I’m an Anti-Preppy Fashion Editor, and Even I Can't Resist the Argyle Sweater Trend
I swore I'd never wear the print. It might be my favorite 2026 trend.
I’m curious to know how my teenage self would feel about the fact that argyle sweaters have become my favorite burgeoning 2026 trend and fashion code for cool.
Growing up on Cape Cod as a quirky kid who dreamed of an eclectic, creative life in New York City, I avoided preppy clothing like the plague. In my mind, any piece that felt like a bourgeois wardrobe basic was dorky and unstylish, a representation of the lifestyle I was so desperate to leave behind. Argyle sweaters fell very squarely into that camp—the clothing equivalent of 18 holes at a gated country club. (After all, its mainstream popularity is in credit to the Duke of Windsor’s golf game.)
Yet here I am now, flirting with the idea of buying Reformation’s argyle cashmere cardigan because I can’t afford Miu Miu’s. Other fashion designers I admire—like Catherine Holstein at Khaite and Michael Rider at Celine—styled diamond-printed knitwear on their Fall 2025 and Spring 2026 runways. (Two looks from Khaite’s show last March still take up a considerable chunk of my mental real estate: baby blue argyle crewnecks styled with leather pants and magnificent fur coats.) These were not like the ones I saw Hyannisport housewives wearing on Labor Day before leaving their Cape summer homes (a few miles away from the modest three-bed my family lives in year-round). These sweaters felt sleek, unconventional, and, dare I say, sexy.
Like any fashion trend worth its salt, argyle sweaters are also flourishing off the runway. During the Spring 2026 season, fashion week guests in Paris, Milan, London, and New York wore diamond-printed knits as punchy, graphic layers under lady jackets, as makeshift belts around their waists, and as scarves over their coats. The clear takeaway to me here is how tastemakers took such a stuffy, prepster staple and injected it into today’s trendiest outfit formulas, making it look cool and contemporary.
As Julia Gall, contributing Style at Large editor and fashion industry veteran, wrote about her favorite sweater outfits: “A forever classic that has elbowed its way back into the fashion zeitgeist, argyle sweaters are feeling really right for right now.”
Moreover, I’m also seeing great argyle sweaters from fashion-girl favorite labels like Alex Mill, Gigi Hadid’s Guest in Residence, and Daughter, one of Marie Claire’s editor-in-chief Nikki Oggunaike’s favorite knitwear brands. Reliable retailers like J.Crew and HM are also in on the sweater trend, with slim-fit knit polos and brushed-wool cardigans that lend themselves to preppy-ish winter work outfits.
All this brings me to the main reason why I’m writing this trend report today: Inspired by my change of heart for the prepster staple, I’ve combed the internet to round up the best argyle sweaters that work for a variety of individual stylings, not just in a boarding school uniform. The knits included above and below work in any context and setting—which, for me, might actually be out to drinks at my favorite Brooklyn wine bar and at the next New York Fashion Week.
Shop the Argyle Sweater Trend
