The banana clip is two long, curved combs hinged at the bottom, and it gathers hair into a tall ponytail that has become shorthand for the 1980s. When Alexander Wang's fall 2018 show put clips back on the runway, with hair by Guido Palau as a take on 80s power dressing, they were widely described as banana clips, but Palau pointed out that each one was really a claw clip. That distinction still matters when you shop. Kitsch makes the real thing, a two-pack in black and tortoise. Cassandra Thurswell started Kitsch in 2010, at 25, selling handmade hair ties door to door in Los Angeles with her own savings, and the company has never taken outside funding. The banana clip is the better choice for thick, long hair that you want up and full, and it looks surprisingly modern with a sleek part. The rest of the first row is Emi Jay's claws. The Big Effing Clip holds a full head of hair, in buttercream or black, and the Sweetheart is a small claw with hand-set stones, the kind I would wear with a half-up style.

The second row is for evenings and anything with a dress code. Jennifer Behr studied sculpture, worked for a milliner in Baltimore and launched her own line of hair accessories in 2005, and everything is still made by hand in New York. Her Virginia bow comes in black silk here. Alexandre de Paris makes its acetate clips in Oyonnax, in the French Jura, a town known for combs and clips since the mid-19th century. Prada's metal clip carries the triangle logo, and Emm Kuo, a New York label that grew out of custom evening clutches the designer made for her own wedding, makes a violet crystal-beaded clip. A single dressy clip at the back of a low bun does more than a whole set of small ones.

The last row is for every day. Drybar's sectioning clips come from the blowout bar Alli Webb opened in Los Angeles in 2010, and they are the ones I use to hold sections while drying. Crown Affair, which Dianna Cohen launched in January 2020, makes simple clips in the same calm style as its combs. The ivory Virginia bow is the softer version of the black one, and Chunks, started by Tiffany Ju in her Seattle basement, makes a large red bow pin that secures a bun. What I would skip is a heavy clip on fine hair. It slides down by lunch, and a smaller claw or a pin holds better.

For the hinged clip, brush your hair back, twist it once, and close the clip vertically along the back of your head. Pull a few pieces loose at the front so it looks relaxed rather than retro. A claw is faster for a twist, and a bow is best for a low ponytail. Pick one clip per look, and let it be the only accessory in your hair. If you want to keep browsing, I also put together Hair claw and Hair Clips and Barrettes.