FASHION: THE HAT FOR NOW: A TURBAN

Posted by Bethan Holt, Junior Fashion Editor at Large

We're backing the turban as the headwear of the Summer. Ok, so they might not be so street as a Rihanna-favourite cap nor so easy as a straw panama but, damn, are they chic. A turban is the kind of hat which works on the beach but also on a rainy Saturday night when you're going out clubbing and can't be bothered to do your hair. Basically, they're fabulous.

Chloe Sevigny in turban and Proenza Schouler
at the Met Ball (image via glamour magazine.co.uk)

What has prompted us to think about turbans now? If any of you have visited & Other Stories' London store, then you will probably have seen how they have a bikini and turban matching set by Abigail Lorick. They have had it displayed for some time on the table you pass as you go up the stairs in the London store, well they did at least until I went in a couple of weeks ago. I've seen it so many times (do I sound obsessed?) that it has planted a seed for how I'd like to look when I finally make it to the beach in July. Sort of like someone out of a Slim Aarons photograph, please. Chloe Sevigny livened up her Proenza Schouler Met Ball dress with a black turban which took it from perfectly nice (though very un-punk) to something really rather Gloria Swanson-like. Funnily enough, Sevigny's mate Marc Jacobs cited Swanson as an inspiration for his decadently glamourous Autumn/Winter collection. All Sevigny needed was a stonking huge diamond brooch at the front of her turban to look proper 30s socialite.

Camilla Batmanghelidjh in one of her fantastic turbans (image via royalacademy.org)

Some of the most originally stylish well-known women in the world are keen proponents of the turban. Sheikha Mozah, a wife of the Emir of Qatar, has regularly appeared at state occasions across the world in turbans made to match her choice of outfit, usually a sleek column in piercingly bright purple or understated grey or navy. She brings a fresh slant to Islam's modest dress codes. Kids Company founder Camilla Batmanghelidjh co-ordinates her rainbow coloured turbans with her multicoloured robes and scarves to dazzling effect. She always looks like she might be on her way to some wild celebratory festival. These two women are proof of the turban's brilliance; Sheikha Mozah is about elegance while Batmanghelidjh is all colour and fun, but neither would look right to us now without their respective takes on turbans. Proof that you can make the humble head wrap completely your own.