The old-new ’do

Whisper it: the scrunchie is back. And these days, you don’t even have to sew your own.

Iam a child of the 80s, and in those days, my mum, sister and I would on occasion hit the local fabric shop to pick out patterns for the home-sewn clothes of our dreams, plus material in which to create them.

Whether this was indeed the case or not, my only enduring memory of product rendered were some pretty basic (sorry Mum) shorts with an elasticated waist, though I think I did actually like them at the time.

For me, the best part of all this was perhaps that, along with some sweet new threads in the rad print of our choice, there would usually be enough fabric left for mum to whip us up a matching scrunchie.

Not only did it mean your hair tie matched your pants (instant street cred right there), the bunched up fabric also gave extra volume and majesty to your gel-slicked ballerina bun or those extremely high, fanned out ponytails we called “fountains”. If you were feeling particularly fancy, one scrunchie at half mast and another at the base of your neck was the ultimate look.

In the 90s, as a Dolly magazine-reading tween, scrunchies assumed a slightly more subdued but no less essential vibe, best in pastels, tiny florals or chambray, and worn to adorn as low and loose a ponytail as you could muster without it slipping right off.

And so began my lifelong love affair with scrunchies, one that – despite not having worn one except maybe to an 80s-themed party for about two decades – has always burned quietly within me.

So imagine my delight to see models at the New York Fashion Week show of cult brand Mansur Gavriel late last year sporting long, soft hair bound gently with scrunchies.

“Scrunchies are back!” I cried joyfully, or at least thought to myself. And not only was one of the coolest brands in the fashion world styling their show with them, turns out they’re also now retailing them. It’s officially a thing and we can wear it too!

“When I heard scrunchie, I was like, ‘Ahhh! My nightmare!’ But it’s actually done in a very cool way,”

Vogue reported hairstylist Laurent Philippon – who was given a handful of them backstage ahead of the Mansur

Gavriel show – as saying at the time.

To create the now muchcoveted look, Philippon spritzed models’ hair with Bumble

& Bumble’s Prep Spray or Hairdresser’s Invisible Oil Primer, before leaving it to air-dry, then looping the scrunchies into low-slung ponies.

Rather than the “conservative” pairing of scrunchies and slick/tight do’s, “loose is key,” he advises. “It’s better when it looks a little bit messy.”

And just as I was gearing up to get the courage to ask Mother Dearest to dust off her sewing machine for a bit of a home scrunchiemaking party (of one), news came down the line that Ruby are stocking some, and Twenty-Seven Names may also be introducing some with their next collection.

And once you start looking for scrunchies, suddenly they’re everywhere. Cheaper than a scarf (even more so if you DIY), far more fun than your standard hair elastic, I say the time is most definitely now to re-embrace these magical little scraps of fabric.