Love them or hate them, the ‘hipster headband’ as it has been dubbed, is a very real part of accessories today for people across the fashion spectrum. This piece, a usually-thin and decorative strand of some fabric or another is to be wrapped around the head at varying levels to increase the wearers cool factor by an immediate ten percent. People like Erin Wasson, Zoe Kravitz, Cory Kennedy, and Iekeliene Stange can be seen sporting these headbands in varying widths and hues. Although many people may consider these items overly trendy or already ruined by the label of ‘hipster’, it is actually quite the contrary. Worn well, a hipster headband, paired with a simple t-shirt and jeans can take an outfit from boring to eye-catching.
The trend was first seen on the streets by powerful people in the fashion industry—people like Karl Lagerfeld, who has the power to create new trends all by himself, and others like Iekeliene Stange, current top model, who has the power to officially turn an accessory from a random rope into a completely dazzling cherry-on-top for an already wonderful outfit. At Chanel’s most recent couture show, while models strutted around in flouncy cocktail dresses and gorgeous floor-length gowns, a version of the headband made its very own apperance, although this time it was procured out of elegant seashells.
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Although it is clear that the hipster headband has no chance of fading in the future, one element of this trend worries me. There are hundreds of high-up, extremely (beyond words) chic women who have already passed the years where they can get away with wearing a string of sea shells across their forehead. The hesitance to embrace this trend most probably comes from its lack of adaptability. Something about it (the way it bunches up the wearer’s hair, or adds an immediate look-at-me element) makes it something that is looked down on by those who find it more irritating than anything else.
I know that my mother is an incredibly chic and hip woman who, while putting together an outfit, always considers what Scott Schuman, the Sartorialist, would think of it (and if he would stop to take her picture). I know, however, that she never completes an outfit with the many ribbons and bows that I have hanging in my bathroom.
So, the hipster headband is a juxtaposition in that it is loved and hated, it fits any body type and yet only a few people can pull it off, and it is making a comeback from decades past, and yet it still seems fresh and new. Care to join the trend?
photos, flickr, tfs, thecobrasnake
