Scrunchies are just the latest of '90s trends to return to mainstream fashion.
The ’90s are coming back — accompanying the resurgence of overalls, chokers, and high-waisted “mom jeans,” another fashion accessory is creeping back into the mainstream for 2018, but you might not recognize the name.
Scrunchies have widely been considered a fashion no-no in the past decade after thriving through the end of the 20th century, and in their place came the much less conspicuous hair ties. But now the hair accessory is once again emerging on store shelves, social media, and campaign ads — all under the name “hair clouds.”
Danish fashion designer Line Sander Johansen is one of the founders of Comfort Objects, an accessories label based in Denmark that, according to its website, “is rooted in repurposing the labor of love” with its one-of-a-kind, hand-made, luxurious vintage items. Since 2008, Johansen and the other Comfort Objects designers have been revamping and rebranding the scrunchie.
Johansen is credited with dubbing the accessory as a 21st-century “hair cloud.” She told Women’s Wear Daily, “The Hair cloud as I named it, instead of the mixed feelings I had about the scrunchie concept, is based on the idea of them looking like silk clouds around the hair, when tied a bit effortless in a bundle.”
Retail stores such as American Apparel and Urban Outfitters have also jumped on the hair cloud train, and clothing brands have begun producing their own scrunchies. Luxury designer line Balenciaga used lambskin scrunchies to accent its 2018 collection, HVN is producing scrunchies made of silk, and Mansur Gavriel is making theirs out of Italian vintage fabric.
With the approval of top designers, the “hair cloud” is looking to become one of 2018’s hottest trends.