Hair Clip Ideas For Your Bridal Style
Cover photo by Bri Johnson Studios
Hair clips are the most versatile accessory idea for your bridal hairstyle. Creating hairpins from your mom’s vintage headpiece offers the option to style them one way for your trip down the aisle and change them up for your wedding reception or second dress.
The majority of my brides come to me only knowing that they would like to use their mother’s or grandmother’s headpiece in some way. They tap into my world of knowledge and design, to create something unqiuely beautiful.
“I can’t think of anything more special than when my brides discover that the most meaningful bridal accessory might be found in a box in their mom’s closet. Restyling her headpiece into bridal hair clips with a modern twist is not only beautiful, it is something no other bride in the world will ever have.”
Photo by Pravda Photography
“While I can design any style accessory for a bride, which includes crowns, headbands, and very ornate, elaborate pieces, hair clips and hair pins are my go-to. You can cluster them, scatter them, and reposition them for different desired effects, but best of all, you can wear them again and again.”
Jocelyn brought me her mom’s 1989 headpiece, looking for ideas on how she could use it for her wedding day.
I created a set of three hair clips from the elements of her mom’s headpiece. Since wearing them on her wedding day, they were so special that she chose to wear them for her baby shower.
Photo by Pravada Photography
Website submission requests for vintage restyles from the 80s are a hot topic for Headpiece.com. Our January blog featured North Carolina bride, Amanda, wearing her gorgeous hair clips repurposed from her mom’s 1987 headpiece.
Cassie sent me her mom’s 1987 headpiece, looking for ideas to accessorize her chignon-style wedding hair for her Virginia wedding. The repetitive floral pattern throughout the piece required some thought. I never want my designs to look as though I just took a section off a vintage headpiece and added a comb, but rather an accessory that has guests asking, “Where did you get that?’
Often, deconstructing the headpiece and removing glue takes more time than creating the actual design itself. Detailed and extensive prep work is required to produce a high-quality finished design.
“I knew immediately that I wanted to change her flat, single dimension lace into a textured, dimensional floral. Dimension adds life to any bridal accessory design.”
Deconstructing the 1987 glued lace headpiece.
Restyling a flat piece of vintage lace into a 3D lace flower.
Cassie’s finished hair clips captured every essence of her mom’s original headpiece. Additional crystal and vintage pearl bridal hair pins offer her many options to style them on her wedding day.
Bridal Hair Clips From A 60s Pillbox Hat
Maggie's request to restyle elements of her grandmother's pillbox hat and mom’s crown came to me very late, with only three months before her walk down the aisle for her Arizona wedding.
“I love this portrait of Maggie’s grandmother in 1963. My heart will always yearn for the bridal fashions of yesteryear. The styles of then were classic, romantic, and of high quality.”
In 1992, Maggie’s mom had their heirloom pillbox hat converted into a crown for her own wedding.
The person who restyled the original pillbox hat simply glued the vintage sequin and pearl pieces to a piece of horsehair and filled it in with pearl trim.
1990’s crown worn by Maggie’s mom made from the original pillbox hat.
“I have many crowns and headpieces come into the shop that have been previously restyled or restored. This always adds an added layer of difficulty for me to perform my work. In the 80s and 90s, actual bridal millinery design disappeared, and the glue bottle became the main source and technique used for accessory designers. I have to undo every modification previously done before I can even begin creating a new design.”
Once the vintage elements have been prepped and restored, I begin the layout of the new design.
The finished hair clips created from a family heirloom are now ready for a new bride in the family.
Maggie is now the third generation to wear a design created from her grandmother's pillbox hat. The beauty of creating modern hair clips for her wedding day is that she never has to pack them away and can wear them again on other momentous occasions in her life.
Bridal Hair Clips Using Mom’s 80s Headpiece
If I wrote a book about the headpieces of the 1980s, the chapters would read the same. Florals and pearl filaments were present in almost every design. What I love about working on bridal headpieces from the 80s is that you can tone things down and scale them back to create tastefully stunning accessories that have a secret '80s sass!
Taylor’s mom on her wedding day in 1985.
“I was in love with this headpiece from the day it arrived from Louisiana. Yes, it had all the signs of an ‘80s bride, but I knew I could make it into something Taylor and her mom would love!”
1985 bridal headpiece
“Reducing chunk and bulk is always the number one task when restyling a bridal headpiece from the ‘80s. Transforming it into a delicate bridal accessory requires skill.”
I suggested to Taylor that we create a single hair clip with an open and ethereal feel. Additional petite hair pins made from jewels and the petals from her mom’s vintage flowers would allow her style options for her loose chignon wedding hairstyle.
The bridal designs I featured in this month’s blog were just completed. My brides can’t wait for to wear them in the coming weeks on their wedding day and share their beauty and happinees with you all.
See you next month on the Fourteenth