‘Wow, you look so different without one!’, my friend blurted out the other day.

We’d been chatting as I took off my headband to rearrange the way it sat on my head. And she was right!

For me, not wearing an Alice band is something like how others feel without make-up, or fragrance: a little bit… naked. 

Why? Perhaps it’s because I share a name with their original wearer. John Tenniel’s illustrations for Alice Through The Looking Glass are credited with giving rise to the term Alice band. 

More to the point, they work – and the royal women seem to think so, too. It was a veritable sea of headbands when they gathered once again at Sandringham this year.

Zara Tindall attends Christmas Day service at St Mary Magdalene Church, Sandringham wearing a Laura Green emerald coat – and a beige headband was by Juliette Millinery

Mike and Lena Tindall – and yet another Alice band

Princess Beatrice of York look chic a padded navy headband at Sandringham

Princess Beatrice and husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi attend the Christmas Morning Service 

Untouched, my hair resembles that of an electrocuted Hagrid. Think Bridget Jones arriving at the country hotel after her journey in Daniel Cleaver’s open top car. 

But if I part my hair in the middle, brush it down with a little hair product and place an Alice band on top, it is tamed for the day. Behind my ears, off my face. Out of sight, out of mind.

It is this combination of practicality with diadem-style elegance that has made the headband so popular down the years, not least with the Sloane Rangers.

 Hair must be, as the 1982 Sloane Ranger Handbook put it, ‘out of the eyes, dear’. Cue the Alice band – a family tiara, minus the diamonds.

The headbands at Sandringham this Christmas were a homage to the  talent of British millinery. 

Princess Beatrice was in a navy velvet creation complete with blue flowers by Yorkshire milliner Justine Bradley-Hill. 

Princess Eugenie’s was a beaded design by Emily London. 

Zara Tindall’s was by London milliner Juliette Botterill, featuring a bow atop the band. 

Lady Margarita Armstrong Jones word a band by royal warrant holder Rachel Trevor Morgan’s ‘gold Lily of the Valley headdress’, a Grecian design with subtle crystal adornment. 

And we can’t forget the Duchess of York, who was in attendance for the first time in 32 years and chose a bespoke variation of Jess Collett’s ‘Ava’ headband, made from peacock feathers and described as ‘so light you won’t even know it’s there’.

Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York attended the Christmas Morning Service at Sandringham Church in an emerald green coat and a peacock feathered headband

Sarah matched her headband perfectly with her coat for the Sandringham walk on Christmas day

Lady Margarita Armstrong-Jones and her father the Earl of Snowdon attend the Christmas Day service  in Sandringham

Lady Margarita’s gold head band set off the contrasting blue coat and black boots

Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank leave church

Mia Tindall in a flower-motif headband as she walks with cousin Princess Charlotte 

These were power bands – they certainly weren’t the unadorned velvet versions perfect for everyday wear that one can pick up on the high street. 

Well, apart from five-year-old Lena Tindall’s, which was a £6.99 New Look bargain.

In the unimaginable craftmanship and hours required for their creation and in the detail they exhibit (bows! Feathers! Crystals!), they are more band-meets-hat. The detail and elegance of a hat with the ease of a band. 

No wonder they’ve become such a hit with the royals. After a hiatus in the ‘90s (their velvet regality didn’t quite feel at home amongst the grunge aesthetic of the Cobains et al.), they re-entered our fashion consciousness courtesy of Blair Waldorf in Gossip Girl in the mid-noughties. 

When Prada sent gloriously padded headbands in sugary ice cream hues down their SS19 catwalk in September 2018, it was official. 

The Alice band was back. So much so that Prada fans were willing to pay £370 to get in on the action. Alessandra Rich’s SS19 collection – a homage to demureness made modern – confirmed it: cable knit sweaters and padded velvet headbands clashed with mini hemlines and slits in perfect union. 

The headband could be… cool.

The then Duchess of Cambridge had pre-empted the move, wearing a raffia headband with net and flower detailing by London milliner Jane Taylor to Prince Louis’ christening in July 2018.

 A few months later, in November 2018, she wore a raised velvet headband also by Jane Taylor for a service at Westminster Abbey honouring the centenary of the Great War armistice. 

Cressida Bonas had worn a plaited blue velvet design by New York milliner Jennifer Behr to Princess Eugenie’s wedding the previous month. 

In May 2019, Pippa Middleton wore a blue velvet Alice band, again by Jane Taylor, to Lady Gabriella Windsor’s wedding. It was padded and therefore statement enough to stand in lieu of a hat, with the bonus of a wide hat brim not bashing people in the face on greeting them.

 Kate, Cressida and Pippa also demonstrated another benefit of the Alice band: since they hold hair off the face and behind the ears, they are the perfect way to show off statement earrings. 

In November 2019, the Duchess of Cambridge wore a black beaded headband from Zara, costing £17.99. Therein lies another appeal of the Alice band: it’s the power accessory democratised. 

Catherine, then Duchess of Cambridge, wears a raffia headband with net and flower detailing by London milliner Jane Taylor to Prince Louis’ christening in July 2018

Kate wears a black beaded headband from Zara, costing £17.99

No hat for Pippa Middleton Lady Gabriella Windsor’s wedding. Instead, she wore a padded blue velvet Alice band by Jane Taylor

Cressida Bonas wears a plaited blue velvet design by New York milliner Jennifer Behr to Princess Eugenie’s wedding in 2018

While trophy bags come in at three figures, you can pick up a power band on a budget. My favourites come from Italian brand Marzoline (marzoline.com), specifically their capsule collection with London fashion PR and all-round queen of chic Alexandra Carello.

For around the £50 price point, Alex has created with them an array of bands with the perfect amount of padding (of utmost importance) in an array of rich jewel tones.

 Australian milliner Lisa Tan, now based in London, makes opulent headbands (think veiling and hand-embellishment) beloved by the racing set and perfect for making a tasteful statement as a wedding guest.

One thing’s for sure, and who can blame them? The royals are with the band.