‘Frazzled English Woman’ Is the Only Aesthetic I Want to Wear This Winter. Here’s Exactly How to Get the Look

First coined by the Australian fashion magazine RUSSH in 2022, the frazzled 2000s English woman aesthetic is all about layering with a particular emphasis on knitwear. Think of Laura Linney in Love Actually or Renée Zellweger in Bridget Jones’s Diary. As RUSSH Editor Ella O’Keeffe describes it, “The energy is that she’s English, she’s middle class, she’s a working girl, she’s quite frazzled but she’s also quite witty.” They love a good mid-length skirt over colorful opaque tights. They’re overly fond of skinny scarves and knee-high boots and their hair is often erratically pulled up with a claw clip, loose strands a plenty. Feel free to throw color theory to the wind when embracing the frazzled English woman trend. No need to waste energy choosing coordinating accessories, either.

I adore that this early 2000s vibe is considered trendy for the very same reason I was so excited about mom/dad fashion and ugly shoes—it is slowly but surely moving us away from the old-school ideas of what it means to be a good dresser and how we define “flattering.” The frazzled English woman aesthetic doesn’t care about defining the waist or lengthening your frame. It doesn’t involve any special tricks for how to layer your sweaters without adding bulk. In fact, that bulkiness is part of the fun of it. It also doesn’t necessitate any designer labels or luxurious materials. It’s cute, it’s eclectic and it thrives straddling the line between quirky and weird. It’s a trend that has a very wide margin of error and can almost definitely be recreated with items you already own, unlike Tenniscore or the Horse Girl aesthetic, which often require purchasing new items that fit the trend. Best of all, it doesn’t involve me doing anything with my hair, which is in a perpetual state of messiness anyway.

Yes, the frazzled English woman is kooky, but she’s also flirty, fun and clever. Bridget Jones may have flashed her bum on TV sliding down a fire pole, but she also aced her interview with Kafir Aghani and Eleanor Heaney, and that’s exactly the type of realistic balance I hope to achieve in life. Here, ten pieces to help you, too, live your best 2000s British movie heroine-inspired winter.