Turban Renewal

images from style.com

Remember way back when Prada sent turbans down their runway for the ss07 show? There was a lot of hoohaa about the turbans, and doubt over how it would filter down into the highstreet. I was a little perplexed as turbans didn't seem that 'out-there' to me, I mean lets face it, there have been far less accessible things on the catwalk before. I seem to remember Topshop doing their own version of one, and that perhaps they were the only highstreet shop to have a go at maketing them? Anyway, the Prada turbans were silky, rather unstructured affairs in jewel colours; quite plain compared to their first occurence in Western fashion, way back in the early 1900's. There were some fantastic turbans back then, thanks to Poiret and his introduction of exotic, Oriental influences in fashion. Below is an illustration for a 1911 Poiret collection by George Lepape. What a beauty! How regal would you feel in that thing?

Below are some further examples of turbans, the couple on the left are both in Poiret. On the right is a selection of turbans from the 1940's, I love the grey one, it has fantastic shape, like a shell. The images are from the book 'Fashion: The Collection of the Kyoto Costume Institute', which I highly reccomend, it is such a feast for the eyes, and covers the 18th- 20th century.

So turbans have this elegant, exotic feel to them which really appeals to me. A few weeks ago I saw this green one, and immediately thought how it matched my green gloves, and I'd been toying with the idea of a turban for a while, so I bought it. It's not a too extravagant statement, the pleats are nicely formed, its not too big...and I love green. It's just really easy to pull on and completely tranform an outfit. I added a peacock brooch, which is made up of 3 sections that all move about independently and has little jingly tassle bits at the bottom. The turban was just screaming out for a bit of decoration, and this brooch is a nice touch as it adds movement. I'm temped to add a feather, but I'm afraid it'll look too costume-y. I'm definately going to get more, in different colours....I'd like a silk one, and I've also seen ones in tulle that just look like beautiful clouds of material floating on your head. I envisage a pale one on my black hair looking rather splendid.

Black coat (Mango), vintage turban, fur stole (M&S), vintage green gloves, shoe boots (asos.com), tassel scarf (Accessorize), green scarf (a market stall somewhere), silver blouse (Guess), black top (H&M), skirt (Topshop).