A Short Story

ANNA WINTOUR MAY WELL be the fashion industry’s most powerful female superpower but there is one thing that she might perhaps have earned more of a reputation for — her signature sharp bob. Cut to razor-sharp accuracy and curled in at the ends, Wintour’s tresses are meticulously coiffed to frame her face.

- Kames Narayanan

There is more weight to Wintour’s bob than it just being well-cut or impeccably styled hair. Worn on a woman who warrants an unprecedented level of influence, the bob has manifested as a visual cue of feminine power. Turning back the clock, the history of the haircut too recalls a similar narrative.

As understood by many historians, the dawn of the bob hair trend harks back to as early as 1914 when renowned American female ballroom dancer Irene Castle cropped her hair short for ease of maintenance prior to an appendectomy. When she later debuted her drastic chop, it turned the heads of women across the country.

Castle’s convenient cut fast turned into a sensation — particularly compelling during the period of World War I as women sought to break loose from the societal conventions of gender roles. The portmanteau hairstyle then took on meaning beyond the former or latter half of the word. Its narrative was quite literally written in the books when revered American fiction author F. Scott Fitzgerald published a short story titled “Bernice Bobs Her Hair”: the tale of a young, innocent girl who transforms into a vengeful vampire with just a haircut.