You know that feeling when you spend twenty minutes fussing with your hair before walking out the door, only to realize a single well-chosen accessory could have done all the heavy lifting? We have all been there – twisting, pinning, heat-styling – when the simplest solution was sitting in a drawer the whole time. This summer, one pop star is making a compelling case that the fastest route to an elevated hairstyle is not a new cut or a complicated updo. It is a puffy headband. And if the celebrity ripple effect holds true, you are about to see them everywhere.
The bandana had its moment – so what comes next?
If you have been scrolling through any fashion coverage this summer, you have probably noticed bandanas dominating the hair accessory conversation. Zoë Kravitz has long been a devotee. Dua Lipa has been spotted wearing one while summering in Sicily. Kim Kardashian and Elle Fanning have also joined the bandana brigade, cementing it as the hair accessory of the season.
Gracie Abrams herself leaned into the trend when she took to the Glastonbury 2025 stage in a flowing, romantic crimson Rodarte gown, a patterned red bandana tied neatly around her bixie cut. It was a perfectly on-trend choice. But it seems Abrams is already pivoting, trading one hot summer hair accessory for another – and this swap might be even more interesting than the original.
How Gracie Abrams is making the puffy headband feel fresh
Abrams – who dropped her latest album Daughter From Hell today – has been quietly integrating a pumped-up Alice band into her wardrobe rotation with striking consistency. During an appearance on Jimmy Fallon, she wore a clingy vintage Alaïa dress paired with the same black puffy headband she then carried over to a summery floral Chloé bodysuit on stage. Two quite contrasting looks, one unifying accessory. Earlier that same day, she stepped out in Chanel’s color-blocky resort 2027 collection and finished the outfit off with the very same hair piece.
For someone with a cropped cut, the puffy headband works as a slick and easy way to restyle and inject fresh energy without changing a thing about the hair itself. And as a Chanel ambassador, Abrams has proven herself skilled at blending feminine dressing with a bit of edge and personality. She gravitates toward off-beat accessories, plays with shapes and color, and frequently wears more masculine-leaning looks alongside daring pieces by indie designers like Talia Byre, a label known for interrogating feminine uniforms. On Abrams, the puffy headband reads as anything but saccharine. An Alice band offsets her bolder styling choices in just the right way.
That tension between pretty and punky is precisely what makes her take on the accessory feel current rather than nostalgic. It is not your grandmother’s headband. It is not even Blair Waldorf’s headband – though we will get to her in a moment.
A rich history of headband devotees
The puffy Alice band feels ripe for a revival because, frankly, it never fully disappeared from the style vocabulary of some very high-profile women. A few years ago, Jennifer Lawrence loved adding one to her sleek and ladylike press tour looks. Kate Middleton has stayed devoted to more sculptural, tiara-like iterations of the headband for years. When Kendall Jenner had a dalliance with being blonde, she would add a minimalist hairband for charming contrast against her lighter locks.
And of course, no conversation about extra-heighted headbands is complete without conjuring up an image of Leighton Meester as queen bee Blair Waldorf, who famously owned a wardrobe full of them in all kinds of prints and patterns. That character single-handedly turned the padded headband into a cultural signifier of a certain kind of polished maximalism. What Abrams is doing now, though, is stripping that reference of its girlish sweetness and reframing the accessory through a cooler, more eclectic lens.
If you are looking for your own version, there are plenty of directions to explore. Good Squish offers fun headpiece options including ruffled, flower-topped, and summer-ready bands. Sophie Buhai’s Classic Puffy headband delivers a clean, sculptural silhouette. For something with pattern and detail but less height, Lucila Safdie carries polka-dotted and patterned bands. And for archival inspiration, an entire parade of puffy toppers from Prada’s spring 2019 collection remains available to browse on Vogue Runway.
The simplest summer styling trick you are not using yet
Here is what it comes down to: whether you have a bob, a pixie, or anything in between, you do not need intricate or time-consuming hairstyles to make your hair feel intentional this summer. Sometimes the most effective styling move is the most effortless one. Gracie Abrams has demonstrated that a single well-chosen puffy headband can unify wildly different outfits, elevate a cropped cut, and signal personal style without saying a word. Consider this your permission to skip the tutorials and simply pop one on.
