David Beckham's Bandana Diaries
This article is more than 9 years oldBandanas in red, black and blue, worn as headbands and wrist ties and neckerchiefs – David Beckham's BBC1 show Into the Unknown was a celebration of the 'this season's undisputed soft accessory'
There was a lot for fashion fans to appreciate in last night’s BBC1 David Beckham Brazil travelogue Into The Unknown.
First, the footage of Victoria, pristine in a black sweater with white Wednesday Addams collar, anxious about the humidity that her husband would soon encounter. “What are you going to do about your hair?” she asked, adding: “I don’t even go to humid countries because of my hair … you should wear a hat through the whole thing.”
Sure enough, Beckham wore a selection of chapeaus in Brazil, from baseball caps to wide-brimmed straw hats. But really, it was all about his bandanas. Beckham’s bandanas were black and red and blue; they were hair bands, neckerchiefs and accessories, wrapped tightly around wrists and draped handsomely out of jeans pockets. Sometimes, he wore two bandanas at once.
Given that much of Beckham’s trip was spent riding a motorbike, his bandanas were practical, sure, but Brand Beckham knows its fashion motifs and cannot help deploying them, even in the Amazon jungle. According to US GQ, Bandanas are “this season’s undisputed soft accessory”, as seen on the spring/summer 2014 catwalk of Louis Vuitton, where the scarves were used as neck-ties and as an inspiration for printed trainers.
Prior to Louis Vuitton, bandanas have been a slow-burning street trend, popping up on twentysomething celebrities for a couple of years. Justin Bieber, for example, ties his at the front of his head, in the style of Tupac Shakur, while One Direction’s most fashion-forward heartthrob, Harry Styles, wears his as a Keith Richards-style headband. As the existence of many “how to tie a bandana like a gangster” YouTube tutorials attests, for some young men – often the posh ones, it must be said – the 2014 bandana has become popular partly because of its gangland connotations. Perhaps this is why the classic rock Axl Rose bandana – worn wide, across the forehead, over long, poker-straight hair – has yet to be revived. But as the 1990s comeback continues, whether we like it or not, it is probably only a matter of time. Whether you see bandanas as a worry, a fashion statement or a simple piece of biker practicality, they are definitely back. Spot them on sweaty young heads this festival season.
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