An emerging trend to wear hair ornaments to add oomph to your looks is picking up in Indonesia.

The trend, which started in Europe, has been picked up in the United States with a particular popular television series - Gossip Girls - where the lead role starlet changes hair ornament style from a headband to a fascinator to a hairclip in one episode.

"I think it (the trend) has been catching on from year to year," Paris-based accessories designer Cherry Chau said here Thursday.

Chau, who is internationally renowned for her hair pieces, is currently bringing in the trend to Jakarta. She was in town to open her new store in the Harvey Nichols store in Jakarta.

Her creations are available at some of the most luxurious retail locations internationally, such as Galeries Lafayette in Paris, Harvey Nichols and Selfridges in London and Henri Bendel, Bergdorf Goodman and Saks in the United States and have adorned the heads of royalty in the United Kingdom and celebrities in the U.S.

Wearing one of her hair ornaments with her hair pulled up; Chau looked elegant in a light brown dress. In front of her corner at Harvey Nichols Jakarta, she demonstrated to The Jakarta Post how versatile her hair pieces were.

At her corner were an array of hair pieces: feathered hair bands and hair clips, hair bands ornamented with big bows and flowers, hair combs and one of her signature pieces dubbed papagena (from Mozart's Magic Flute, as the first piece was created to adorn the hair of an opera singer), a claw with feathers on bendable coils and rhinestone decorations.

She picked up a purple colored papagena and toyed around with the coils. On a pulled up hair-style that has been twisted in a small bun, the papagena gave out a dramatic and elegant effect.

Chau said that the current trend for hair accessories was the latest style.

A hair band decorated with a big black bow or a hair band with a small net to cover the forehead were the popular, she said.

For a more understated style, she said that a small decorated hair comb was nice to put on a French twist hair style.

Chau said that hair accessories can also be integrated with outfits. "You can put one in your lapel or on the edge of your sarong," she said.

Chau said that wearing hair accessories gives a complementary color to ones outfit and will give a nice touch.

"I think accessories are very very important to keep a little bit of oomph in an outfit - if we're wearing something really really sort of plain. Just to add a kick. It gives you a little bit of personal touch. It shows your personality as well," she said.

"I think in fashion, accessories are very important, especially hair accessories. When we go out to parties or dinners, even if you have a beautiful beautiful outfit, when you sit down most of the outfit is hidden under the table and your beautiful shoes and hand bags are not seen. But when you wear something really nice you know in your hair, when you sit down people will still see you. You're still the center of attraction," she said.

-- Prodita Sabarini

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