Eyes on the prize: From Stuart Broad to Pat Cash, all hail the hair-conquering headband heroes

In the headband game, as trendsetting cricketing hero Stuart Broad will attest, there’s a very short run-up from how-zat to what-a-prat, writes Simon Mills. Here are the men who pull off the look with lustre (and the ones who flopped)

Broad is the latest in a long line of ‘banded brothers (Getty/Touchstone Pictures)

Stuart Broad may be retiring, but his head gear is still very much out there.

After that Aussie-busting wicket at the Oval last week, Broad became the Rambo of the cricket crease; the Tonto of the full toss, fast fashion’s fast bowler – with both bowler and headband blowing up the internet.

Google “Stuart Broad headband” and the web will ping up a selection of white, Broad–a-like tribute bands available via Temu, Amazon, Sports Direct and eBay with a £1.50 to £15 price point (more luxurious versions, like the Neve logo-embroidered brushed-knit headband by Jacquemus are available through Mr Porter for £75). The Broad band width is crucial too – just 6cm. No room at Headingley or Lords for colourful and expansive Axl Rose affairs that stray into dodgy bandana territory.

The 604-test, wicket-taking swashbuckler claims he originally adopted his white, stretchy, piratical, pre-tied accessory to keep the sweat from his eyes and to get out the habit of touching his face while bowling. Broad soon warmed to the look, launching his first headband collection debuting in 2020 when he enjoyed one his best ever seasons (cricket, not fashion).

He ditched it in 2022 for a while (and didn’t play so well) then brought it back (because he “felt naked”) and enjoyed a better run of form. In 2023, in his last ever game, the tails of the Nottinghamshire star’s headband flailing from his neck as he aeroplaned across the hallowed grass, delighting in his final cricket match and style hurrah, quickly became both a sporting landmark and a menswear moment.

And as the celebrations peaked, the Australians walked, the square quickly invaded by friends and family. Broad was greeted by his wife Mollie King (ex-Saturdays vocalist) and their baby… who was also wearing a headband. So, one more and it’s a bonafide trend, right?

Look no further than Manchester City’s “striking Viking” Erling Haaland who favours the narrowest of knotted head gear to keep his penalty box-pillaging, flaxen barnet out of his eyes, possibly in tribute to Tottenham Hotspur’s former striker Dimitar Berbatov and/or Jesus hair-length era David Beckham, both of whom also rocked H-bands during their sporting primes.

Other headband heroes? We must acknowledge the trailblazing flex of 1987 Wimbledon champ Pat Cash, whose famous black and white chequered band was inspired by Cheap Trick guitarist Rick Neilsen (Cash is a fellow rock ‘n’ roll guitarist); also nodding to headband boss Bjorn Borg who reigned supreme on the centre court for five successive years between 1976–80, a perfectly placed Fila headband never far from his piercing blue eyes; lush, Farah Fawcett hair; trendsetting beard and Scandi noir, hangdog countenance.

Several decades on from the previous century’s peak headband years, Borg’s cranial elastic – towelling, unbranded, off-white, with caramel and black stripe – remains an enduring fashion classic. (Wimbledon’s legendary 1980 final between Borg and John McEnroe, was both the greatest tennis match of all time and a battle of the headbands too – McEnroe’s towelling was blood red.)

Then, in 2001, Wes Anderson’s wardrobe department smashed the Bjorg/McEnroe ‘band when Luke Wilson’s ageing tennis prodigy Richie Tenenbaum wore the very same Fila headband with contemporary camel tailoring, Autumnal tones and matching Fila zip-up cardigans. An instant men’s style icon and new headband hero was created. Advantage Wilson.

The fashion world finally got hip to the headband when the house of Prada debuted its 2013 collection, dressing up men for the spring summer just like Richie Tennenbaum in clean, court-casual tennis clobber and matching headgear.

But some sartorial clarity and technical citation is needed here. The modern headband was invented by the Greeks who wore the style from 475 BC-ish right up to 330 BC. The hippies adopted headbands in the 1960s and 70s (Hendrix, John Lennon et al), with everyone from Dire Straits’ Mark Knopfler (superb day-glo headband action in the “Money For Nothing” video!) to Rod Stewart experimenting with elastic during the 1980s.

A very different style from the rigid, Princess Anne “hairband”, which integrates follicular grips and sits high on the head, the cloth hachimaki-style headband is worn at brow-grazing, forehead height and, according to its Japanese origins, symbolises the bravery and courage of the wearer (courage and bravery in the battlegrounds of girl chasing, in Rod’s case).

Bandanas? They are neckerchiefs and headscarfs, not headbands.

Few man can pull off the look. A middle aged chap from accounts, for instance, getting tipsy on supermarket cava and knotting his Ted Baker necktie around his head during the office Christmas party frug-along to “Padam Padam” can be a bit tragic. Really, a man has to have the hair for it.

Headbands look best belted on to a long, expensive and lustrous mane of Chippendale-quality hair. Ex-Gucci creative director, Alessandro Michele (owner of “the best head of hair on the planet” ™) or Beckham at the Bernabeu, circa 2003, have the perfect type of thick, unlayered, shoulder length headband hair. Mark Knopfler? Not so much. In the headband game, as trendsetter Stuart Broad will attest, there’s a very short run-up from how-zat to what-a-prat.