These days, the celebrity face covering of choice is an artful and elegantly tied bandana.

Amber Heard and Johnny Depp have been donning the DIY bandit look to court proceedings in London, with Heard selecting a red polka dot silky scarf and Depp opting for a black bandana. Sarah Jessica Parker greeted shoppers at her shoe store in NYC wearing one last week, and Kristen Stewart rocked a white one with a white tee and baseball cap in Los Angeles.

The Western-inspired face covering may not be that far-fetched of an idea, since bandanas have long been used to protect against dust blowing in desert winds.

“A square of cloth once used to protect from the harsh dusty environment of the plains is now being used as a token of defense to protect against an invisible and very real threat: COVID-19,” Nicola Ashmore, a lecturer at University of Brighton’s Centre for Design History, told the Independent.

Amber Heard

AP

Johnny Depp

REUTERS

Kristen Stewart

Bruce/Javiles / BACKGRID

Sarah Jessica Parker

GC Images

But when it comes to actually helping stop the spread of the coronavirus, is the trendy bandana look as effective as a structured face mask?

According to a study published in the journal Physics of Fluids, bandanas do not offer as much protection as masks.

Researchers tested different types of face coverings by how far droplets from a cough could travel. Uncovered, droplets could travel 8 feet. In the most effective face mask — made of “tightly woven cotton, such as quilting fabric,” as the CDC recommends — the droplets traveled just 2 ½ inches.

The bandana came in as the least effective, with droplets from a cough traveling 3 feet.

So while wearing a flowing bandana might make you look and feel like a rock star, now might not be the time to sacrifice safety for style.

Don’t worry — there are still some cool fabric masks out there!