Bandanas Are Back

By Matt Repicky | Posted in Street Smart | 6 July 2012 7:01AM

Once a month, Matt will give his take on stateside sartorial trends, as well as reporting from the trenches during his biannual trips to men’s fashion weeks in Paris and Milan.

Bandanas are back!

Now, this is not the square cloth keeping sweat off of a cowboy's neck or what you use to keep your hair pulled back. No sir. This season the bandana is all over the menswear space – shirts, shoes, hats, neckwear.

A bandana tie I paired with a Carven jacket and Uniqlo oxford.

I first started seeing the traditional paisley print used by smaller independent labels, many of them sold at Opening Ceremony, aka the arbiter of what's hot next. (Side note: the OC founders, Humberto Leon and Carol Chan were tapped last year to be Co-Creative Directors at Paris-based, Kenzo.)

A lot of the current offerings and editorial are coming out of Japan, which means:

a) This is not a trend going away anytime soon; and

b) You should jump on board.

A paisley multi-print shirt from Opening Ceremony x Adidas

Not limited to shirts, designers have turned out hats and sneakers rockin' a little bandana print, to fun and whimsical effect. I love Japanese brand, New Era’s take on the trend, along with these shoes from Sunny Sport (also from Japan).

There is a great versatility wearing it – especially when you're not afraid of throwing together contrasting colors and patterns. Street photographer, Tommy Ton caught someone recently at Pitti Uomo using the bandana to new effect.

Traditionally the most common colors seen are red and navy, but I always encourage taking a risk with color and trying something new. I’ve got a collection of bowties across the spectrum, ensuring my bandana tie options are covered both this and next season.