Is Mastering TikTok’s 'Olsen Tuck' the Secret to Effortless Style?

Wardrobe hacks have their own unique trend cycle. They originate in niche fashion circles, typically as the brainchild of a stylist or some other tastemaker. Word slowly gets out about the tip or trick that could save your style and snowballs into a mainstream trend. (See: last spring’s shirt sandwiches or the wrong shoe theory that still has legs today). Currently, we’re watching the process unfold with what TikTok calls the “Olsen Tuck”—i.e., tucking your hair into the collar of a coat, sweater, or scarf like The Row's Mary-Kate and Ashley often do.

Hair trapped in their turtleneck or topcoat is a sensory nightmare for some. It’s a fresh styling perspective and the antidote to blah winter fashion for others. For Maddie Wolsleger, a TikTok creator and #OlsenTuck trendsetter, it’s both: “I sacrifice the itch to feel chic,” she wrote in a comment on a recent outfit video with over 430,000 views.

On FashionTok, you’ll find many ‘fit checks like Wolsleger’s that praise the hair tuck and credit it with tying a look together. “Olsen tuck until I die” has become a rally cry for lovers of The Row, and users swear that the simple act of stuffing your hair into your top layer “automatically [makes] you the worst B in the room.” According to TikTok, it’s officially an Olsen Tuck fall, and at this rate, the styling "trick" is on track to become a winter trend that breaks outside of the internet's outfit of the day.

@maddiewolsleger

♬ True - Spandau Ballet

But this type of hair tuck is neither novel nor native to TikTok. Fans of Phoebe Philo—Philophiles, as they call themselves—know it as the English designer’s calling card. Seen on countless models during her tenure at Celine and on Philo herself when she’d pop out to take a bow post-show, “it’s a distinct, instinctive, and nonchalant gesture that’s trademark Phoebe,” says Edward Kanarecki, the curator behind @phoebephiloarchives on Instagram.

Marie Claire fashion director Sara Holzman points out that hair casually tucked into collars is also an element of the French-girl fashion ethos. “I remember being at Paris Fashion Week in 2021 and seeing French women throw on their coats over their mane and run out after the runway shows,” she tells me. “They were rushing to their next event, but people around them were like, ‘Gasp! How chic.'"

Chicness—as nebulous and overused as the concept has now become—is at the core of the hair tuck—originating from the Olsen duo, Philo, or whoever. “It’s the style element of a woman working in the studio every day, juggling different things at one time, and making quick but well-considered decisions,” says Kanarecki. “She doesn’t have time for her hair to be messy, so she tucks it into her turtleneck and keeps going, whether running errands [or popping out to greet the guests for her show’s finale].” She’s confident enough not to care because her sense of style is so strong and innate. Her fashion is, in one word, effortless.

But when I opened TikTok and saw girls wrangling their day-three hair into Toteme scarf coats or spending hours stuck between their skin and a sweater, I could almost feel the inevitable battle with tangles and mats brewing.

“The Olsen tuck is a recipe for knots,” confirms beauty editor Samantha Holender. Plus, it’s not a beauty trend everyone can try; “You need to have a specific, fine hair texture and density for it to work. If you have thick or coarse hair, this trend won’t look the same on you as it does on others."

And some don't even consider the hair tuck a trend at all. Marie Claire’s entertainment director, Neha Prakash, overheard me blabbering about the Olsen tuck and, though she'd never heard of the TikTok term, said she's been doing it all her adult life. “I’m always running 20 minutes late and often just show up to events with my hair still inside my coat,” she tells me. The tuck being incidental—simply the result of rushing and a packed schedule—is what Prakash believes makes it sing. “Same with any effortless look; if you’re actively tucking your hair into a sweater, you’ve lost the plot. You don’t even need to know what an Olsen tuck is to pull it off effortlessly."

Prakash raises an interesting question: Does the effort behind a supposedly effortless style undermine its appeal? Can something still be chic if it’s meticulously engineered?

I’ve fallen into this fashion wormhole before. I’m reminded of a conversation with fashion journalist and podcaster Avery Trufelman about sprezzatura, the Italian concept of studied nonchalance, or the art of making something difficult look effortlessly easy.

“Sprezzatura isn’t about the clothes themselves; it’s about how you wear them. The goal is to look like you didn’t put any thought into your outfit—even if you did. It’s a sign of knowing your style so well that you can effortlessly manipulate your clothes to reflect it,” she told me.

Does the authenticity of effortlessness fade if it’s entirely manufactured? “It’s a full-circle ouroboros,” Trufelman acknowledged. “Sprezzatura has always been meticulously contrived, so overthinking it is actually the most genuine way to get it right.” Ultimately, even style icons like the Olsen twins and the revered Phoebe Philo are, at their core, just playing dress-up. “I think it’s refreshing to admit that not everyone is naturally effortless,” Trufelman added. “We all have to experiment and play with our clothes—which makes it fun.”

My takeaway? Sometimes, it’s just not that deep—and neither is the viral Olsen Tuck. Maybe you’re already doing it and don’t think twice about it, like Prakash. Perhaps you’re purposefully funneling your hair into a turtleneck because you like feeling like an Olsen for a day. And over time, that extra styling step might bring you one step closer to your ultimate fashion end goal: a sense of personal style.