Adventures in hair accessories

Flamboyant hats and headpieces have always been favorites among the aristocratic classes since the days of Marie Antoinette's imposing chapeaus, and a survey of the audience's head attire at the recent royal wedding showed not much has changed. But you don't have to be a monarch to be a little ostentatious. This year, loud trends in hair accessories - from rooster feather hair extensions to oversize hats - are shouting to be heard. One local designer has her own take on bold headbands, and is taking advantage of social networking and support from the bourgeoning Czech fashion scene to bring her fearless headpieces to the masses.

Jana Heyduková, who goes by the fitting nom de guerre of "Jane Bond" in her battle to bring Czech women out of their fashion cocoon, always wanted to be a fashion designer, but her mother cajoled her in a more practical direction - as mothers are apt to do - to study law, though she eventually chose media. But a little over a year ago, she decided to dedicate herself fulltime to the headbands and hairpieces she had been making for friends, and her bold, beaded, butterflied and feathered pieces are taking flight as a trend among local women and abroad.

"It's kind of like the Amway of fashion, or maybe Mary Kay, if that's more appropriate," Heyduková joked of the help she got from friends and family to make and sell her pieces.

Heyduková laments the lack of ornamentation in contemporary accessories, and her original designs harken back to a time when women took delight in opulent accessories of all kinds, including headpieces.

"The way we jewel our necks, arms, wrists, fingers, and ears is taken as a fact, but what happened to the old times when ladies wore hats or just flowers in their hair?" she asks on her website. "My goal is to at least partly refresh this old tradition, using today's materials, techniques, colors and options."

Some of Heyduková's favorite materials to work with are the vibrant feathers of peacocks, pheasants, ostrich and roosters. Because some of the feathers are too precious and expensive to buy individually, she's begun ordering full pelts from the birds, and though she's clearly a bit put off by the thought of plucking them herself, her admiration for the diversity of colors and textures on one bird is obvious.

She also loves to work with sinamay (though she confesses it's difficult), which when combined with the feathers gives her pieces that essence of Rococo pomp. Beads and butterfly motifs in her work give a flirtier, but equally daring, look. She points out that, instead of using breakable plastic bands like those found in chain stores, she uses only flexible metal so the pieces can be adjusted for the right fit.

Heyduková says women buy her pieces mostly for special occasions and admits, unsurprisingly, that her work has gained quite the following among the local transvestite community. She is still frustrated, however, by the lack of fashion courage among Czech women.

"They're afraid," she says. "The other day, I was walking down the street wearing a red dress, and everybody was staring at me. And when I wear my headbands in the streets, sometimes people look at me like I'm crazy."

Her first sale of a Jane Bond piece was via Facebook, and the loyal following of customers she's built on the site and the young Czech fashion establishment are supportive. The Jane Bond brand has been well received at the fashion shows and events Heyduková has participated in. She's currently gearing up for the Arcolor Festival of Young Fashion, a four-day showcase starting June 22 for young designers between the ages of 18 and 35. Soon after, she'll be partaking in the Design Room fashion exhibition July 2-5 in Karlovy Vary, which runs along with the annual international film festival.

But even in the few years that she's been making her brazen bands, Heyduková says she's seen Czech women become braver, even professionals.

"One of my customers is a high-level manager and wears Jane Bond headbands at work," Heyduková says. "She says they're a great icebreaker and that when people, especially men, see her, they get the impression she is feminine and whimsical, and they start to speak freely with her."

Emily Thompson can be reached at
ethompson@praguepost.com