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• January 9, 2009 10:35 AM
• News

The Long Life of a Short Cut: 100 Years of the Bob Hairstyle

By Gabriel Bell

It's spent a century on the heads of flappers and fashionable gals, and yet the short-trimmed bob style seems so fresh it might just have stepped from an appointment at the salon this afternoon. As the Telegraph reports, the "bob" haircut first made the scene in 1909 when Parisian hairdresser Antoine de Paris chopped off some excess locks, creating a look that spoke to rising trends in feminism, androgyny, utilitarianism, and Modernist minimalism even before those movements got into full swing. Plus, it was dead sexy. In the roaring '20s—when flappers danced with abandon all night instead of combing their hair before bed—the bob became a scene staple. Since then, the 'do has been wherever cosmopolitan creatures hunt for a sleeker, stunning hairstyle statement. Today, it's Katie Holmes, Agyness Deyn, and our beloved Lynn Yeager that rock the bob. Tomorrow, if you're in for a change of pace, it might be you. (Telegraph UK)

Image: Louise Brooks in Pandora's Box (aka Lou Lou) 1929.

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