When photos of Emma Watson's new pixie cut were first released to the unexpecting public a few months ago, I had one thought: ugh. My inner monologue went a-buzz when I saw her close crop - it's not that I didn't love her haircut, I was just jealous. For years, I've wanted to cut my hair into a chic short crop. I think it was a late night viewing of Bonjour Tristesse that did me in. Seeing Jean Seberg running around the French Riviera without any hair hanging down her neck ignited something in me that I haven't been able to shake. She looked so carefree, so sexy, so gaminely gorgeous - I wanted to be her (well, minus the part about destroying the lives of everyone around her ... in the film, I mean).
Since then, I feel like everyone around me has these incredibly cool crops: so many actresses and singers - talented and untalented alike - have made the plunge with a pixie; my hairdresser is in the process of growing out her super spunky, edgy cropped 'do; the mother of one of my friends has the perfect pixie I really want to get. And then there are those amazingly cool girls I see around campus (but are too intimidatingly hip to ever approach them) who have immaculately cared-for crops.
I know that I shouldn't ever cut my hair this drastically short. I've discussed this with my brothers, my mother, my friends, and hairdressers, and the general consensus is that I would look dreadful with this haircut. It's been explained that I don't have the 'elfish' features required for the look, which I accept and agree with. I don't have those devastatingly petite features that appear delicate and pretty. I've accepted the fact that if I were to crop my hair, I would look like an uglier version of my younger brother. Plus there's that danger of screwing up and coming out with a very mumsy look. It's easy to go wrong with this look if you opt for thick sideswept bangs in the front (a la Ashlee Simpson, Hayden Pannetierre, Kate Gosselin ... sorry guys). So while Kate (of the Eight) and I can't do the pixie, here is my ode to the women who have done it right:
Several of Audrey's most popular characters underwent major transformations in the form of cutting her hair short, like in Roman Holiday and Sabrina
French film actress Audrey Tautou has garnered comparisons to the Audrey mentioned above due to her coquettish gamine personality and her chic hairstyle
To portray Edie Sedgwick, Sienna Miller chopped off her long hippie locks in favor of a look more resembling the former Warhol superstar
Carey Mulligan reached the top of every best dressed list with her daring fashion choices and the ever-changing hue of her pixie
Pairing minimalist clothes with maximalist accessories, Edie Sedgwick sealed her fate as the style maven of the underground scene when she cropped and dyed her once-brunette long locks
Emma Watson has matched her new look with edgier fashion choices and more dramatic makeup
Ginnifer Goodwin shows off several different ways to style a pixie: sleek bangs swept across the forehead, styled back to give the appearance of shorter fringe, or mussed up for more texture
Laugh-In starlet Goldie Hawn looks like she's having a blast in her flower-power dress and short hairstyle
Halle Berry has the amazing ability to appear to never age - she constantly looks fresh and sexy, especially with her close crop
Jane Birkin, owner of the most lusted-for fringe of the sixties, went with a shorter look in the seventies
The style icon who started it all (for me, at least) Jean Seberg, the princess of French New Wave in Otto Preminger's Bonjour Tristesse and Jean-Luc Godard's À bout de souffle
Jean Shrimpton tries the style on as she channels Mia Farrow for a Vogue editorial
Kate Moss transformed from poster gal of heroin chic to pixie princess in 2001 with a cut by her BFF James Brown (not that James Brown)
To play bounty hunter Domino Harvey, Keira Knightley got an edgy crop that was longer in the front than the back; though technically playing a bounty hunter, Keira looked like a rock star
Kirsten Dunst reportedly cropped her hair to prove to studio execs that she would be the right fit for an in-development Jean Seberg biopic (I'm still hoping that this project comes to being one of these days)
Marianne Faithfull revealed her short style in 1968, in projects such as Rock and Roll Circus, and again in the early 1970s
In the film Rosemary's Baby, Mia Farrow has this exchange with her displeased husband, played by John Cassavetes:
JC: What the hell is that?
MF: I've been to Vidal Sassoon!
JC: You mean you actually paid for that?!
Besides the whole allowing his wife to be raped by Satan in exchange for a successful acting career, this was a primo example of Rosemary's husband's douchebaggery
A Mia of a different name - Wasikowska, that is - also rocks the pixie
Michelle Williams garnered comparisons to Mia Farrow when she cut her hair in 2007; three years later she has a pixie again but has longer fringe and a brighter shade of blonde
Model Mona Johannesson, photographed by Camilla Åkrans, channels Rosemary Woodhouse
In the process of growing out her post-V for Vendetta shorn look, Natalie Portman looked absolutely stunning with her groomed short style
Supermodel Agyness Deyn is known as much for her peroxide pixie as her androgynous style
Though she started a style craze when she debuted her chin-length bob in 2008, I prefer the heavily highlighted crop she sported at the Met Gala the next year
Selma Blair opted for shaggy, unevenly chopped bangs to add a little more edge to her cropped 'do
Victoria Beckham takes off that "extra half an inch" when she went from her Rihanna-reminiscent bob to this short pixie crop in early 2009
Winona Ryder's short hairstyle looked its grooviest in the 1960s-set film Girl, Interrupted matched with black-and-white boatneck tees and fitted turtleneck sweaters
Title: from "Keep On Believing" (Iggy Pop)
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