometime in 1957. (credit:PA Images via Getty Images)
Natalie Wood(15 of23)
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Wood wears a black turtleneck with printed pants in the 1961 photo. (credit:Ernst Haas via Getty Images)
Carole Lombard(16 of23)
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Lombard at Penn Station in New York, sometime in 1935. (credit:New York Daily News Archive via Getty Images)
Elizabeth Taylor(17 of23)
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Taylor surrounded by pigeons in Trafalgar Square, London, in 1948. (credit:Keystone Features via Getty Images)
Debbie Reynolds(18 of23)
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Reynolds wears a bright red fuzzy coat in this undated photo. (credit:Loomis Dean via Getty Images)
Rita Hayworth(19 of23)
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Hayworth sits on a lawn chair at her lakefront home in Glenbrook, Nevada, in this undated photo. (credit:Bettmann via Getty Images)
Rita Moreno(20 of23)
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Moreno wears a turtleneck sweater and slacks in this undated photo. (credit:Loomis Dean via Getty Images)
Rita Hayworth(21 of23)
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Hayworth wears a yellow blouse and blue harem pants in this photo taken sometime in the 1940s. (credit:Silver Screen Collection via Getty Images)
Hedy Lamarr(22 of23)
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Lamarr in New York City in 1949. (credit:Keystone-France via Getty Images)
Ginger Rogers(23 of23)
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The actress and dancer wears a three-piece suit in this 1938 photo. (credit:Keystone-France via Getty Images)

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