Will Hillary Clinton trade her scrunchies for a tiara?

Hillary Clinton once joked that she considered calling her memoirs: ‘The Scrunchie Chronicles, 122 Countries And It’s Still All About The Hair’.  Yesterday, the New York Times ran an article asking, Are Tiaras the New Power Scrunchies?  Political leanings aside, if anyone seriously imbues a scrunchie with power, it is Hillary.  I think she wears them well, and they are true to her style.  I’m not a fan of them on myself, but I have to be honest, I think they actually work on her.  Do you agree, or is a scrunchie just always a big no?

Now back to the tiara situation (and thank you so much, dear Maggie, for bringing the NYT article to my attention).  I love a tiara. (Wait, that doesn’t look right.)  I LOVE A TIARA! (Better.) Not a big silly Disney-style one, but something discreet, one that can more accurately be described as a ‘circlet’, ‘headpiece’, ‘headband’ or something along those lines.  Now, don’t get me wrong, if I actually ruled a Kingdom I would do the full tiara/crown treatment every single day of my life.  Basically, the closer I can get to walking around with a huge sparkly chandelier with flattering lighting hanging over me, the better.  In January, I saw this 1930’s Laurel Tiara at a Cartier exhibit in Paris, which this would do quite nicely as a portable chandelier on my head, thankyouverymuch.

Now, for my wedding, I wore a tiara-ish kind of headpiece from Louis Mariette.  It was shaped with an asymmetric swirl across the back which meant that guests behind me still had some nice sparkle to look at, and it didn’t look like a traditional tiara.

I wore it again recently to the Queen Charlotte’s Ball at Highclere Castle (aka Downton Abbey), where the invitation read “Tiaras will be worn” in that politely imperative manner (getting ready photo below).  It didn’t look remotely bridal with a red dress, and I was pleased to get some more wear out of it.

I’ve come to the conclusion that like a good hat, a tiara requires a surplus of confidence to carry off.  You can’t walk in sheepishly or self-consciously wearing a tiara.  You have to own that mofo, like you wear one every day.

What I particularly like about the NYT tiara article is the idea that normal working women wear a tiara to pull together their Style and to and to set themselves apart.  For example, ‘Marie-Hélène Carleton, 41, a documentary filmmaker and a founder of Four Corners Media who lives in Vinegar Hill, Brooklyn, has similarly integrated tiaras with her all-black shooting uniform. She says the pieces elegantly tame her hair, whether she’s moving heavy equipment or dressing for an awards dinner.’

The best line of the article comes from Bianca Marie Carpio.  “Tiaras are not something you grow out of,” she said. “They’re something you grow into, realising that you’re a powerful person.”  I love that.  I would have felt completely idiotic wearing a tiara when I was younger, but now I’m actively looking for wearable ones, like the two options below from Jennifer Behr.  If you live in a city or go to a lot of parties, you can probably fine plenty of excuses to wear one.  So will you?  Are you ready to break out a tiara for the holidays or a New Years party?  I am!  Jewellery and sparkle enhance you and draw attention wherever you put it, on your hands, on your wrists, on your neck, on your earlobes, on your head…or like Hillary, on your scrunchie.  Maybe she’ll make the switch to a nice pearly tiara.