A tiara without diamonds! Why royal women bond over this essential piece of headdress…

‘Wow, you look so different without one!’ my friend snapped at me the other day.

We had been chatting while I took off the headband to rearrange the way it sat on my head. And she was right!

For me, not wearing an Alice band is kind of like how others feel without makeup or fragrance: a little… naked.

Because? Maybe it’s because I share a name with its original user. John Tenniel’s illustrations for Alice Through the Looking Glass are credited with originating the term Alice band.

More to the point, they work, and real women seem to think so too. It was a veritable sea of ​​headbands as they gathered once again at Sandringham this year.

Without touching it, my hair looks like an electrocuted Hagrid. Think Bridget Jones arriving at the country hotel after her trip in Daniel Cleaver’s convertible car.

But if I part it in the middle, brush it with a little hair product, and put an Alice band on top, it’s tamed for the day. Behind my ears, out of my face. Out of sight, out of mind.

It is this combination of practicality with headband-style elegance that has made the headband so popular over the years, especially among the Sloane Rangers.

Hair should be, as the 1982 Sloane Ranger Manual said, “out of your eyes, dear.” Cue the Alice band: a familiar tiara, minus the diamonds.

The headbands at Sandringham this Christmas were a tribute to the talents of British millinery.

Princess Beatrice wore a navy velvet creation with blue flowers by Yorkshire milliner Justine Bradley-Hill.

Princess Eugenie’s was a beaded design by Emily London.

Zara Tindall’s was the work of London milliner Juliette Botterill and featured a bow on top of the band.

Lady Margarita Armstrong Jones designed a sash of royal warrant holder Rachel Trevor Morgan’s ‘gilt lily-of-the-valley headdress’, a Greek design with subtle crystal embellishments.

And we can’t forget the Duchess of York, who was in attendance for the first time in 32 years and chose a custom variation of Jess Collett’s ‘Ava’ headband, made from peacock feathers and described as ‘so light I don’t even know that is there’.

They were powerful bands; They certainly weren’t the unadorned velvet versions, perfect for everyday wear, that one can buy on the high street.

Well, apart from Lena Tindall’s five-year-old, which was a bargain at New Look at £6.99.

In the unimaginable craftsmanship and hours required for their creation and in the detail they display (bows! Feathers! Crystals!), they are more like a band and a hat. The detail and elegance of a hat with the ease of a band.

It’s no wonder they’ve become a hit with royalty. After a hiatus in the ’90s (their velvety majesty didn’t feel at home among the grunge aesthetics of the Cobains and others), they re-entered our fashion consciousness courtesy of Blair Waldorf on Gossip Girl in the mid-’90s. nineties.

When Prada sent gloriously padded headbands in sugary icy hues down its SS19 runway in September 2018, it was official.

Alice’s band was back. So much so that Prada fans were willing to pay £370 to get in on the action. Alessandra Rich’s SS19 collection, an homage to modernized modesty, confirmed this: cable-knit sweaters and quilted velvet headbands clashed with mini hemlines and slits in perfect union.

The headband could be… cool.

The then Duchess of Cambridge had gone ahead of the curve and wore a raffia headband with net details and flowers by London couturier Jane Taylor at Prince Louis’ christening in July 2018.

A few months later, in November 2018, she wore an embossed velvet tiara also by Jane Taylor for a service at Westminster Abbey honoring the centenary of the armistice of the Great War.

Cressida Bonas had worn a braided blue velvet design by New York couturier Jennifer Behr to Princess Eugenie’s wedding the previous month.

In May 2019, Pippa Middleton wore a blue velvet Alice sash, again by Jane Taylor, to Lady Gabriella Windsor’s wedding. It was padded and therefore conspicuous enough to be substituted for a hat, with the advantage that a wide-brimmed hat did not hit people in the face when greeting them.

Kate, Cressida and Pippa also demonstrated another benefit of the Alice band: since they keep hair out of your face and behind your ears, they’re the perfect way to show off statement earrings.

In November 2019, the Duchess of Cambridge wore a black beaded headband from Zara, which cost £17.99. Therein lies another appeal of the Alice gang: she is the accessory of democratized power.

While trophy bags cost three figures, you can get a powerband on a budget. My favorites come from Italian brand Marzoline (marzoline.com), specifically their capsule collection with London fashion PR and queen of elegance Alexandra Carello.

For around £50, Alex has created a range of bands with the perfect amount of padding (all important) in a variety of rich jewel tones.

Australian dressmaker Lisa Tan, now based in London, makes opulent headbands (think veils and handmade baubles) loved by the racing world and perfect for making a tasteful statement as a wedding guest.

One thing is for sure and who can blame them? Royalty is with the band.