Cara Remington is a woman fascinated by an age gone by, when quality and craftsmanship were part and parcel to manufacturing, before massive factories began producing cut rate versions of everything. As the sole designer at Lucy Notions, Cara weaves into each of her stunning headbands the quality of the past by incorporating vintage fabrics from Japan, Austria, Italy, and beyond. She diligently searches out her raw materials at rag trades and flea markets, estate sales and thrift stores. Today, Lucy Notions can be found at the accessory counters of top quality sellers like Henri Bendel (NY), Fred Segal (LA), Boutique 1 (Dubai), and a short list of well-curated online eco shops.

Named after her mother, Cara launched Lucy Notions in 2003 with a desire to bring art to fashion, which is exactly what she’s doing. Cara never intended to have an “eco” line by recycling used materials into beautiful new treasures; she simply loves couture quality vintage fabric.

Between her Newport Beach, California home and her country studio in Harrisburg, Missouri, Cara attends to each and every detail of crafting the headbands herself: sourcing the material, stretching and buffing the plastic form, cutting the fabric, hand applying each swarofski crystal, and stitching together the final piece.

When she travels to work with the buyer at Bendel’s and overhears young girls asking at the counter why Lucy Notions headbands are so much more expensive than other brands, Cara bristles with the knowledge that other handbands are generally cheap factory-made knock-offs. To Cara, “It’s about handcrafting things of beauty. There’s no one else out there putting the work into these…There’s nothing mass market about what I do.” This statement is so obvious when you hold one of Cara’s pieces in your hand, they are indeed “hair couture.”

Much of the Lucy Notions collections are one-of-a-kind, mainly because Cara can’t bare the thought of repetitive tasks. Her recent Yuko Collection features gorgeous one-of-a-kind pieces, made from vintage kimonos. A Lucy Notions band is a unique and glamorous way to keep a wild mane tame on an elegant evening out, or to bring a little diva flavor on your next trip to the farmer’s market. Watch out when you wears Lucy Notions though, because Cara states with confidence, “These are man magnets.”