Introduction
So this season I’m all over Millinery; from the upward flat peak cap to the Pillbox Pirate hat that’s slowly making appearances on the heads of boundary pushes. I’m even dabbling in those big avant-garde things that provoke such reactions as, “Will the person in the second row please remove the duvet from their head immediately”, or “Is that an entire Sea Gull nesting in your barnet?”.I don’t know when my fixation for shoes transpired into headwear – maybe it’s down to the fact that my schedule allows me no time at all to coax my hair out of the back-combed birds nest I woke up with. Or perhaps it hasn’t dissipated at all, but merely added to the vast whirlpool of sartorial madness that is my life. My only hang up is that I get the worst headaches when I dabble in millinery. Looks like I’ll be changing my weekly order of Blistease and plasters to a hefty prescription of 4head.
So here it is, my latest love affair – the one that’s really got me foaming at the mouth and chomping at the bit, the Turban. No, that’s not a typo, your eyes aren’t deceiving you.
The Fashion Turban
Brought back into fashion recently due to the incredibly un-remarkable and ever so condescending film that was Sex and the City 2 *shakes head in distaste*, the Turban, in all its glory, has been popping up on peoples heads in the last year and quite speedily became a staple piece of headwear for any girls wardrobe.The Turban in fact was originally brought into fashion for western women in the early 19th century and then again in late 1910 by Paul Poiret, (the self proclaimed king of fashion and the first ever couturier) due to his fascination with Orientalism. The Turban or wrap hat went on to become one of the most worn head garments of the 1920s.
OK fashion history lesson over.
Let me get back to the point. Last week I was perusing the sartorial happenings on the streets, blogs and such like, when it suddenly dawned on me that a large amount of apparel savvy guys are starting to wear Turbans within their outfits. What was even more surprising was how good they looked even with a basic, loose fit t-shirt and jeans ensemble.
The Spring/Summer 11 runways saw fashion forward designers such as Carolyn Massey incorporate the Turban and head wrap into their future collection – and as Massey works so closely with Topman I foresee the Turban becoming men’s fashion headwear of choice, come next Spring. No doubt it’ll be dubbed the ‘Turbman’ for those that need extra some reassurance that it is now truly a MAN’s garment…
My Experience
To test the still murky water I decided I would give the turban a spin, coincidently my bird’s nest of a barnet was really in a state of disrepair that morning so it was happy days all round really. I decided not to cheat and buy a ready wrapped Turban but instead try my hand at wrapping it myself. It just so happens that a good friend of mine spent some time travelling the middle east a few years ago and treated me to a turban wrapping lesson on her return, so I was semi confident I could achieve my desired swathe. The best and easiest thing of all was that I just used a previously abandoned, starched crinkle scarf I had lying around.With my Turban tying a success and my head wrapped tighter than my sisters Christmas gift wrapping, I made in the direction of Oxford Street. Let me tell you, the reception was amazing. People smiled… and if you travel around London often, you’ll know that’s not a regular. People held doors for me, yet another act Londoners don’t exercise willingly. And lastly, I got street papped twice.
So the verdicts in, and I love it. At last, a use for the thousands of unwanted scarves dotted randomly around my entire wardrobe. If that doesn’t swing it, think of the extra time in bed now you don’t have to spend an hour fixing your doo.
Editor Addition: Turban Tying
Without trying (or wanting) to offend any Religion or foreign customs, I went searching on Youtube for an instruction video for tying a turban/head wrap and found quite a simple and effective one which I thought made it quite easy to do. Of course this is NOT traditional and NOT the correct way to do it for faith or religion, she does NOT use the correct item – instead using a simple scarf like Jacob was mentioning above in his article. So maybe you can give it a go at home now and let us know the results:Like I said, this is not a traditional video, but one that can help you make use of your scarves at home. There are however hundreds of videos on Youtube showing you how to do it using traditional methods and items, should you wish to view them.
Hot or Not?
So what are your thoughts on the whole turban trend:- Something you could pull off?
- How would you wear it?
- Never to be heard from again?
- Not enough designers/high street shops will push it?
- The big trend in headwear next year?
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