As 2015 comes to a close and all the talk turns to “out with the old and in with the new,” the beautiful and mysterious African Juju Hat, my personal top 2015 decor obsession, has me tickled every shade of pink seen below.  Why?  Because I’m not alone in my quest for some answers regarding this (ever?) lasting trend and some good Juju to go along with it!

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Now let me explain, the first time I saw one of these beauties was earlier this year in this Lulu and Georgia campaign (below), and while I had no idea what it was, I knew it was love.  boho chicI also remember thinking to myself, what is that fluffy beauty and how do I get my hands on one!?  Immediately I scoured luluandgeorgia.com and the photo credits and the accompanying product list and sadly found no info.  I was at a loss simply guessing because it looked like noting I had ever seen before.  In fact, I was certain I had never “it” before.

Having no idea what “it” was called or what “it” was even made of, “it” became a single image fondly stuck in my head and a DIY project I was determined to execute eventually.  But I had that teensy weensy “it” problem to work out and so I moved on, leaving it out of sight but not entirely out of mind as I thought of it often.

Then one day, a few weeks later, I saw another “it” online and a few days later yet another in a magazine.  Suddenly I could tell what “it” was made of, “it” was feathers!  And so the mystery of the unknown wall “poufy thing” unfolded as I deftly googled “feathers hung on a wall.”  And there “it” was — the African Juju Hat, I had my answer and my DIY tutorial all in one thanks to lovemegan.com.

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I was satisfied and excited.  Then, mystery #2 surfaced.

After studying the tutorial, thinking to myself where in the hell am I going to hang one of these in my house full of boys, I noticed the date on the post, February 21 2013.  2013?  How in the world did I live for 2 whole years without one of these and why was I first discovering it now?  My address was not Inside A Cave, CA, it was Los Angeles, CA.  So I dug a little deeper and found a tutorial dating back to July of 2011 thanks to thenester.com!  4 years?!  You have to be joking.  But there it was, published July 29, 2011, Feather Juju Hats.

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Not only did a source to purchase the Juju hats “featured in high-end decor magazines, such as Domino, Elle Decor and Inside Out, to name a few” exist on The Nester site, but a hack of the hack did too via Flutter Flutter and her Juju Hat Tutorial!  It’s a cheaper version of how to hack this African headdress with yarn and a paper plate instead of the expensive feathers it’s traditionally fashioned out of.  Clearly caves do exist in LA and genius (on the part of Flutter Flutter with her yarn) aside, I begrudgingly continued reading The Nester’s article, taking some solace in the fact that she too felt the tug of the wall art and was surprised and intrigued by her own lack of reference for it.

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And so I felt a little better. Until I got to the part that said, “Averill from Odi et Amo held a little discussion asking her readers if they were over with the juju hat craze,”  while referencing a post 5 months prior titled The Juju Hat:  Are You Over It?  Over it?  Over it?  You have to be shi**ting me!  Dated February 15 2011?  Now I had 2 more burning mysteries, when did this “craze” start exactly and what or more importantly WHO defines a “craze?”  As in how many people have to know about it to be a craze, not a clique — but a CRAZE?

I know, I know.  I was a little crazed myself.   But The Nester’s commentary on the question made me laugh, out loud.

Screen Shot 2015-12-02 at 3.02.43 AM“Apparently, while I’ve been perfecting my Pioneer Woman version of cinnamon rolls and cleaning toilets, the real designers have been gawking over these for years.  She wondered if they were going to be the next “Keep Calm and Carry On” trend.  Plus, they were seen on HGTV and real designers hate it when something shows up on HGTV because that means normal folk might start using it and the item has then gone “mainstream”, I wonder if that means they are all throwing their Juju hats in the trash?  Maybe I will find one at my local thrift store?  Anyhow, it’s a really great post at a beautiful blog and worth the click.  Plus, Averill took a poll from her readers to see how they felt about the Juju hat craze and she has lots of lovely photos.”

I never did find a date to link to the start of the “craze” and all the links to the photos that are now 5+ years old go nowhere.  But that’s ok, I know I’m not alone, blogs are still debating and explaining and labeling away — in fact, I’ve now seen the African hats called the “new hot decor trend” each and every year since the 2011 posts, with the most recent being October of this year!  But oh well, when you’re hot your hot, right?  And when you’re not, you still are?  Just elsewhere?  Because if you think about it, what could be old will always be new if you don’t know it’s back again (and maybe never really went away in the first place?)  I told you it was mysterious.

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So what’s the moral of the story here? — don’t ruffle your feathers, just enjoy their beauty and some good juju!  More images, styling ideas and all the credits, find them on my Pinterest Board below.

  Follow Messy By Design’s board I want good Juju! on Pinterest.