Picture of girl with feather extension in her hair
Loyal readers of our Style File blog may have noticed that I wrote an article today about bag maker Wendy Nichol discussing her new collaboration with London-based textile house Vanderhurd. As evidenced by the accompanying images, the bags are great. Perhaps even greater still, however, is this bonus Nichol tidbit I gleaned during the first—and probably only—time I’ve ever gone on a fashion fact-finding mission and wound up with a new hairdo: The designer has developed a knack for hair extensions in addition to handwoven silk dhurrie. Yecch, you may say. Yecch, I would say, too, except that Nichol’s extensions are multicolored strands of feathers, rather than synthetic strands (the feathers come from molting birds, by the by, so there’s no PETA problem here). The designer applies them herself, at her store, and I can attest that the plumage stands up to washing, twisting, and top-knotting, as well as the vagaries of winter hat-wearing. Nichol says they’ll last up to two weeks, and their impact even longer; as the nail art trend has gone mainstream, you can think of this as the next big thing in harmless and budget-friendly eccentricity. Judging by the covetous looks my feather extensions have received in the past week, I’m guessing other girls will be jumping on this bandwagon soon, too.
Celia Ellenberg
