For some reason, short hair is still framed as something that is brave to try. We tend to think "great on them, but wouldn't suit me". Yet, with the rise in heartthrob bobs and bixie cuts, it's evident people must be feeling braver. That or they just want to stop carrying around all the dead weight of the last few years.
When it comes to cropped hair, there seems to be two references we come back to: Mia Farrow in Rosemary's Baby and Jean Seberg. Dig a little deeper, and a whole other list of names come tumbling out: Sinead O'Connor, Edie Sedgwick, Halle Berry, Britney Spears, Agyness Deyn, Zoë Kravitz, Chloe Sevigny, and there's plenty more where that came from. Among every eras 'It' girls, a handful have understood the power of a good crop. Powerful yet feminine, boyish and practical, elfin and defiant. Below, find the cropped haircuts I can't stop thinking about. Who knows, maybe this is the sign you needed to book an appointment?
Greta Lee
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Greta Lee is one of those people that have never had a bad haircut. The Past Lives actress was already making short hair inspiration lists with her razor-sharp bob, when she cut it into a face-framing pixie. It helps that she has hairstylists like Hyungsun Ju and Jenny Cho in her rolodex.
Annabelle Dexter-Jones
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When Annabelle Dexter-Jones appeared in season 4 of Succession with a shiny new baby mullet, the RUSSH team all contemplated booking an appointment. Like Lee, Dexter-Jones transitioned from a blunt bob to the mullet, and her hair has been getting shorter since. Last time we checked, she was sporting the kind of blonde pixie cut you want to twirl your fingers through.
Agnès Varda
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Okay so you know as well as I do that Agnès Varda is an icon. Like all auteurs, the French New Wave filmmaker's perspective bled into her own distinct, sophisticated and eccentric style. Whether that was in her love of polka dots, her punk spirit, or the dip-dyed pageboy cut of her later years. I, for one, am always fascinated by people who maintain a signature hairstyle for their entire life and it's something I aspire to – if only I could find the right look. As it happens, Varda made that decision early. She once said of her hair, “I was 19, and I put a bowl on, and I said, ‘Cut around!’ Because it was not the fashion at the time when I did that hairdo, and I kept it all my life.”
Taylor Russell
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There's something in the water at Loewe – that's my only explanation for why Taylor Russell, like Greta Lee and Myha'la Herrold all stand out for their polished, artful cropped haircuts. Russell's is a little longer than the rest, sitting somewhere between old Hollywood glam and boyish insouciance. BRB, dialling my hairstylist.
Ursula K. Le Guin
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There's so much more to admire about Ursula K. Le Guin than her hair, a practical, slightly overgrown pixie cut. Yet here we are. Perhaps, it's because Le Guin was painfully conscious of the way beauty, capitalism and patriarchy all intertwine, as her readers will know. But that's not to say she was immune to the pull of beauty. " Most of the time I just play the game myself in a very small way," she once wrote, "buying a new lipstick, feeling happy about a pretty new silk shirt." In 1954, while in France, the writer came across a hairdresser who gave her this cut, and would continue to replicate it for the rest of her long life.
Alexa Demie
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Alexa Demie is not one to conform to your expectations of her – no matter how badly you pray for her to post more on Instagram. While her pixie crop may have come as a shock to those who follow Demie for her role as Maddy in Euphoria – big-hearted, brash, sensual – it made perfect sense as the actor develops her style and becomes more immersed in the fashion world. Slick, dark and gothic, can you tell she's close friends with Taylor Russell?
Tracey Emin
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Together with fellow British artist and friend Sarah Lucas, the cheekbone-skimming crop Tracey Emin wore in the 90s has been circling my brain for months. The artist has always been unapologetic when it comes to her style, and this cropped, boyish cut feels practical and puckish.
Joan Chen
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All these years later, Joan Chen as Josie Packard in Twin Peaks still burns bright for her femme fatale beauty moments. That greased-back crop and her character's signature red lip is the sort of smouldering, masculine look that could've strutted straight off Anthony Vaccarello's Fall 23 runway for Saint Laurent.
Myha'la Herrold
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Myha'la Herrold is on the come up, and we expect there's a space saved for her in the world of fashion. All through high school the actor, known for her leading role in TV series Industry, as well as a salient part in Bodies Bodies Bodies, experimented with various hairstyles, challenging the limits of her Catholic school's strict dress code, per Teen Vogue. Her latest cropped style is charming and fresh. Add this to your Pinterest mood board.
Taylor Hill
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When Taylor Hill cut her hair after her wedding earlier this year, the model's comment section was polarised. Watching the naysayers announce themselves was embarrassing: why were so many people (mainly grown men) invested in a stranger's long hair, and more importantly, Hill's compliance with typical femininity? Creepy, but whatever. Hill sought out Takuya Yamaguchi for the cut, and showed him a moodboard featuring Linda Evangelista, Shalom Harlow and, naturally, Audrey Hepburn. Speaking to Vogue about the change, Hill said: "I had always thought there was a disconnect between my personal style and the way I looked, but now that I have cut my hair, I’ve realized that’s what it is... this feels more grown-up, cooler." We agree.
Emma Corrin
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Soft mullet, chelsea cut, pixie, bowl cut – there was only one style left for Emma Corrin to try, and it was a buzz. We love it, obviously. Classic Sagittarius.
Images: @taylor_hill @tayrussell @princesssummerfall @gretalee
