Is the balaclava fashion's latest trend?

Pussy Riot started it, now Beyoncé and Cara D are wearing woolly face-wear. Phoebe Luckhurst hits the streets in full-on smash-and-grab style

Fashion moves in mysterious ways. It fetishises the wholly impractical and weather-inappropriate, while practical, weather-appropriate items (shout out to all the cagoule fans out there) are marginalised and condemned never to appear — even briefly — on the carousel of seasonal whims.

But sometimes, when the stars align and the lunar cycle complies, one of these sidelined, mournfully ugly objects breaks through into the mainstream. It finds itself hanging off A-list clothes-horses and gets its moment in a Get the Look feature. It’s early days, but rumour has it that this time, it’s the turn of the balaclava.

Balaclava Girl: Cara Delevigne at Giles Deacon Spring/Summer 2014 during London Fashion Week.
Splash News

Indeed, it really is the perfect moment: last Thursday, Russian president Vladimir Putin pardoned two members of punk band Pussy Riot, famous fans of the anarchic headgear. Donning a balaclava this season is a fitting tribute.

But it all started in the dark January days at the beginning of 2013, when Kanye West wore a red one on the Margiela catwalk. This is the ego who pronounced, “I am so credible and so influential and so relevant that I will change things”, so of course his every fashion move must be attended to with baited breath and a credit card. The trend continued to swell through the ranks of the A-list and delusional: in April, Bieber rocked a black Chanel one. They were next spotted on Selena Gomez and her gaggle of girls-gone-wild in Harmony Korine’s summer romp, Spring Breakers.

Then in September, the Cara factor sent them stratospheric. The supermodel rampaged around London Fashion Week sporting a black balaclava by irreverent brand Black Score — scoring photo-ops with Harry Styles and Sienna Miller. Backstage at Burberry, she did an on-camera interview with pal Jourdan Dunn while wearing a balaclava. Throughout the week’s hobnobbing and party-hopping, she concealed the face that’s made her fortune.

“After we did our stunt at LFW we put the balaclavas up for sale on the site,” explains Simeon Farrar, the designer behind Black Score. “They sold out in about a week.”

It continued: towards the end of last year, Beyoncé was spotted exiting a recording studio in LA, rocking a Louis Vuitton balaclava accessorised with kittenish eyes and a lot of bling. And Lily Cole was spotted sneaking around the capital in a rainbow one created by her knitwear brand, the North Circular.

And so, channelling these style luminaries, I took a selection of balaclavas to the streets.

My first concern was that I would look like a criminal. The PCSOs at High Street Kensington agreed: I had to reassure them that I was not, in fact, intending to rob a shop or strangle someone with my knitwear. I explained it was “for a feature! It’s fashion! I’m so fashion!” Both looked unconvinced.

A whole playground’s worth of children stopped to watch me as I stalked the streets of Kensington. They’re harsh critics: one said I looked like a monster and another that he preferred my face when I was wearing it. Balaclava: 1; Face: nil. Pedestrians stared, some pointed. When I waved at a child his father tried to put great distance between us.

It made my face very sweaty; I also got wool stuck in my eye. This is far more painful than it sounds. Ventilation was poor: in dark moments (literally — it often fell over one of my eyes) of claustrophobia I was convinced I would choke to death.

Style tips? Follow Beyoncé’s lead and go for bold make-up and something with attitude. Balance your colours: if you go for a bright balaclava, wear something simple — if it’s black, use print to leaven the look (and the mood).

“I think it’s a hard item to move into the mainstream but it’s definitely doing its best,” comments Farrar. “They are quite versatile, you can wear them as a beanie and no one would kno w you could rob a bank at a moment’s notice.”

Reactions from my near and dear were unilaterally bemused. My boyfriend looked as if he’d walked into a nightmare he couldn’t wake up from. Farrar’s last word? “You need a Black Score Rogue attitude. Anything less will not be tolerated. As Cara said, ‘It’s fashion anarchy, my friends.’”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in