Headbands
By Rose King
Beaded headband: Model: Bella Checkland Harding/ Photographer:
Georgia Yiapanis Red headband: Model: Clementine Davey/ Photographer:
Celia Knox Feather headband: Model: Kerri Tucker/ Photographer: Allie Davey
Georgia Yiapanis Red headband: Model: Clementine Davey/ Photographer:
Celia Knox Feather headband: Model: Kerri Tucker/ Photographer: Allie Davey
Oh, how far the humble headband has come in the past few years. Gone are the sweet undertones of naivety and primness, and gone are the good-girl Alice in Wonderland references. No, ever since Blair Waldorf stormed onto the fashion scene in the hit TV show Gossip Girl, our preconceptions as to who, when and where people wear headbands have been blown out of the water.
The show’s stylist, Eric Daman, took the headband and made it Blair’s signature accessory. Daman has cannily used the character’s beloved headpieces to denote important and defining aspects of her personality. A neat little headband atop her perfectly coiffed hair signifies that Blair is ready to put some of her Machiavellian power games into practice. Without them, she is rendered incomplete and out of control. She is the Queen of the Upper East Side and her headbands are her crown. Blair’s recent coronation of the rather more ‘alternative’ Jenny Humphrey (a Courtney Love-alike hailing from Brooklyn) as her successor, went on to prove that headbands are not merely for those of us with a penchant for pearls and twinsets. Jenny’s goth-inspired ensemble, complete with punky fishnets, makes for the perfect juxtaposition to the gem-encrusted Jennifer Behr band Blair picked out for her.
The good news is that now you can crown yourself Queen of Whatever without the Upper East Side price tag. Thanks to Blair, headbands have hit the mainstream. High street store Accessorize has released a collection of luxurious Alice bands featuring satin rosettes and diamanté detailing in royal hues that Ms Waldorf would most definitely approve of. And if a conservative headband still seems too structured, a popular alternative is the hippie headband. Girl of the moment Pixie Lott has been spotted sporting a whole spectrum of different styles: from a simple braid to a string of chiffon flowers reminiscent of that famed '60s Woodstock vibe, to a more grown-up Bulgari headpiece.
But these aren’t the only options available to accessory junkies. Designers have found even more ways to reinvent the accessory once relegated to the wardrobes of polo-wearing preps only. For Louis Vuitton’s 2009 Fall/Winter catwalk show, Marc Jacobs sent the models down the runway sporting oversized bunny ears that he felt lent ‘a kind of Playboy, French coquette aspect’ to the clothes. As if Marc’s endorsement wasn’t enough, take it from the Olsen twins, who wore pairs of Maison Michel lace bunny ears out in Japan recently. The longtime fashionistas, along with Topshop, who’ve produced a pair of their own, have proved that bunny ears are not just for Halloween; they’re for everyday fashion life…if you’re brave enough.