Friday, August 8, 2014

Ahem!


Apparently, according to the Fashion People That Know Stuff, the scrunchie is no longer a has-been hair accessory. Check out this blurb in the Sunday papers:

Read the full article here in the Star Tribune.

Silly story from my bizarre youthhood: my honors Physics class in college. There were 30-ish of us, the majority of whom were guys, and while they were all smart and lovely and kind and helpful, they were largely, well, slightly fashion-unprioritizing. Note that we're not talking about engineers, some of whom can be very cool and hip people. We're talking about theoretical physicists-in-training, the serious sort who sit around during lunch (provided they actually remember to eat) and discuss relativity and quarks and other stuff far more revolutionary and life-altering than, say, the style of one's clothes. 

One day I wore a scrunchie to an exam, which I removed from my hair in a desperate attempt to think more clearly, I suspect, and set it on my desk. During that window of time after the papers were collected and before we were dismissed, one of my classmates leaned over, picked up my scrunchie, made it expand and contract and declared it an "information-collecting sphere". Which, if my memory serves me well (a highly debatable fact), is some theoretical concept in the field of electrodymanics. He was very pleased with his rare commentary on female fashion and I had known him long enough to translate that as a joke, and so did not bother to explain that it was just elastic in fabric. But thanks to that odd comment, I cannot look at a scrunchie now without thinking about Physics. Gotta love how the Science brain works. 

If you want to hop back on the bandwagon, here is an old tutorial to make these newly-reinstated hair wonders. I still remember my surprise when, immediately after writing that tutorial,  I discovered (thanks to some well-informed readers) that they'd become objects of derision and shame after some character in some TV show said they were uncool. And now it remains to be seen if they take over all the hair in Hollywood simply because designers are making them and charging almost a hundred bucks a pop.

Such is the fickleness of fashion, huh?

Which means harem pants might be back next. Get ready, people.


8 comments:

  1. Yay! I wear scrunchies anyway but it is nice to know they are popular again, as they are good for using up knit scraps leftover from previous projects. (off to read the tutorial and see if its easier than the way I have been making them. Ruthie

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  2. Better harem pants than leggings as pants!

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  3. I've continued to use them, they're unparallelled when it comes to holding a wet bun in place on the back of my head.

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  4. Rosemary B here:
    I saw two packs of them at Wegmans,
    I am going to make some right this very minute haha not.
    But I did love making them for my girls

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  5. Made a bunch of srunchies for my dancing girls last year. Matching their leotards. Made of Lycra and even of lace. I love the tutorial from verypurpleperson. It´s perfect because no handsewing is needed. If you want to take a look: http://verypurpleperson.com/2010/07/chou-chou/
    Thank you for all your inspiring Posts
    Sewingangel

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  6. Harem pants are already back. For real.

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  7. US fashion runs in 20-year cycles. Mike's 20-year-old cousin was actually wearing harem pants when I saw her this week!

    I need to make Emma some scrunchies - she loves them, but all you find in stores (so far, but that may change thanks to your newspaper article) are black ones. She would love some color. I remember making some in high school, but the elastic I used wasn't stretchy enough so they didn't work very well.

    And now whenever I see a scrunchie I will think about Physics, too. I will have to share your joke with my two (!) theoretical physicist cousins, one of whom is a scrunchie-wearing woman. :)

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  8. Harem pants have been big in Australia for the past year, thankfully only for toddlers and babies, sadly at my kids primary school there is a large following of the leggings as pants trend. Yes young tiny boned kids can get away with quirky fashion but my daughter has been told leggings are NOT pants and are only to be worn with shorts (it's winter here), skirts and dresses

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