By VIVY YUSOF
alltherage@thestar.com.my

EVERYONE has days when nothing seems to be going right. Your usual morning coffee tastes different, your boss does not smile at you, your phone seems to be beeping and ringing more than usual making your patience level go down the drain.

To top it all off, your usually shiny hair isn’t cooperating with you. The top of your head looks flat and your hair is just limp. At the same time, you have to meet an important client that day, or if fate really wants to be funny, you’ll even bump into your ex and his hot new girl.

Just what you needed.

I can’t stress enough how important hair is to a woman. It is our crowning glory and it’s so sad that many people take it for granted, walking around the malls with greasy hair or obvious “just-got-out-of-bed” hair. Not the Kate Moss-inspired just-got-out-of-bed hair, but something that resembles Christmas tinsel that has gone haywire.

Women need to pay attention to their hair because that’s the first thing people see. I also have a personal favourite reason – women are generally shorter so men can see the top of our heads. Don’t let them see “snow”!

Take cue from Blair Waldorf in Gossip Girl, who is never seen with a hair out of place. Okay, so we don’t have 50 stylists following us to work every day, but we can learn a thing or two about having impeccable hair from her. Take, for example, her creative use of hair accessories.

From simple bows to more daring head gear, these accessories have all been paraded on the runways at fashion shows, be it in Malaysia or from fashion capitals of the world like Paris, Milan and London. Attention to detail is important, and this shows that even ready-to-wear designers think about hair accessories to give models a more complete look.

Here are some of the choices we can check out:

Headbands

Originally designed to keep hair away from our faces, headbands are now considered statement pieces for our hair. Experiment with colours, embellishments, studs and whatever else you please. While we’re still young and trendy, bring on the crazy with headbands.

A Sereni & Shentel creation

However, do be wary of the hard bands as they could pinch the back of your ears. Make sure they sit comfortably on your heads and don’t give you a headache even after only two minutes of wearing them. If you get headaches easily from wearing headbands, try looser ones with black elastic bands that go around the back of your head.

In Malaysia, the brand most synonymous to headbands is none other than Sereni & Shentel. These two ladies from Sarawak managed to get their headbands featured on Gossip Girl and Desperate Housewives! Other local brands you should check out that offer an array of headbands are Alainn, Eclipse and Per Te.

Hairclips

Remember the days in school when you wore Hello Kitty fabric hairclips at the side of your head? Well, today, some people still wear things like that, but the choices are more “mature” and trendy.

They have nice clips with sequins and bows. The ones with flowers can be cute, but they can also look a bit tacky if you choose the wrong one. Also, no matter what Sex And The City’s Carrie Bradshaw says, dead birds do not look good as hairclips.

Designer Jason Wu used feathers as hair pieces in his recent fashion show and it reminded me a little bit of the gorgeous feather hairclips by our own local brand Per Te. Karl Lagerfeld used drops of pearls to complete his underwater theme at the Chanel fashion show. Simple, yet unique, they can do wonders to your hair!

Twillies

Twillies are my personal favourite. Similar to headbands, twillies are a softer version that you can tie around your head. They are usually made from silk. Socialites around the Klang Valley love to adorn their heads with printed versions from Hermes and Louis Vuitton.

Vivy Yusof (wearing a Azura Azwa band) with Malaysian hairstylist Vlee at a fashion show.

For a 1960s retro look, back-comb your hair and create a bouffant with your twilly.

Tie a twilly to the back and have the ribbon hidden under your hair if you want a more subtle look. If you want to stand out, tie it to the front and let the bow or bunny ears reach out to the crowd as seen at Moschino and Marc Jacobs fashion shows this year.

Foreheadbands

Alright, so I don’t really have a clue what these are actually called, but you can sort of make out which ones I am talking about, right? These are the kind of headbands that covers almost half our foreheads, like the ones Nicole Richie wears.

This style is definitely for fun and daring people, as it gives off a more hippie look than an elegant one (unless your “foreheadband” is made out of pearls or flowers). I love this style, but be careful as it does have a tendency to ride up, and bring your hair up as well. And you wonder why people call you “mushroom” after that.

Turbans

Turbans recently came back in style in Malaysia thanks to singing sensations Yuna and Noryn Aziz. A cooler take on headscarves, turbans are suitable for Muslim ladies who want a modern way to style themselves while still following Islamic guidelines.

Award-winning fashion designer, Datuk Radzuan Radziwill is an advocate of turbans and has an array of them in his collection. Also, newcomer AzuraAzwa is also a brand that is becoming popular with their knot turbans made in so many colours, you would spend hours choosing! They have graced pages of magazines with their collection and for those who aren’t ready for turbans, they also do the headband versions.

Fascinators

When I watched the Prince William and Kate Middleton wedding last year, I could only think one thing – can guests actually see things at church with the ladies in huge hats blocking their views?
Fascinators are somewhat traditional headpieces for Britons, and so far I have not seen them being a craze in our homeland. Except maybe at polo events.
I’m not sure if Malaysians are ready for fascinators as our chosen headpiece, but they are available here. Prove me wrong and wear one today!
q All the local brands Vivy mentioned are available on www.fashionvalet.net, a website and company that she runs.