How to wear a fascinator
It is a common misconception that fascinators are purely designed to be worn for weddings. Whilst they are hugely popular wedding hair accessories, particularly for guests in place of the traditional hat, they are also suitable for a wide range of occasions, from Christmas parties and the races to funerals.
Fascinators come in a wide variety of styles, colours and sizes and how to wear it depends very much on how it looks. Clipping an enormous Ostrich-feather piece to the side of your head will look a little strange, whereas it can look fantastic with a smaller, more subtle style of fascinator.
Fascinators come with a range of fixings to suit different hairstyles. Our fascinators are either clip-on, hairband style and hair comb styles.
Clip styles are the easiest fascinators to wear as they can be placed anywhere in the hair for the desired effect. Whilst they hold better in thicker hair, they are generally robust enough for even the thinnest of hair although may lose some of their grip and slide down the hair over the course of the event. Keep an eye on it so you can reattach it in the right place if this should happen.
Comb style fascinators require a little more ‘fixing’ to keep them in place. The easiest way to do this is to backcomb the hair slightly at the point that you wish to attach the comb. A spritz of hairspray will keep the backcomb intact and keep the fascinator in place for the entire event. For this reason, comb fixed fascinators are better for styles on the crown of the head in half up half down hairstyles, or as an attachment to a ponytail or up-do. Unlike clip fascinators, they are difficult to wear to the side unless you have particularly thick hair.
Hairband style fascinators can obviously be only worn one way, across the top of the head. Whilst the bands can be hidden under hair when worn down, more creativity is needed to hide it for up-dos and it will dictate your up-do style. They are very secure and tend not to slip, slide and change position throughout your occasion. They are also extremely comfortable and low maintenance and are easy to remove and replace if required. Hairbands are generally more suitable for heavy or larger fascinators, where clips and combs would not give them the support they need to stay in place for the long term.
So where on the head you wear you fascinator depends upon its fixing, size and your hairstyle. Plan in advance before purchasing your fascinator to ensure you don’t buy one that is unsuitable for either your outfit or with your hair style of choice.
Fascinators worn at funerals should be understated and typically black or navy in colour, a typical example of a fascinator suitable for a funeral would be our Julietta fascinator which is small and discrete.
Return to Articles homepage