Never in a million years would you think Queen Elizabeth II of England--whose photo sits right next to the word "dowdy" in the dictionary--would start a fashion trend, but apparently she has. When her majesty wore a fascinator for the May wedding of her grandson Peter Philips, thousands of other women couldn't wait to jump on the bandwagon. According to Debenhams, a well-known British department store, sales of the accessory have gone up by 82 percent since the Queen was photographed at the ceremony in May. So what, exactly, is a fascinator?

A fascinator is a headpiece worn on the hair. They're commonly made with feathers, flowers and/or crystals and beads, and they attach to the hair by a comb, headband or clip. Designed as an accessory for formal attire, they're gaining in popularity as headwear for brides and bridesmaids, too. Of course, they had a little help from Kenley Collins from Project Runway's fifth season. She's a big fan of fascinators and featured them on some of her models.

When ladies in the 18th century started to dress their hair in elaborate high styles, hats became hair pieces--small arrangements of feathers, ribbons and flowers with which to adorn the hair--and the fascinator was born. More and more brides are skipping the veil in favor of fresh flowers, hair jewelry or, of course, fascinators. Some brides are even using fascinators with veils for a dreamy look.

Breathtaking Bridesmaids

Fascinators for your bridesmaids would be a wonderful addition to your wedding color scheme! And your bridesmaids will have a fabulous accessory they can wear again and again. If you do an Internet search, you'll find lots of sites that sell fascinators, and even the most elaborate ones are not outrageously expensive, so you'll keep your bridesmaids happy. What else will keep your bridesmaids happy? Nothing less than a thoughtful, personal bridesmaids gift to thank them for being part of your milestone moment.

To keep the sparkle going beyond your wedding, here are a couple of extremely thoughtful, personalized bridesmaids gifts from MyWeddingFavors.com. The "Circle of Friendship" Personalized Bracelet with Swarovski Crystals gives you a couple of options. You can choose the crystals to match your wedding color scheme, or you can choose the crystal colors based on each bridesmaid's personality or style. You can do the same with ChaChaBella Hand-painted, Personalized Wine Glasses, which come in a variety of wild colors and prints with each bridesmaid's initial in sparkling Swarovski crystals. What a fun way to toast to everyone's future happiness!

Share with: BackFlip, BlinkList, del.icio.us, Digg, Furl, Google, Jookster, LinkRoll, Lycos, ma.gnolia, Netscape, Newsvine, reddit, Simpy, Spurl, Squidoo