Abob cut, also known as abob, is a short to medium lengthhaircut, in which the hair is typically cut straight around the head at approximately jaw level, and no longer than shoulder-length, often with afringe at the front. The standard bob cut exposes the back of the neck and keeps all of the hair well above the shoulders.
Historically, women in the West have usually worn their hair long. Some young girls, actresses and a few "advanced" or fashionable women had worn short hair even beforeWorld War I,[1][2][3][4] such as French actressPolaire, described in 1910 as having "a shock of short, dark hair",[5] a cut she adopted in the early 1890s.[6] The style, however, was not considered generally respectable[7] until given impetus by the inconvenience of long hair to girls engaged in war work.[8][9]
In 1909,Antoni Cierplikowski, called Antoine de Paris, aPolish hairdresser who became the world's firstcelebrity hairdresser, started a fashion for a short bob cut. He said it was inspired by accounts ofJoan of Arc. In the 1920s, he introduced the “shingle cut”, which became popular with daring young women—theBloomsbury set andflappers. Among his clients were world-famous female figures such asCoco Chanel, QueenMarie of Romania,Sarah Bernhardt,Greta Garbo, U.S. First LadyEleanor Roosevelt andBrigitte Bardot.
English society beautyLady Diana Cooper wore bobbed hair from childhood through adulthood.[10][11][12] It has been said that renowned dancer and fashion trendsetterIrene Castle introduced her "Castle bob" to a receptive American audience in 1915, and by 1920 the style was rapidly becoming fashionable.[13] However, it was artist and illustratorClara Tice who was the first public person who used it the United States.[14] Popularized by film starMary Thurman in the early 1920s[15] and byColleen Moore andLouise Brooks in the mid to late 1920s, it was still seen as a somewhat shocking statement of independence in the young women known asflappers, as older people were used to seeing girls wearing long dresses and heavy Edwardian-style hair. Hairdressers, whose training was mainly in arranging and curling long hair, were slow to realise that short styles for women had arrived to stay, and so barbers in many cities found lines of women outside their shops, waiting to be shorn of hair that had taken many years to grow.[16][17]
Although as early as 1922 the fashion correspondent ofThe Times was suggesting that bobbed hair was passé,[18] by the mid-1920s the style (in various versions, often worn with a side-parting, curled or waved, and with the hair at the nape of the neck "shingled" short), 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.[19][full citation needed] Close-fittingcloche hats had also become very popular, and could not be worn with long hair. Well-known bob-wearers were actressesClara Bow andJoan Crawford, as well as Dutch film starTruus van Aalten.
As the 1930s approached, women started to grow their hair longer, and the sharp lines of the bob were abandoned.[20]
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In the mid 1960s,Vidal Sassoon made it popular again, using the shape of the early bob and making it more stylish in a simpler cut. Its resurgence coincided with the arrival of the "mop top"Beatle cut for men.[21] Those associated with the bob at that time included fashion designersMary Quant andJean Muir; actressesNancy Kwan,Carolyn Jones,Barbara Feldon,Georgina Ward andAmanda Barrie; and singers as diverse asKeely Smith,Cilla Black,Billie Davis,Juliette Gréco,Mireille Mathieu andBeverly Bivens of the American groupWe Five.Valentina, the transgressively erotic heroine of a surrealItalian comic strip series created byGuido Crepax in 1965, sported an iconic bob inspired by actressLouise Brooks (as well as by Crepax's own wife Luisa).[22] The bob cut was also popular with African Americans in the mid-to-late 1960s, reflected in such singing groups asDiana Ross & The Supremes andThe Marvelettes.
Many styles and combinations of the "bob" have evolved since. In the late 1980s,Siouxsie Sioux, lead singer ofSiouxsie and the Banshees, andCorinne Drewery, singer of "Swing Out Sister", had bob cuts for a short time. ActressMelanie Griffith's character Audrey "Lulu" Hankel wore a bob wig for much of the runtime of the 1986 comedy-thriller filmSomething Wild. SingerLinda Ronstadt sported a very "Louise Brooks" inspired bob on the cover of twoGrammy award winning albums in the late 1980s: 1987'sTrio album withDolly Parton andEmmylou Harris and her 1989 releaseCry Like A Rainstorm, Howl Like The Wind. She also wears the cut in the video for her duet withJames Ingram, "Somewhere Out There".Annie Potts made an appearance in the 1989 supernatural comedy filmGhostbusters II with a bob as she reprised her role as Janine Melnitz.Phoebe Cates's character Elizabeth in the 1991 black comedy filmDrop Dead Fred got a bob haircut after getting part of her long black hair cut off.Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of AmericanVogue since 1988, apparently had hers trimmed every day (Times 2, 10 July 2006). In the early 1990sCyndi Lauper had a bob haircut with very unusual colors; soon afterward, the cut became identified withUma Thurman's character of Mia Wallace inQuentin Tarantino's 1994 filmPulp Fiction. The bob went into hibernation, but eventually became popular again.Natalie Portman sported a bob haircut in the 1994 English-language French action-thriller filmLeon: The Professional for her portrayal of her character Mathilda.T-Boz ofTLC also had a bob haircut with very unusual colors that was asymmetrical with bangs. Also, for the first two seasons and the first two episodes of the third season ofLois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, the character ofLois Lane (Teri Hatcher) had a trademark bob haircut. The character ofDr. Laurel Weaver (Linda Fiorentino) fromBarry Sonnenfeld's1997 filmMen in Black also sported a bob.Julianne Moore had a bob in the 1998 filmThe Big Lebowski for her portrayal of Maude Lebowski. Katie Volding, who played Benjamin “Ben” Cooper's little sister Angie in the 1999 Disney Channel TV movieSmart House, had a bob haircut.
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In 2006, the bob was adopted by the singerMadonna and, as a move away fromboho-chic, by actressSienna Miller.[citation needed]
In November 2005,Canadian ice dancer Kristina Lenko was asked to joinITV1's new series,Dancing on Ice. She went to her stylist inToronto and told him "Do whatever you like." He cut Lenko's waist-length hair into what is referred to as an A-line bob, where the hair is shorter in the back and gradually longer toward the front, with the longest pieces toward the front of the face. Later, ex–Spice GirlVictoria Beckham decided to cut her own hair into such a style, helping to raise its popularity worldwide[23] with girls asking hairdressers for a "Pob"—Beckham's nickname Posh Spice conflated with "bob".
In 2007, R&B singerRihanna had a bob haircut in the video for "Umbrella". She has said that she was inspired by actressCharlize Theron inÆon Flux.Keira Knightley had a bob in her short TV ad forCoco Mademoiselle. ActressChristina Ricci also had a bob for live-action movie version for 60s anime seriesSpeed Racer and later.Katie Holmes got a bob cut with bangs in 2007.
Jenny McCarthy is known for a sporting an A-line bob.[citation needed]Bryce Dallas Howard's character Claire Dearing sported an A-line Bob in the 2015 filmJurassic World.[citation needed]Kate Bosworth is said to have popularized the bob in 2008.[citation needed] Shoulder-length bobs became popular after being sported by stars such asHeidi Klum andJessica Alba.[citation needed] A shaggy version of the bob was popularized byDianna Agron andKate Mara.[24]
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