When I first saw people wearing top knot pearl studded headbands I loved the look but couldn’t believe the price; $150+ for one headband! Although I adored the Lele Sadoughi look I couldn’t justify the price on what I thought would be a fad. But then I saw a lot of bloggers featuring similar headband for around $10 a piece and that was much more my speed. I got started with a pink one with sparse pearl studding and floppy velvet. It would never ever pass for a Lele Sadoughi but was cute and I got lots of compliments on it.
As the trend went on the similar pieces started to show improvement in quality- more pearls, better pearl placement, and material that lays better on the headband. The pricing was better too and they were sold on packs of three – soon I had ones in green, blue and black. In the spring I saw designs branch out from the velvet fabric and bought one in a yellow lightweight fabric, green tweed, white tweed, and black tweed.
For fall 2020 I noticed that while the classic pearl studded velvet headbands were still around Lele Sadoughi was offering more fun designs and there was no similar look for less. I finally gave in and purchased the mint magnolia headband, a set of masks that had a matching mint magnolia mask and the sunset mixed yarn headband. I was also able to get a pearl studded headband in a loveshackfancy print off poshmark. Finally I could see what the big deal is and what makes a Lele Sadoughi headband worth the price.
There are imo three elements that distinguish Lele Sadoughi headbands from other headbands.
Design
The layout on the studded headbands is much more concentrated than on lower priced similar products. Lele Sadoughi uses a thicker material which creates a larger top knot and the knot is always centered. There is also a layer of padding between the material and headband base giving more of a structured look to the fabric. For the non studded headbands some of the looks can be found for less but many are going to be unique to Lele Sadoughi.
Comfort
I am prone to headaches so the biggest difference to me is that the Lele Sadoughi headbands sit more comfortably on my head. As long as my head is upright the Lele headbands stay on my head perfectly. I will admit it is a little annoying how easily they slip if I bend down to pick something up.
Price
Lele Sadoughi headbands start at $49 for simple designs and go up to $198 for the most elaborate. The pearl studded headbands are $150. Meanwhile, you can get a pack of three pearl studded velvet headbands off amazon for $12. Most other embellished or fun design headbands on amazon are around $15.
Now let’s be real – $150 for a headband is just never going to be in some people’s budget – and that’s ok! I believe that style should not be limited by budget. If you like the look of a top knot headband or studded embellishments there are plenty of affordable options out there.
However, it’s also ok to want to have the designer piece if it’s in your budget. Because of the differences I mentioned above I don’t think anyone who is familiar with Lele Sadoughi is going to mistake a lower priced headband for it. I don’t see myself quitting lower priced headbands but due to the quality and comfort I’m also open to buying Lele headbands again as a special treat once in a while. I feel like this style has proven to be more than a fad which is why I can justify the higher price. I purposely bought a white pearl studded headband so I could have a lot of versatility and really get the most for my money. I see lots of women have entire collections of Lele bands and that’s cool but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with buying one and wearing the heck out of it!
Shop Lele Sadoughi headbands here
Shop my favorite look for less headbands here
