The Wrap Life
To hear Nnenna Stella tell it, rocking a headwrap isn’t a mere fashion statement. It’s an emotional event. “You put one on, and it’s like an instant shift in how you walk, how you express yourself, how you exist in the world,” says Nnenna, who makes premium headwraps and headbands as the owner of The Wrap Life.
Shortly after incorporating headwraps into her look and experiencing this transformative feeling for herself — and tired from more than a decade of waitressing — the Little Rock, Ark., native launched her company in January of 2015 as an online retailer. Five years later, what started as a one-woman operation in her Brooklyn apartment has grown into a highly bankable brand that counts Issa Rae and Jessica Williams as fans. You may have also seen Iman wearing a silk Wrap Life turban last year on the cover of Vogue Arabia (light flex).
Last month, Nnenna marked a new business milestone with the opening of her brick-and-mortar store in Industry City. “You can read a customer’s review that they love it, but seeing their face when they come into the store is a completely different experience,” Nnenna says. “It gives more meaning to the work. You’re like, ‘Okay, this is why we’re doing this.’”
“My vision is to continue to be a source of really beautiful things that make women happy, pretty and confident.”
The Wrap Life headwraps and headbands are manufactured in Brooklyn, while Nnenna handpicks and imports their rich textiles from Ghana, India, Morocco and China. “We try to anticipate the life cycle of the customer,” Nnenna says of her premium fabrics, which vary in texture, pliability and delicate print styles (and solids). “They’re not always going to want the same print that they wanted three years ago, so we understand the importance of introducing something new.”
Nnenna is also mindful of headwrap newbies intimidated by the tying process. In addition to hosting video tutorials at thewrap.life and on its social media accounts, she’ll sit store visitors down in front of the mirror to demo a few techniques. “It’s really cool when you talk them through it, and they see it’s not as complicated as they thought.”
And while The Wrap Life is welcoming to all, Nnenna acknowledges headwraps as an African diasporic tradition that serve as a form of cultural expression for Black women in particular. “This is a little piece [of your roots] that you can grab to express yourself and ground you in some way,” she says.
Can we talk about how stunning the Wrap Life storefront is? “We wanted the space to have a neutral color because there are so many colors and prints in the fabrics,” Nnenna says of her shop, located in the sprawling Industry City hub for creative entrepreneurs.
The clean white backdrop, warmed by leafy green plants and decorative woven baskets, lets the colors and textures of the scarves shine. Bright velvet chairs invite you to linger, and gorgeous portraits of Black women sporting headwraps in an array of styles — simple, straightforward and casual; intricate, sophisticated and dramatic — provide endless sartorial inspiration.
“My vision is to continue to be a source of really beautiful things that make women happy, pretty and confident,” Nnenna says of what’s next. Check her out, Fridays through Sundays, to get you some.
51 35th St., 2nd Floor, 917-794-2350, thewrap.life
