How to Wear Boxer Shorts Like a Scandi Girl

For the very first day of Copenhagen Fashion Week, I opted to style the Almina Concept boxers. I first tried them on with a white OpéraSport T-shirt, but it felt too casual. The soothing light blue of the stripes reminded me of a floral pattern on a sheer Simone Rocha garner top I’d scored on the RealReal earlier in the year, so I layered it over the tee. As it turns out, the boxers were the perfect base for the funky top that, so far, I had only worn over dresses. I threw on a vintage micro Old Navy cardigan and my go-to Miu Miu ballet flats. When I headed out to the first show on the schedule (which, coincidentally, was OpéraSport), three different locals approached me to compliment me—in Danish! They seemed surprised to realize I didn’t speak the language, and I was honored.

For so long, I had studied Scandi style online and pored over CPHFW street style. I became obsessed with the way the Danes mixed and mashed so many different kinds of aesthetics and made the result something singular. To be confused for one of their own was a compliment I didn’t even know I needed. It made my week. The boxer shorts were working.

A tried-and-true outfit for eating pastries

The next morning, I woke up with some time to—obviously—get more pastries. My standard way of packing for work trips like this is to pack just enough for every event I have to attend, and then to wear a random assortment of fashion-y items for menial errands and tasks that make me look like the eclectic character I have forever aspired to be.

But these boxers finally provided me with the casual base for in-between Fashion Week moments that I have always craved. I slipped them on with a scalloped cashmere tank top by the Great Eros, a tiny red Cham cardigan, and a pair of pearly Simone Rocha Crocs. It was the only outfit I hadn’t planned out ahead of time, but became a favorite I wore nearly every other morning. It had the Scandi ease I craved, but also still made me as giddy as any other Fashion Week outfit. When I walked back to the hotel in it after a pastry run, I felt like I wasn’t just in Copenhagen—I was Copenhagen.

These Loewe boxer shorts made it easy to wear my toughest top to style.

I decided to round out the week with a final boxers look with the pair by Loewe. I’d scored them at an outlet upstate, along with a pink scarf top that is far and away the hardest item to style in my wardrobe. It is exactly what it sounds like: a long scarf attached to a tank top that can be twisted into a handful of looks. The top is complicated and funky. It doesn’t even present as a top. From afar, it looks like I might have just wrapped myself up in a scarf and somehow made it look good. I figured the boxer shorts might be able to balance it out—and they did. Worn with a vintage yellow Miu Miu bag, Sandy Liang ballet Mary Janes, and a white ruffle Good Squish scrunchie, they became the perfect summer outfit.

While there were plenty of takeaways from the actual Fashion Week, how to style boxer shorts felt like the biggest style lesson I really learned. Now when I see them in the back of my closet, I’ll no longer feel fear, but instead envision cardamom buns, Copenhagen, and the perfect base for every look.

Almina Concept Boxer Cotton Shorts

Donni. The Pop Boxer in Navy

Andine Gigi Striped Lace-Trim Boxers

Tara Gonzalez is the Senior Fashion Editor at Harper’s Bazaar. Previously, she was the style writer at InStyle, founding commerce editor at Glamour, and fashion editor at Coveteur.