The 2 Minds Behind the Headband Sisterhood

Who knew the innocent headband could become such a vilified accessory?

Certainly not Hillary Rodham Clinton, who endured slings and arrows during the first administration for wearing them. Style snobs declared the accessories childish, dowdy, preppy and denounced the aging sorority sister look as unbecoming to a first lady.

So Hill cooled it awhile (although White House officials insist she never gave up the ‘bands) and went through a plethora of hairstyles.

But hold on--they’re back. And the L.A. owners and designers of Tiara Headbands couldn’t be happier. On several occasions 35-year-old identical twins Lorna Roos and Leslie Reilly have spied, via TV and newspapers, their creations atop the first lady’s head. On her two-week African tour, she has worn the brown velvet and satin twist with suits.

Impeccably groomed and perpetually enthusiastic about their products, the twins are perfect spokesmodels. Each pursued a job in retail with the ultimate goal of joining up for their own clothing venture. Both became buyers; Roos for Bullock’s / Macy’s and Reilly for the venerable London raincoat maker Aquascutum. While in England, Reilly developed an affinity for headbands and began making them for herself and friends when she returned to the States.

Then fate intervened one night about a year ago when the sisters wore the hand-sewn headbands out to dinner with a friend, the then-general manager of Barneys New York in Beverly Hills.

“These two women came up to us and paid us $50 cash for our headbands, right off our heads,” Reilly recalls. “They would not even wait for me to put one in the mail. I thought my friend paid these women to do this as a joke, and he thought I paid them to get his account. That’s when it dawned on me that we could do something with this.”

So they began designing dimensional headbands (not inexpensive at $38 to $60) in a variety of colors and fabrics--velvets, velours, silks, lace, leather--sometimes with accents of rhinestones, beads or satin ropes. Braids, twists and padding add height. Cushioned tips prevent those annoying headaches. “Tiara” was chosen for its sophisticated, regal sound.

From their showroom and office in a renovated Silver Lake home, the sisters divide the designing duties equally, and do most of their creative work in the wee hours when phones and children sleep. (Roos, married to former L.A. Assemblyman Mike Roos, has two girls, 4 and 5. Reilly is single.)

With the business in motion, including a local manufacturer and sales reps, they sent some samples via another friend (a senior advisor to President Clinton) to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

“I just knew that Hillary Clinton always loved headbands, and I thought maybe she hadn’t been wearing them for a while,” Roos says, “but when a woman is a headband wearer, I don’t think it’s something you give up suddenly.”

“We’ve never sent anyone our product to get them to wear it,” Reilly says. “But we just felt passionate about this second term. . . .”

“We’ve always admired her,” Roos says.

The two say the first lady bought four, then a dozen more.

Says Reilly: “We always thought we were the headband wearers, but Hillary makes headbands look better than we do.”

The twins have big plans, including adding more stores and salons to their roster. (In the L.A. area they’re sold at Barneys, the Jose Eber salon in Beverly Hills and at Apothia at Fred Segal Melrose and Brentwood Gardens). And they hope to expand their product line.

Effuses Roos: “Leslie and I love this process.”