Word Watching ~

Fascinator / n. As we recall, we first heard the word when a Scottish friend returned to Canada from a wedding in Scotland. Describing how essential it was to own a "fascinator" and the skirmish to purchase one, she was obviously traumatized over the thought that attendance without one would have been a travesty. At the time, we had no idea what this essential was. What could so insult a bride and groom? Since that of course, the British Royal Wedding news has made "fascinator" a household word. It is a type of hat! It appears to us to be a whimsical, feathery, perhaps lacey item ~ flamboyant in nature ~ worn on an angle on the side of the head.
The Canadian Oxford Dictionary The foremost authority on current Canadian English lists but does not define the word "fascinator" ~ only "fascinate"/ v. capture the interest of; attract irresistibly. deprive of the power of escape or resistance; transfix.

Webster's New World Dictionary appears to get it right. Fascinator/ n. a woman's scarf made of lace, net, yarn, etc., worn around the head and neck.