Cate Blanchett’s blunt cut in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is a sleek cap of menace.
The dark coif of the evil meanie in the latest Indiana Jones series is just the most recent twist in the saga of the bob, the hairdo that has been around for decades but keeps evolving. Flapper, dominatrix, flirt — it can do them all.
Right now, the most popular version is the “Pob,” in honour of Victoria Beckham (aka Posh Spice), who cut her hair in a bob last year. She began anew a craze that’s been adopted by celebrities such as actress Katie Holmes, and regular women around the world.
It’s not the first look to have launched a thousand shears. In the 1970s we wanted to be an Angel, then in the ’90s a Friend.
Like Farrah Fawcett’s tawny mane from her Charlie’s Angels days, and Jennifer Anniston’s face- framing layered cut from Friends, Posh’s bob has become the must have ‘do for the fashion-conscious crowd.
Last summer, Anne Sneyd took one look at Beckham’s customized bob — longer pieces framing the face, poufy top over the crown and short, layered back — ripped the picture out of People magazine and headed off to her hairdresser.
“It’s sophisticated and also feminine,” says Sneyd, 39, who adds it’s a style that hides a multitude of sins.
“I have thin, fine hair and there’s not much you can do. I thought, ‘Let’s try something different.’ I loved it immediately.”
She’s been getting compliments galore, says Sneyd, adding: “My daughter is 12 and one of her friends said ‘Wow, you’re hair looks good.’”
Sneyd’s bob was one of the first that stylist Mary Price did in her Chester Ave. salon. Soon Kate Steel, 37, arrived at the shop, demanding the haircut. She’d changed jobs and wanted something more current.
“It’s a great, hip cut that is edgy and also professional,” says Steel.
Employed in sales in the beauty industry, Steel says a hot new hairdo “was a long time coming. The last `it’ hairstyle was Jennifer Aniston (late ‘90s).”
