Turbania!

(NEW YORK) Ever since Miuccia Prada sent the turban down Spring '07's catwalk last September, everyone has been waiting to see whether Prada's Persian nod would make it past the runway. A mere five months later, on March 2, Ashley Olsen took an afternoon stroll in Los Angeles sporting an abbreviated version in black satin, and Mary-Kate borrowed her sister's topper at a party for Giambattista Valli later that month in Paris.

But the arrival of the turban on the twins' heads was just the beginning of what's shaping up to be a very headstrong season. In San Francisco on March 17, Steele spawn Vanessa Traina was all old-school Hollywood glamour at the de Young Museum's mid-winter gala, topping her vintage Balmian dress with full turban coverage, courtesy of Prada, natch. Just two days later, it made the leap to the inner fash-circle of New York, when Rachel Roy became the first to go beyond basic black, wearing the fuchsia version to the Olivier Theyskens dinner at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Prada may have sparked the recent wave of turbanizing, but head-wrapping is far beyond fad. Elizabeth Taylor and Barbra Streisand both wore them out and about, while Gloria Swanson immortalized hers in Sunset Boulevard. Prince performed at the Super Bowl in a turban-esqe head wrap, and Elizabeth Hurley's new hubby, Arun Nayer, spent over $1,000 on his nuptial headwear.

But not everyone is on board the turban train. "I'd do a bobby pin before I do a turban," said Tinsley Mortimer at the Versace party for Save Venice. The soiree took place across the street from H&M's Fifth Avenue flagship, where shipments of Madonna's version of the chic schmata in black and white are already being unloaded. The turbanizing of the masses has begun, sparking some fashion insiders, like Fabiola Beracasa, to already consider how to stay ahead of the trend. "I wanted to buy a Prada turban, but I thought it was too season-specific," she said, sporting her own take at the headpiece at the Versace party. "So I cut a vintage rope belt and made it into a head band!"
MEREDITH FISHER