What’s a clothing item that’s as American as apple pie but has been embraced around the world by French luxury retailers and Japanese hipsters? It’s the humble bandana, that small scrap of fabric that’s come a long way from around a cowboy’s neck, to today’s well-dressed woman’s head, neck or handbag. We’ve been seeing bandanas on city streets lately so wanted to pull together a cheat sheet of how to wear a bandana in the chicest way possible. We hit up TikTok, street-style reportage and the experts at Los Angeles’s Block Shop Textiles for a crash course in fashionable bandana style.
What Exactly Is a Bandana?
Any smallish square scarf in nearly any material can justifiably be called a bandana. The scarf is practically fashion prehistory, since it can be traced back to 500 B.C. It was later popularized when Martha Washington printed one with her husband George’s likeness as a sort of commemorative object. Through subsequent centuries in the U.S., it was used as a handy hankie, neck cover and brow wipe by a veritable Village People lineup: motorcyclists, cowboys and farm laborers were among the working men who regularly wore bandanas, as well as gay men who used the color and pocket placement of the scarf to signal their sexual preferences. Today, the most commonly agreed-upon definition of what constitutes a bandana is a piece of material that’s 22 square inches in size—unless it’s a bright 19-inch version from Southern clothier Sid Mashburn. And bandanas are usually 100 percent cotton, unless, say, they are made in French silk by Hermés. Basically, the only rule for choosing a bandana is to find one that has a color and pattern you’re attracted to, then tie one on!
