You’ve seen it by now: a bright, patterned piece of cotton or silk, folded into a triangle and worn over the crown, knotted low at the nape, turning up on your feed with almost suspicious frequency. Coincidence, or has the bandana suddenly become the only hair accessory anyone with a working Instagram account is wearing this summer? We’re going with the latter.
If the scarf had main character energy below the neck last year—knotted over bikini bottoms as a coverup, tied at the hip over jeans, or doing double duty as the season’s most improvised going-out top—this year, it’s travelled north. Firmly, unmissably, onto our heads.
Call it nonna-core if you like. This season, the aim is to look like a chic grandmother summering on the Amalfi coast. Think a loose linen outfit, oversized sunglasses, a woven basket bag, and a silk square doing all the work up top. It helps that a bandana solves multiple problems at once: it disguises a third-day blowout, keeps flyaways off your face on a humid commute or when the wind picks up, and protects the scalp and hair against sun damage—all in addition to breaking the monotony of a boring outfit.
