When we were in New York for Fashion Week, we planned our daily evening stroll to conveniently pass by Bergdorf Goodman, so we could peer in the windows and pop in if a fashion emergency were to strike. (You never know…) Before we left, we snapped a few pics of the patriotic Presidents’ Day window featuring crisp, white looks — one of spring’s hottest trends — set against a collection of presidential campaign bandannas, dating from 1880 to 1912.
We like to think of the windows as fashion’s answer to Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the U.S.A cover. The bandannas, provided by the Woodard & Greenstein Gallery, commemorated events from the American Revolution to the Federal Period, and once served as patriotic tokens given out at parades, convention halls, speeches and other political events. Worn as patches, pocket squares and around the head and neck, these vintage bandannas would definitely meet the approval of Springsteen’s E Street bandmate/Sopranos actor Steven Van Zandt, known for donning a headband as his signature look. (Springsteen could drape his out his back pocket.)
As a side note: Van Zandt famously shunned acting in onetime-candidate Hillary Clinton’s video spoof of the Sopranos, saying: “I was hoping for a Gore/Obama ticket. I read Obama’a book, and the guy is frighteningly intelligent. I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice to try the other side of the coin, and actually have the smartest guy in the room be president?”
Well, Van Zandt got Obama, but we don’t think that Bergdorf or the gallery will be sending him one of the antique bandannas to wear anytime soon!
