Are designers referencing the hijab at Paris Fashion Week?

We spotted several models with fabric swept around the face and neck

A model backstage at the Vivienne Westwood show as part of Paris Fashion Week. Getty

Every season favours a certain way of styling the hair, from buzz cuts to long and loose locks. And for autumn / winter 2019, it seems as if designers are looking to cover the hair completely.

Take Andreas Kronthaler for Vivienne Westwood, for example. Amid his magpie-like, let's-throw-everything-in collection, there were not one, but five iterations of head coverings. In looks that channelled a child pulling a jumper over the head, he delivered a draped and hooded jersey dress worn with leggings, an orange houndstooth bodysuit with shoulders that morphed over the head, and also teamed an Indonesian ikat apron with a grey bobble cardigan that was pulled high up and around the face, fastening neatly under the chin.

At Balenciaga, Demna Gvasalia took his conversation about volume to its natural zenith, and went from building up collars higher and higher, to simply sweeping one over the top, in a lapel-as-hood moment. As part of a Prince of Wales check swing coat, it worked surprisingly well.

The most delicate handling was at Valentino, however, with Kaia Gerber looking nothing short of angelic in a tall lace bucket hat that also covered her hair and neck. Starched, translucent and almost sculptural, it was utterly beautiful.

With big names such as Gucci, Dior and Loewe all dressing models in hats on the runway, it seems that more shaylas and hijabs are one small, fashionable step away.