THE BOB CUT

I want to change things lately. One of those things is my hair. Not too long ago I chopped my manes and went for a shorter cut. Now that my hair has grown a bit longer in a short time I decided that it's time for a hair cut again, lob (long bob) here I come. 

It has probably not gone unnoticed that a lot of women have chopped their hair lately; Beyonce, Jennifer Lawrence, Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift, Kylie Jenner, Karlie Kloss and so many more. But why is this cut so popular and where did it come from?

Historically, women in the have usually worn their hair long. Although young girls, actresses and fashionable women had worn short hair even before World War 1. For example the French actress Polaire, she was described as "a shock of short, dark hair". She adopted the cut in the early 1890s - the style was not considered generally respectable until given impulse by the inconvenience of long hair to girls engaged in war work. 

English society beauty Lady Diana Cooper, who had bobbed hair as a child, kept the style through her teenage years and adult life. Renowned dancer and fashion trendsetter Irene Castle introduced her "Castle bob" to a receptive American audience in 1915, and by 1920 the style was rapidly becoming fashionable. Popularized by film stars Colleen Moore and Louise Brooks in the early 1920s, it was still seen as a somewhat shocking statement of independence in young women, as older people were used to seeing girls wearing long dresses and heavy Edwardian-style hair. Hairdressers, whose training was mainly in curling long hair, were slow to realise that short styles for women had arrived to stay and so hair salon in many cities found lines of women outside their shops for their hair to be chopped shorter. 

Although as early as 1922 the fashion correspondent of The Times was suggesting that bobbed hair was passé. By the mid-1920s the style was the dominant female hairstyle in the Western World. The style was spreading even beyond the West, as women who rejected traditional roles adopted the bob cut as a sign of modernity. Close-fitting cloche hats had also become very popular, and couldn't be worn with log hair, which was another reason the cut the hair shorter. Well-known bob-wearers were actresses Clara Bow and Joan Crawford, as well as Dutch film star Truus van Aalten.

As the 1930s approached, women started to grow their hair longer again, and the sharp lines of the bob were abandoned. And in the 1960s the bob made its comeback! Vidal Sassoon made it popular again, using the shape of the early bob and making it more stylish in a simpler cut. Many styles and combinations of the 'bob' have evolved since. 

In the late 1980s editor-in-chief of American Vogue, Anna Wintour, had herself a bob trimmed. The Times said that apparently she has hers trimmed every day. 

In 2005 Canadian ice dancer Kristina Lenk was asked to join Dancing on Ice, but need to get a new haircut to be able to participate. She and her stylist decided to go for the asymmetrical bob with bangs. This version was heavily copied ever since. The bob's popularity in UK and Ireland can be traced to the influence of fashion 'icon' or better known as Posh Spice, Victoria Beckham having had her hair bobbed in the same style.  

After that Madonna, Sienna Miller, Kate Bosworth, Rihanna, Charlize Theron, Keira Knightley, Christina Ricce, Katie Holmes, Lily Collins, Britney Spears and many more follow with their own version of the bob. 

Personally I don't think the bob will ever disappear, because it's incredibly easy to wear. The version that have been invented over the last century will come back, each at their own time. Like different types of sunglasses come and go; round, small, big, cat-eye etc. The bob and sunglasses have one thing in common, and that is that they'll never disappear.

VILA DRESS / ZARA SHOES 

Photos by Willemijn van Deventer