A Flower in Your Hair: Vintage Hats and Brocade Styling

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A headband and a scrunchie. Two accessories usually worn separately come together to form a flower in the hair.

This MOONSART styling experiment began with a simple question: what else could a scrunchie do besides hold hair in place? Paired with a headband in the same fabric, its gathered folds become petals, with blue and metallic highlights catching the light. A familiar everyday object takes on a new shape.

Move the flower to one side and add a pearl accent, and its compact but striking presence brings to mind vintage European decorative hats and floral headpieces.

A large pearl-accented scrunchie paired with a matching headband places a full flower shape at the side of the head.

Flowers have long had a place in our hair

Flowers have a long history in European dress. According to London’s Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), floral sprigs and wreaths were fashionable in the late eighteenth century. Queen Victoria’s artificial orange-blossom wreath at her wedding in 1840 is a particularly well-known example.[1]

Flowers bring colour and soften an outline. Whether arranged as a wreath or a small cluster, their appeal lies in the way they work with hair and clothing to shape a person’s overall appearance.

Late nineteenth-century artworks and surviving objects make these associations more tangible. Renoir’s 1898 colour lithograph The Hat Pinned with Flowers depicts an intimate moment of arranging a hat. The gesture reminds us of the pleasure of adjusting an accessory by hand until it looks just right.[4]

Auguste Renoir, The Hat Pinned with Flowers (Le Chapeau Épinglé), 1898. Colour lithograph.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art | Accession 31.82.5 | Public Domain / CC0
View the collection record and image source

A French hat from around 1890 offers another example, combining clusters of flowers, dark trimmings and a straw form. In the collection photograph, decorations are placed at different points around the hat, creating details worth seeing from the side. This is a nineteenth-century decorative hat; the twentieth-century cocktail hats discussed below belong to a different period.[5]

Hat, French, c. 1890. Straw, silk and wire.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art | Accession C.I.58.1.4 | Public Domain / CC0
View the collection record and image source

A small hat can change an entire outfit

If flowers bring romance, mid-twentieth-century hats give that romance a more sculptural expression. A French cocktail hat in The Met’s collection, made around 1950 from feathers and cotton, offers a surviving example of the period’s millinery.[2]

The V&A’s account of Balenciaga’s hats explains that formal social etiquette in the 1950s and 1960s made hats part of dressing for dinners, cocktail parties and the theatre. A striking hat could transform a relatively simple outfit. Designers explored new possibilities in proportion, shape and materials.[3]

Looking back at these styles suggests an approach to dressing: let one sculptural detail in the hair become the focus of an outfit. MOONSART’s headband-and-scrunchie combination is a contemporary experiment with everyday accessories. Its connection to vintage European hats is a visual echo in shape and decoration.

From the side, the brocade folds resemble layered petals, with the pearl accent providing a soft point of light.

A larger size for a fuller bloom

A large scrunchie gives the flower more volume. Gathered at the side of the head, the folds open outward like a small textile sculpture. A pearl accent appears between the deep blue folds, drawing the eye and adding a little vintage glamour.

We would pair it with a simply cut dress, a plain top or a tailored jacket, letting the flower and the fabric’s sheen stand out. It could find a place at a wedding, a gathering, or on a day when you simply feel like dressing up.

Without the pearl, the brocade becomes the flower

The large version without a pearl accent creates a different effect. Here the flower sits slightly to one side of the crown, allowing the fabric to rise: some folds open like petals, others turn back like ribbons. Without a bead marking the centre, the eye follows the woven pattern and folds through a freer sculptural shape.

Compared with the large pearl-accented version, its appeal lies more in the shape itself. Seen from the front, the flower has height and direction; up close, blue, teal and delicate highlights alternate across the folds. The scrunchie’s soft gathers become a little textile sculpture you can arrange by hand.

Large scrunchie without a pearl accent: an upward-opening flower creates a more pronounced outline at the crown.

A closer look at the folds reveals the woven pattern and layers of petal-like volume.

A medium size for a delicate side accent

A medium scrunchie creates a more compact flower and reveals more of the headband’s line. On the pearl-accented version, the pearl resembles a flower’s centre, giving the small bloom a soft focal point. Paired with a shirt or knitwear, it adds a delicate detail to everyday clothing.

Medium pearl-accented scrunchie: a compact flower, with the pearl at its centre, balances the headband.

The version without a pearl brings attention back to the fabric. Petal-like folds, the direction of the weave and blue tones changing with the light take the lead. It is a simpler, playful option for someone who enjoys the flower shape but prefers less ornament.

Medium scrunchie without a pearl accent: woven pattern and folds create the flower, keeping the decoration simple.

Find new ways to wear familiar accessories

What we like most about this pairing is that both pieces can still be worn separately. The headband works on its own, and the scrunchie can tie up hair. Together, their position and folds can be adjusted to create a flower you like.

Try placing it at the side or slightly off-centre on the crown, then adjust a little fabric at a time and check the proportions from the front and side. Turn your head gently when finished to make sure the scrunchie is secure and does not pull on your hair.

From the inspiration of vintage European millinery to this blue brocade flower, the pleasure is in trying things with your own hands. A familiar accessory can offer more than one way to dress.

MOONSART
Find your own way to wear the weave.

Further reading and sources

1. V&A｜Floral accessories: late eighteenth-century floral ornaments and Queen Victoria’s wedding wreath of 1840.

   
   

2. The Metropolitan Museum of Art｜Cocktail hat: French, c. 1950, feathers and cotton; accession 1983.83.3.

   
   

3. V&A｜Balenciaga’s hats: hats for formal occasions and millinery design in the 1950s–60s.

   
   

4. The Met｜Auguste Renoir, The Hat Pinned with Flowers: 1898, accession 31.82.5, Public Domain.

   
   

5. The Met｜Hat: French, c. 1890, accession C.I.58.1.4, Public Domain.

   
   

6. The Met｜Open Access: the two historical collection images above are covered by the museum’s CC0 Open Access policy.

   
   

Historical context is drawn from museum collections and publications. Descriptions of MOONSART styling reflect the brand’s aesthetic observations. Product photographs are original images supplied by MOONSART; the two historical images come from The Met’s Open Access collection, with their original images preserved and sources provided.