The headband has had a comeback every few decades, from 1920s bobs to Gossip Girl to Prada's padded version. Here are Jennifer Behr's silk and velvet bands, pearl and crystal versions and simpler ones in acetate, leather and knit.
The Headband, From Clara Bow to Blair Waldorf, and the Ones I Would Wear Now
The headband keeps coming back. In the 1920s, silent film stars like Clara Bow and Louise Brooks wore glamorous bands over their bobbed hair, and the Alice band takes its name from Lewis Carroll's Alice, whom Disney's 1951 film fixed in one for good. Princess Diana wore a jeweled choker across her forehead on a 1985 tour of Australia, and people copied it. Then, from 2007, Blair Waldorf wore them constantly on Gossip Girl, and many came from Jennifer Behr, who supplied the show. Behr studied sculpture and art history, worked for a milliner in Baltimore and started her own line in 2005, and her pieces are still made in workshops across Manhattan and Brooklyn and finished at her Greenpoint studio. The Tori comes in silk and in velvet, and the Lydia and Lucy are two more silk shapes. If you are new to them, the velvet is the easiest to wear in winter. The padded headband came back in 2018 on Miuccia Prada's runway, and it has stuck around ever since.
Pearls, crystals and a bow
The second row is dressier. Alexandre de Paris is named for the Paris hairdresser who designed its first piece, the Vendôme comb, in 1971, and its faux pearl band is made by hand in the brand's French workshop. Emm Kuo began with custom evening clutches the designer made for her own wedding, and her two bands carry that bridal feel, one satin with pearls and one lace with crystal beading. The band with the velvet bow is from Valentino Garavani, the Roman house founded in 1960 with Giancarlo Giammetti. Wear any of these with hair down and simple, and let the band do the work.
Everyday bands, and the skip
The last row is for every day. The tortoiseshell acetate band from Alexandre de Paris is the one I reach for most, because it goes with everything. Hai, started in 2018 by Tessa Vermeulen and named for the Mandarin word for sea, makes a leather band. Miu Miu, the label Miuccia Prada founded in 1993 and named for her childhood nickname, makes a cashmere-wool knit, and Toteme, founded in Stockholm in 2014 by Elin Kling and Karl Lindman, makes a compact knit that keeps ears warm. What I would skip is a tight band worn all day. It can press behind the ears, so choose a flexible one or take breaks.
How to wear one now
Push it back an inch from your hairline so it does not look like a school uniform. Pull out a couple of face-framing pieces. Pair the padded ones with simple clothes, and the thin ones with anything. One good band covers most days, and a second one in velvet covers the rest. Store them flat so the shape holds.
