Taking a pulse on what’s about to take off in the fashion world is paramount at New York Fashion Week, but it’s also a place where the beauty trends you’re about to see *everywhere* hit first. So far, this year’s shows are pointing in the same direction: The ‘90s are back, and they’re coming for your hair accessories first.
At Tom Ford, smoky eyes and nude lips took a backseat to the retro accessory that, off the runway, can easily hide mismatched roots or an oily scalp. Leather headbands—yes, those—were paired with textured (read: messy) updos that can be recreated at home by using bobby pins instead of hair ties for a more undone feel.
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Your local drugstore’s trusty black headband will do the trick, but if you’re looking for a fashion-forward spin on the classic, we love this Metallic Fabric Headband ($16) from Kitsch that won’t break the bank.
The hair choice at Prabal Gurung echoed the headband trend, as the number-one hair accessory from your middle school days, the comb headband, rocked the runway and gave “slicked-back hair” a whole new meaning. Celebrity hairstylist Anthony Turner used Wella’s Light Luminous Reflective Oil throughout the models’ hair for megawatt shine before applying the faithful expandable headband and slicking the hair back into a bun.
When it comes to the accordion-style headband, there’s no need to get crazy with reinventing the wheel on this one. Try Scünci’s Effortless Beauty Stretch Hair Comb ($3 for three) for a tortoise-shell finish or these from ASOS for a black, straight-from-the-runway option.
But it doesn’t stop there. The banana clip (or claw clip) is also back in a major way, as seen at Alexander Wang, and this one is all about structure, not texture. Use handfuls of gel, wax or paste to slick back your hair into a sleek ponytail shape. Then, as you would in middle school, twist the hair upward. For longer hair, bring the lengths of your hair back down instead of letting it hang over the side, then clip in place. For the perfect hold every time—because we all remember the constant upkeep a flimsy clip would call for—look no further than Goody’s Slideproof Claw Clip ($3) which you can pick up at your next drugstore run.
Any trend that’s wallet-friendly and calls on second- or third-day hair to complete the style is a friend of ours, and we just found three that check all of the boxes.
