Fabric of Hair Educates: The Bob Haircut and Style
Most people trace the popularity of bobbed hair in Western fashion back to the 1920s, thanks to the haircut's close association with the image of the flapper.
However, the cigarette-smoking, flask-wielding flapper of the 1920s didn't exactly start this trend. In 1920, the New York Times traced the origins of the bob "epidemic" to 1903, when two female students at Bryn Mawr college appeared with short hair to play basketball. The article also claims that bobbed hair became popular in Greenwich Village between 1908 and 1912, thanks to the influence of "intellectual women" from Russia who used bobbed hair to disguise themselves from police.
The bob haircut may have been sported by small groups of rebellious women decades before.
Nevertheless of when it originated, bobbed hair was certainly ideal for the lives of ungovernable young women in the 1920s.
For one thing, the simple bob haircut perfectly complemented the sleek, tubular silhouettes that dominated women's fashion during much of the decade, and the length ensured that hair wouldn’t interfere with any fierce dancing. The distinguishable 'do also helped to fuel publicity for actresses like Clara Bow and Louise Brooks, who is perhaps best known for her razor-sharp cut.
By the start of the 1920s, the bob had become desired by millions of women across all ages and social classes.
While the popularity of the hairstyle has come and gone in mainstream fashion over the past few decades, it's never really disappeared, and somehow it's never lost its strong connection with high style and female empowerment. A newly shorn bob still manages to make headlines each year, especially when linked to a celebrity known for having flowing locks.
Although scores of women have adopted bobbed haircuts throughout history, the style still manages to disrupt mainstream, patriarchal beauty ideals in Western society in a way that makes it one of the quintessential symbols of feminist fashion.
Photo: Jayesh Pankhania
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